The little fat fellow was absurdly like Fred -- just as round , just as red . Anne really could not say conscientiously that she thought him beautiful , but she vowed sincerely that he was sweet and kissable and altogether delightful . `` Before he came I wanted a girl , so that I could call her ANNE , '' said Diana . `` But now that little Fred is here I would n't exchange him for a million girls . He just COULD N'T have been anything but his own precious self . '' '' ` Every little baby is the sweetest and the best , ' '' quoted Mrs. Allan gaily . `` If little Anne HAD come you 'd have felt just the same about her . '' Mrs. Allan was visiting in Avonlea , for the first time since leaving it . She was as gay and sweet and sympathetic as ever . Her old girl friends had welcomed her back rapturously . The reigning minister 's wife was an estimable lady , but she was not exactly a kindred spirit . `` I can hardly wait till he gets old enough to talk , '' sighed Diana . `` I just long to hear him say ` mother . ' And oh , I 'm determined that his first memory of me shall be a nice one . The first memory I have of my mother is of her slapping me for something I had done . I am sure I deserved it , and mother was always a good mother and I love her dearly . But I do wish my first memory of her was nicer . '' `` I have just one memory of my mother and it is the sweetest of all my memories , '' said Mrs. Allan . `` I was five years old , and I had been allowed to go to school one day with my two older sisters . When school came out my sisters went home in different groups , each supposing I was with the other .
Instead I had run off XXXXX a little girl I had played with at recess .
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