Instead , it went out with a wild , white bluster and blow . It was one of the nights when the storm-wind hurtles over the frozen meadows and black hollows , and moans around the eaves like a lost creature , and drives the snow sharply against the shaking panes . `` Just the sort of night people like to cuddle down between their blankets and count their mercies , '' said Anne to Jane Andrews , who had come up to spend the afternoon and stay all night . But when they were cuddled between their blankets , in Anne 's little porch room , it was not her mercies of which Jane was thinking . `` Anne , '' she said very solemnly , `` I want to tell you something . May I '' Anne was feeling rather sleepy after the party Ruby Gillis had given the night before . She would much rather have gone to sleep than listen to Jane 's confidences , which she was sure would bore her . She had no prophetic inkling of what was coming . Probably Jane was engaged , too ; rumor averred that Ruby Gillis was engaged to the Spencervale schoolteacher , about whom all the girls were said to be quite wild . `` I 'll soon be the only fancy-free maiden of our old quartet , '' thought Anne , drowsily . Aloud she said , `` Of course . '' `` Anne , '' said Jane , still more solemnly , `` what do you think of my brother Billy ? '' Anne gasped over this unexpected question , and floundered helplessly in her thoughts . Goodness , what DID she think of Billy Andrews ? She had never thought ANYTHING about him -- round-faced , stupid , perpetually smiling , good-natured Billy Andrews . Did ANYBODY ever think about Billy Andrews ? `` I -- I do n't understand , Jane , '' she stammered . `` What do you mean -- exactly ? '' `` Do you like Billy ? '' asked Jane bluntly .
`` Why -- why -- yes , I like him , XXXXX course , '' gasped Anne , wondering if she were telling the literal truth .
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