`` Yes , I must be growing old . That is what it means when social functions begin to bore you . '' It was that unlucky Mrs. George who blundered again . She was standing on the veranda when Carey Penhallow dashed up . `` Tell Lucinda that I ca n't take her back to the Grange . I have to drive Mark and Cissy Penhallow to Bright River to catch the two o'clock express . There will be plenty of chances for her with the others . '' At this moment George Penhallow , holding his rearing horse with difficulty , shouted for his wife . Mrs. George , all in a flurry , dashed back into the still crowded hall . Exactly to whom she gave her message was never known to any of the Penhallows . But a tall , ruddy-haired girl , dressed in pale green organdy -- Anne Shirley from Avonlea -- told Marilla Cuthbert and Rachel Lynde as a joke the next morning how a chubby little woman in a bright pink fascinator had clutched her by the arm , and gasped out : `` Carey Penhallow ca n't take you -- he says you 're to look out for someone else , '' and was gone before she could answer or turn around . Thus it was that Lucinda , when she came out to the veranda step , found herself unaccountably deserted . All the Grange Penhallows were gone ; Lucinda realized this after a few moments of bewildered seeking , and she understood that if she were to get to the Grange that night she must walk . Plainly there was nobody to take her . Lucinda was angry . It is not pleasant to find yourself forgotten and neglected . It is still less pleasant to walk home alone along a country road , at one o'clock in the morning , wearing a pale green voile . Lucinda was not prepared for such a walk . She had nothing on her feet save thin-soled shoes , and her only wraps were a flimsy fascinator and a short coat . `` What a guy I shall look , stalking home alone in this rig , '' she thought crossly .
There was no help XXXXX it , unless she confessed her plight to some of the stranger guests and begged a drive home .
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