Mrs. Stephen Clark of Carmody persists in being most grateful to me for a suggestion which somebody else would probably have made if I had n't . I do really think , though , that Ludovic Speed would never have got any further along than placid courtship if I had not helped him and Theodora Dix out . `` In the present affair I am only a passive spectator . I 've tried once to help things along and made an awful mess of it . So I shall not meddle again . I 'll tell you all about it when we meet . '' Chapter XXXII Tea with Mrs. Douglas On the first Thursday night of Anne 's sojourn in Valley Road Janet asked her to go to prayer-meeting . Janet blossomed out like a rose to attend that prayer-meeting . She wore a pale-blue , pansy-sprinkled muslin dress with more ruffles than one would ever have supposed economical Janet could be guilty of , and a white leghorn hat with pink roses and three ostrich feathers on it . Anne felt quite amazed . Later on , she found out Janet 's motive in so arraying herself -- a motive as old as Eden . Valley Road prayer-meetings seemed to be essentially feminine . There were thirty-two women present , two half-grown boys , and one solitary man , beside the minister . Anne found herself studying this man . He was not handsome or young or graceful ; he had remarkably long legs -- so long that he had to keep them coiled up under his chair to dispose of them -- and he was stoop-shouldered . His hands were big , his hair wanted barbering , and his moustache was unkempt . But Anne thought she liked his face ; it was kind and honest and tender ; there was something else in it , too -- just what , Anne found it hard to define . She finally concluded that this man had suffered and been strong , and it had been made manifest in his face . There was a sort of patient , humorous endurance in his expression which indicated that he would go to the stake if need be , but would keep on looking pleasant until he really had to begin squirming . When prayer-meeting was over this man came up to Janet and said , `` May I see you home , Janet ? ''
Janet took his arm -- `` XXXXX primly and shyly as if she were no more than sixteen , having her first escort home , '' Anne told the girls at Patty 's Place later on .
In So about as if like of on than until