Mrs. Morgan 's heroines are all tall and slender . '' `` Well , let 's forget our troubles and think of our mercies , '' said Anne gaily . `` Mrs. Allan says that whenever we think of anything that is a trial to us we should also think of something nice that we can set over against it . If you are slightly too plump you 've got the dearest dimples ; and if I have a freckled nose the SHAPE of it is all right . Do you think the lemon juice did any good ? '' `` Yes , I really think it did , '' said Diana critically ; and , much elated , Anne led the way to the garden , which was full of airy shadows and wavering golden lights . `` We 'll decorate the parlor first . We have plenty of time , for Priscilla said they 'd be here about twelve or half past at the latest , so we 'll have dinner at one . '' There may have been two happier and more excited girls somewhere in Canada or the United States at that moment , but I doubt it . Every snip of the scissors , as rose and peony and bluebell fell , seemed to chirp , `` Mrs. Morgan is coming today . '' Anne wondered how Mr. Harrison COULD go on placidly mowing hay in the field across the lane , just as if nothing were going to happen . The parlor at Green Gables was a rather severe and gloomy apartment , with rigid horsehair furniture , stiff lace curtains , and white antimacassars that were always laid at a perfectly correct angle , except at such times as they clung to unfortunate people 's buttons . Even Anne had never been able to infuse much grace into it , for Marilla would not permit any alterations . But it is wonderful what flowers can accomplish if you give them a fair chance ; when Anne and Diana finished with the room you would not have recognized it . A great blue bowlful of snowballs overflowed on the polished table . The shining black mantelpiece was heaped with roses and ferns . Every shelf of the what-not held a sheaf of bluebells ; the dark corners on either side of the grate were lighted up with jars full of glowing crimson peonies , and the grate itself was aflame with yellow poppies . All this splendor and color , mingled with the sunshine falling through the honeysuckle vines at the windows in a leafy riot of dancing shadows over walls and floor , made of the usually dismal little room the veritable `` bower '' of Anne 's imagination , and even extorted a tribute of admiration from Marilla , who came in to criticize and remained to praise . `` Now , we must set the table , '' said Anne , in the tone of a priestess about to perform some sacred rite in honor of a divinity . `` We 'll have a big vaseful of wild roses in the center and one single rose in front of everybody 's plate -- and a special bouquet of rosebuds only by Mrs. Morgan 's -- an allusion to ` The Rosebud Garden ' you know . ''
The table was set XXXXX the sitting room , with Marilla 's finest linen and the best china , glass , and silver .
about across as at if in on that through to