`` You 'll come up soon again . '' `` Yes , very soon . And if there 's anything I can do to help you I 'll be so glad . '' `` I know . You HAVE helped me already . Nothing seems quite so dreadful now . Good night , Anne . '' `` Good night , dear . '' Anne walked home very slowly in the moonlight . The evening had changed something for her . Life held a different meaning , a deeper purpose . On the surface it would go on just the same ; but the deeps had been stirred . It must not be with her as with poor butterfly Ruby . When she came to the end of one life it must not be to face the next with the shrinking terror of something wholly different -- something for which accustomed thought and ideal and aspiration had unfitted her . The little things of life , sweet and excellent in their place , must not be the things lived for ; the highest must be sought and followed ; the life of heaven must be begun here on earth . That good night in the garden was for all time . Anne never saw Ruby in life again . The next night the A.V.I.S. gave a farewell party to Jane Andrews before her departure for the West . And , while light feet danced and bright eyes laughed and merry tongues chattered , there came a summons to a soul in Avonlea that might not be disregarded or evaded . The next morning the word went from house to house that Ruby Gillis was dead .
She had died XXXXX her sleep , painlessly and calmly , and on her face was a smile -- as if , after all , death had come as a kindly friend to lead her over the threshold , instead of the grisly phantom she had dreaded .
Anne Gillis On for if in of to while with