He soon forgot his disappointment , revelling with the heroes of old romance , and pausing occasionally to picture himself a famous general , leading his troops to victory on some great battlefield . Walter sat at his window until bedtime . Di crept in , hoping to be told what was wrong , but Walter could not talk of it , even to Di . Talking of it seemed to give it a reality from which he shrank . It was torture enough to think of it . The crisp , withered leaves rustled on the maple trees outside his window . The glow of rose and flame had died out of the hollow , silvery sky , and the full moon was rising gloriously over Rainbow Valley . Afar off , a ruddy woodfire was painting a page of glory on the horizon beyond the hills . It was a sharp , clear evening when far-away sounds were heard distinctly . A fox was barking across the pond ; an engine was puffing down at the Glen station ; a blue-jay was screaming madly in the maple grove ; there was laughter over on the manse lawn . How could people laugh ? How could foxes and blue-jays and engines behave as if nothing were going to happen on the morrow ? `` Oh , I wish it was over , '' groaned Walter . He slept very little that night and had hard work choking down his porridge in the morning . Susan WAS rather lavish in her platefuls . Mr. Hazard found him an unsatisfactory pupil that day . Faith Meredith 's wits seemed to be wool-gathering , too . Dan Reese kept drawing surreptitious pictures of girls , with pig or rooster heads , on his slate and holding them up for all to see . The news of the coming battle had leaked out and most of the boys and many of the girls were in the spruce plantation when Dan and Walter sought it after school . Una had gone home , but Faith was there , having tied her blue ribbon around Walter 's arm .
Walter was thankful that neither Jem nor Di nor Nan were among the crowd XXXXX spectators .
across around for in of outside that to until with