The young girls were merrier and noisier than usual . Wilhelmina Mercer was there , and she kept them going . The Mercers were quite new to Avonlea , having come here only two months previously . I was sitting by the window and Wilhelmina Mercer , Maggie Henderson , Susette Cross and Georgie Hall were in a little group just before me . I was n't listening to their chatter at all , but presently Georgie exclaimed teasingly : `` Miss Charlotte is laughing at us . I suppose she thinks we are awfully silly to be talking about beaux . '' The truth was that I was simply smiling over some very pretty thoughts that had come to me about the roses which were climbing over Mary Gillespie 's sill . I meant to inscribe them in the little blank book when I went home . Georgie 's speech brought me back to harsh realities with a jolt . It hurt me , as such speeches always did . `` Did n't you ever have a beau , Miss Holmes ? '' said Wilhelmina laughingly . Just as it happened , a silence had fallen over the room for a moment , and everybody in it heard Wilhelmina 's question . I really do not know what got into me and possessed me . I have never been able to account for what I said and did , because I am naturally a truthful person and hate all deceit . It seemed to me that I simply could not say `` No '' to Wilhelmina before that whole roomful of women . It was TOO humiliating . I suppose all the prickles and stings and slurs I had endured for fifteen years on account of never having had a lover had what the new doctor calls `` a cumulative effect '' and came to a head then and there . `` Yes , I had one once , my dear , '' I said calmly . For once in my life I made a sensation .
Every woman in that room stopped sewing and stared XXXXX me .
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