`` So he has ` got over it ' before ? '' `` Dear me , yes , '' said Dorothy frankly . `` Twice before . And he raved to me just the same both times . Not that the others actually refused him -- they simply announced their engagements to some one else . Of course , when he met you he vowed to me that he had never really loved before -- that the previous affairs had been merely boyish fancies . But I do n't think you need worry . '' Anne decided not to worry . Her feelings were a mixture of relief and resentment . Roy had certainly told her she was the only one he had ever loved . No doubt he believed it . But it was a comfort to feel that she had not , in all likelihood , ruined his life . There were other goddesses , and Roy , according to Dorothy , must needs be worshipping at some shrine . Nevertheless , life was stripped of several more illusions , and Anne began to think drearily that it seemed rather bare . She came down from the porch gable on the evening of her return with a sorrowful face . `` What has happened to the old Snow Queen , Marilla ? '' `` Oh , I knew you 'd feel bad over that , '' said Marilla . `` I felt bad myself . That tree was there ever since I was a young girl . It blew down in the big gale we had in March .
It was rotten XXXXX the core . ''
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