They were both too late ; before they could reach him Matthew had fallen across the threshold . `` He 's fainted , '' gasped Marilla . `` Anne , run for Martin -- quick , quick ! He 's at the barn . '' Martin , the hired man , who had just driven home from the post office , started at once for the doctor , calling at Orchard Slope on his way to send Mr. and Mrs. Barry over . Mrs. Lynde , who was there on an errand , came too . They found Anne and Marilla distractedly trying to restore Matthew to consciousness . Mrs. Lynde pushed them gently aside , tried his pulse , and then laid her ear over his heart . She looked at their anxious faces sorrowfully and the tears came into her eyes . `` Oh , Marilla , '' she said gravely . `` I do n't think -- we can do anything for him . '' `` Mrs. Lynde , you do n't think -- you ca n't think Matthew is -- is -- '' Anne could not say the dreadful word ; she turned sick and pallid . `` Child , yes , I 'm afraid of it . Look at his face . When you 've seen that look as often as I have you 'll know what it means . '' Anne looked at the still face and there beheld the seal of the Great Presence . When the doctor came he said that death had been instantaneous and probably painless , caused in all likelihood by some sudden shock . The secret of the shock was discovered to be in the paper Matthew had held and which Martin had brought from the office that morning . It contained an account of the failure of the Abbey Bank . The news spread quickly through Avonlea , and all day friends and neighbors thronged Green Gables and came and went on errands of kindness for the dead and living .
For the first time shy , quiet Matthew Cuthbert was a person XXXXX central importance ; the white majesty of death had fallen on him and set him apart as one crowned .
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