Ghost tales they had heard a-plenty -- Mary Vance had told some far more blood-curdling than this ; but those tales were all of places and people and spooks far away and unknown . After the first half-awful , half-pleasant thrill of awe and terror they thought of them no more . But this story came home to them . The old Bailey garden was almost at their very door -- almost in their beloved Rainbow Valley . They had passed and repassed it constantly ; they had hunted for flowers in it ; they had made short cuts through it when they wished to go straight from the village to the valley . But never again ! After the night when Mary Vance told them its gruesome tale they would not have gone through or near it on pain of death . Death ! What was death compared to the unearthly possibility of falling into the clutches of Henry Warren 's grovelling ghost ? One warm July evening the three of them were sitting under the Tree Lovers , feeling a little lonely . Nobody else had come near the valley that evening . Jem Blythe was away in Charlottetown , writing on his entrance examinations . Jerry and Walter Blythe were off for a sail on the harbour with old Captain Crawford . Nan and Di and Rilla and Shirley had gone down the harbour road to visit Kenneth and Persis Ford , who had come with their parents for a flying visit to the little old House of Dreams . Nan had asked Faith to go with them , but Faith had declined . She would never have admitted it , but she felt a little secret jealousy of Persis Ford , concerning whose wonderful beauty and city glamour she had heard a great deal . No , she was n't going to go down there and play second fiddle to anybody . She and Una took their story books to Rainbow Valley and read , while Carl investigated bugs along the banks of the brook , and all three were happy until they suddenly realized that it was twilight and that the old Bailey garden was uncomfortably near by . Carl came and sat down close to the girls . They all wished they had gone home a little sooner , but nobody said anything .
Great , velvety , purple clouds heaped up XXXXX the west and spread over the valley .
After but in near of than through to under with