And I ca n't reconcile myself to it as most women seem to . I 'm just as rebellious as I was when I discovered my first gray hair . Now , Anne , do n't look as if you were trying to understand . Seventeen CA N'T understand . I 'm going to pretend right away that I am seventeen too , and I can do it , now that you 're here . You always bring youth in your hand like a gift . We 're going to have a jolly evening . Tea first ... what do you want for tea ? We 'll have whatever you like . Do think of something nice and indigestible . '' There were sounds of riot and mirth in the little stone house that night . What with cooking and feasting and making candy and laughing and `` pretending , '' it is quite true that Miss Lavendar and Anne comported themselves in a fashion entirely unsuited to the dignity of a spinster of forty-five and a sedate schoolma'am . Then , when they were tired , they sat down on the rug before the grate in the parlor , lighted only by the soft fireshine and perfumed deliciously by Miss Lavendar 's open rose-jar on the mantel . The wind had risen and was sighing and wailing around the eaves and the snow was thudding softly against the windows , as if a hundred storm sprites were tapping for entrance . `` I 'm so glad you 're here , Anne , '' said Miss Lavendar , nibbling at her candy . `` If you were n't I should be blue ... very blue ... almost navy blue . Dreams and make-believes are all very well in the daytime and the sunshine , but when dark and storm come they fail to satisfy . One wants real things then . But you do n't know this ... seventeen never knows it . At seventeen dreams DO satisfy because you think the realities are waiting for you further on .
When I was seventeen , Anne , I did n't think forty-five would find me a white-haired little old maid with nothing but dreams XXXXX fill my life . ''
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