I suppose I should go -- if Jem and Jerry can face the Huns surely I can face Irene Howard , and swallow my pride to ask a favour of her for the good of the Belgians . Just at present I feel that I can not do it but for all that I have a presentiment that after supper you 'll see me meekly trotting through Rainbow Valley on my way to the Upper Glen Road . '' Rilla 's presentiment proved correct . After supper she dressed herself carefully in her blue , beaded crepe -- for vanity is harder to quell than pride and Irene always saw any flaw or shortcoming in another girl 's appearance . Besides , as Rilla had told her mother one day when she was nine years old , `` It is easier to behave nicely when you have your good clothes on . '' Rilla did her hair very becomingly and donned a long raincoat for fear of a shower . But all the while her thoughts were concerned with the coming distasteful interview , and she kept rehearsing mentally her part in it . She wished it were over -- she wished she had never tried to get up a Belgian Relief concert -- she wished she had not quarreled with Irene . After all , disdainful silence would have been much more effective in meeting the slur upon Walter . It was foolish and childish to fly out as she had done -- well , she would be wiser in the future , but meanwhile a large and very unpalatable slice of humble pie had to be eaten , and Rilla Blythe was no fonder of that wholesome article of diet than the rest of us . By sunset she was at the door of the Howard house -- a pretentious abode , with white scroll-work round the eaves and an eruption of bay-windows on all its sides . Mrs. Howard , a plump , voluble dame , met Rilla gushingly and left her in the parlour while she went to call Irene . Rilla threw off her rain-coat and looked at herself critically in the mirror over the mantel . Hair , hat , and dress were satisfactory -- nothing there for Miss Irene to make fun of . Rilla remembered how clever and amusing she used to think Irene 's biting little comments about other girls . Well , it had come home to her now . Presently , Irene skimmed down , elegantly gowned , with her pale , straw-coloured hair done in the latest and most extreme fashion , and an over-luscious atmosphere of perfume enveloping her . `` Why how do you do , Miss Blythe ? '' she said sweetly . `` This is a very unexpected pleasure . ''
Rilla had risen to take Irene 's chilly finger-tips and now , XXXXX she sat down again , she saw something that temporarily stunned her .
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