CHAPTER X THE TROUBLES OF RILLA October passed out and the dreary days of November and December dragged by . The world shook with the thunder of contending armies ; Antwerp fell -- Turkey declared war -- gallant little Serbia gathered herself together and struck a deadly blow at her oppressor ; and in quiet , hill-girdled Glen St. Mary , thousands of miles away , hearts beat with hope and fear over the varying dispatches from day to day . `` A few months ago , '' said Miss Oliver , `` we thought and talked in terms of Glen St. Mary . Now , we think and talk in terms of military tactics and diplomatic intrigue . '' There was just one great event every day -- the coming of the mail . Even Susan admitted that from the time the mail-courier 's buggy rumbled over the little bridge between the station and the village until the papers were brought home and read , she could not work properly . `` I must take up my knitting then and knit hard till the papers come , Mrs. Dr. dear . Knitting is something you can do , even when your heart is going like a trip-hammer and the pit of your stomach feels all gone and your thoughts are catawampus . Then when I see the headlines , be they good or be they bad , I calm down and am able to go about my business again . It is an unfortunate thing that the mail comes in just when our dinner rush is on , and I think the Government could arrange things better . But the drive on Calais has failed , as I felt perfectly sure it would , and the Kaiser will not eat his Christmas dinner in London this year . Do you know , Mrs. Dr. dear , '' -- Susan 's voice lowered as a token that she was going to impart a very shocking piece of information , -- `` I have been told on good authority -- or else you may be sure I would not be repeating it when it concerns a minster -- that the Rev. Mr. Arnold goes to Charlottetown every week and takes a Turkish bath for his rheumatism . The idea of him doing that when we are at war with Turkey ? One of his own deacons has always insisted that Mr. Arnold 's theology was not sound and I am beginning to believe that there is some reason to fear it . Well , I must bestir myself this afternoon and get little Jem 's Christmas cake packed up for him . He will enjoy it , if the blessed boy is not drowned in mud before that time . '' Jem was in camp on Salisbury Plain and was writing gay , cheery letters home in spite of the mud . Walter was at Redmond and his letters to Rilla were anything but cheerful . She never opened one without a dread tugging at her heart that it would tell her he had enlisted . His unhappiness made her unhappy .
She wanted to put her arm round him and comfort him , XXXXX she had done that day in Rainbow Valley .
OF as by from if on over to with without