Anne's House of Dreams

g with stars. No storm marred it, no rough wind blew. Anne and Gilbert put their nest in order, rambled on the shores, sailed on the harbor, drove about Four Winds and

ldn't it?" said Anne. "I don't suppose we will ever have four such perfect weeks again-but we've HAD them. Everything-wind, weath

quarrelled once,

o glad we decided to spend our honeymoon here. Our memories of it will always belon

was ever in her ears. Vessels sailed up the harbor every day to the wharf at the Glen, or sailed out again through the sunset, bound for ports that might be half way round the globe. Fishing boats went white-winged down the channel in the mornings, and returned laden in the evenings. Sailors and fisher-folk travelled the red, winding harbor roads, light-hearted and co

s when it is born in you. I don't wonder Captain Jim ran away because of it. I never see a ship sailing out of the channel, or a gull soaring over the sand-bar, w

" said Gilbert lazily. "I won't have you fl

ky. Silvery gulls were soaring over them. The horizons were laced with long trails of frail, pinkish clouds. The hushed air was threaded

dventurous, I suppose," Anne said indulgently. "If you had had a good sleep

Four Winds before. I doubt if it was ever tried anywhere before outside of a hospital. It was a new thing in Kingsport hospital last winter. I could never have dared try it here if I had not been absolutely certain that there was no other chance. I risked it-and it succeeded. As a result, a good wife and mother is saved for long years of happiness and usef

e?" asked Anne, who knew perfectly well what the substa

moment there were certainly two perfectly happy people sitting on

e of tone, "Do I or do I not see a f

ked and

ornelia Bryant or Mrs. Moor

'll eavesdrop," said Gilbert. "From all I've heard regarding Miss Cornel

be Mrs

and, though I was too far away to see clearly, I thought she was rather slender. She doesn't seem

curiosity would have brought her," said Ann

tember breezes, by a tight elastic band under her hard little knob of fair hair. No hat pins for Miss Cornelia, an it please ye! Elastic bands had been good enough for her mother and they were good enough for HER. She had a fresh, round, pink-and-white face, and jolly brown eyes. She did not lo

dignified and suitably garbed in it. Had Miss Cornelia been entering a palace to call on a prince's bride, she would have been just as dignified and just as wholly mistress of the situation. She would have trailed her rose-spattered

rked, unrolling some dainty material. "I'm in a hurry

It was certainly a baby's dress, and it was most beautifully made, with tiny frills and t

ime or strength or spirit to make any more. That woman is a martyr, Mrs. Blythe, believe ME. When she married Fred Proctor I knew how it would turn out. He was one of your wicked, fascinating men. After he got married he left o

a was the only neighbor who troubled herself

to make some things for it," Miss Cornelia went on

t my sewing and we'll have a little thimble party

believe ME! I s'pose I'm a fool, to be putting hand embroidery on this dress for an eighth baby. But, Lord, Mrs. Blythe, dearie, it isn't to blame for being the eighth, and I

said Anne, feeling still more strongly

xtra hands hanging round, eating more'n they work, just like the men. I'd have come yesterday, but I went to Mrs. Roderick MacAllister's funeral. At first I thou

on?" asked Anne, noticing t

e door of a church, singing 'Safe in the Arms of Jesus' with great gusto and fervor. He glories in singing-that's why he never misses a funeral. Poor Mrs. Bradshaw didn't look much like singing-all wore out slaving. Old Joe starts out once in a while to buy her a present and brings hom

t church last Sunday eve

he Methodist church once in a while or

oldly. "And I thought the Methodist minster's pr

beautiful prayers than old Simon Bentley, who was always drunk,

fine looking," said Anne, for

falls in love with him-as if a Methodist minister, wandering about like any Jew, was such a prize! If you and the young doc

go to heaven as well as Presbyt

ve to do in heaven. THIS Methodist minister isn't married. The last one they had was, and his wife was the silliest, flightiest little thing I ever saw. I told

ide just when people ARE

t grown up when they're eighty, believe ME. That same Mrs. Roderick I was speakin

hy she lived so lon

ive fifty sensible years t

world it would be if everyon

ined any skirmish o

ephew, Ebenezer Milgrave, used to be insane for years. He believed he was de

etermined that Anne could almost

ANY good husband

lia, waving her hand through the open window towards

about in the flesh

there, if he's caught young and trained up proper, and if his mother has spanked him well beforehand, may turn out a decent being. YOUR husband, now, is

t," said An

ied that there wasn't anybody like HER husband in the world. And she was right-there wasn't! And a good t

octor in the world. Doctor Dave hadn't much tact, to be sure-he was always talking of ropes in houses where someone had hanged himself. But folks forgot their hurt feelings when they had a pain in their stomachs. If he'd been a min

I-well," hes

rnelia

ow much milk would you get from the apple tree, or how many apples from the cow?' Did you ever hear the like in your born days, dearie? I was so thankful there were no Methodists there that day-they'd never have been done hooting over it. But what I dislike most in him is his habit of agreeing with everybody, no matter what is said. If you said to him, 'You're a scoundrel,' he'd say, with that smooth smile of his, 'Yes, that's so.' A minister should have more backbone. The long and the short of it is, I consider him a reverend jackass. But, of course, this is just be

te the men so,

I think I'll like YOUR husband if he keeps on as he has begun. But apart from him a

tainly splendid," a

've tried for twenty years and he just keeps on being placid. It does sort of rile me. An

was

She was a great beauty when she was young. The year the Prince of Wales came to the Island she was visiting her uncle in Charlottetown and he was a Government official, and so she got invited to the great ball. She was the prettiest girl there, and the Prince danced with her, and all the other women he didn't dance with were furious about it, because their social standing was higher than hers and they said he shouldn't have passed them over. Elizabeth was always very proud of that dance. Mean folks said that was why sh

temper myself

den on, believe ME! My, how that golden glow of yours is blooming!

ant to get a man to dig up that little lot beyond the fir grove and set it out with strawberry plant

nterested in his wages than in his work, just like a man, and he's so slow in the uptake that he stands still

got over it. But he's the only one I can recommend at all. He painted

by the clock

lia. "How time does slip by when you're enjoy

g to stay and have tea wi

k you ought to, or because you real

I really

U belong to the rac

said Anne, with the smile that only t

latives as they are, and be thankful if there are no penitentiary birds among them. Not

ful note in Miss

cept my husband, calls me Mrs. Blythe, and it makes me feel like a stranger. Do you know that your name is very ne

ion. If you're going to get tea you might send the young doctor to talk to me. He's been lying

st at this instance of Miss Cornelia's u

n's tricks," retorted Miss Cornelia. "There, I've finished my little