`` Today 's rain has made the ground damp . Good-night . '' `` Have I lost my friend ? '' said Anne with a sigh . `` If the operation is successful and Dick Moore finds himself again Leslie will retreat into some remote fastness of her soul where none of us can ever find her . '' `` Perhaps she will leave him , '' said Gilbert . `` Leslie would never do that , Gilbert . Her sense of duty is very strong . She told me once that her Grandmother West always impressed upon her the fact that when she assumed any responsibility she must never shirk it , no matter what the consequences might be . That is one of her cardinal rules . I suppose it 's very old-fashioned . '' `` Do n't be bitter , Anne-girl . You know you do n't think it old-fashioned -- you know you have the very same idea of sacredness of assumed responsibilities yourself . And you are right . Shirking responsibilities is the curse of our modern life -- the secret of all the unrest and discontent that is seething in the world . '' `` Thus saith the preacher , '' mocked Anne . But under the mockery she felt that he was right ; and she was very sick at heart for Leslie . A week later Miss Cornelia descended like an avalanche upon the little house . Gilbert was away and Anne was compelled to bear the shock of the impact alone . Miss Cornelia hardly waited to get her hat off before she began .
`` Anne , do you mean to tell me it 's true what I 've heard -- XXXXX Dr. Blythe has told Leslie Dick can be cured , and that she is going to take him to Montreal to have him operated on ? ''
If in into like of once that to under upon