CHAPTER XXVI. MISS CORNELIA GETS A NEW POINT OF VIEW
"Susan, after I'm dead I'm going to come back to earth every time whenthe daffodils blow in this garden," said Anne rapturously. "Nobody maysee me, but I'll be here. If anybody is in the garden at the time--ITHINK I'll come on an evening just like this, but it MIGHT be just atdawn--a lovely, pale-pinky spring dawn--they'll just see the daffodilsnodding wildly as if an extra gust of wind had blown past them, but itwill be _I_."
"Indeed, Mrs. Dr. dear, you will not be thinking of flaunting worldlythings like daffies after you are dead," said Susan. "And I do NOTbelieve in ghosts, seen or unseen."
"Oh, Susan, I shall not be a ghost! That has such a horrible sound. Ishall just be ME. And I shall run around in the twilight, whether it ismorn or eve, and see all the spots I love. Do you remember how badly Ifelt when I left our little House of Dreams, Susan? I thought I couldnever love Ingleside so well. But I do. I love every inch of the groundand every stick and stone on it."
"I am rather fond of the place myself," said Susan, who would have diedif she had been removed from it, "but we must not set our affections toomuch on earthly things, Mrs. Dr. dear. There are such things as firesand earthquakes. We should always be prepared. The Tom MacAllistersover-harbour were burned out three nights ago. Some say Tom MacAllisterset the house on fire himself to get the insurance. That may or may notbe. But I advise the doctor to have our chimneys seen to at once. Anounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But I see Mrs. MarshallElliott coming in at the gate, looking as if she had been sent for andcouldn't go."
"Anne dearie, have you seen the _Journal_ to-day?"
Miss Cornelia's voice was trembling, partly from emotion, partly fromthe fact that she had hurried up from the store too fast and lost herbreath.
Anne bent over the daffodils to hide a smile. She and Gilbert hadlaughed heartily and heartlessly over the front page of the _Journal_that day, but she knew that to dear Miss Cornelia it was almost atragedy, and she must not wound her feelings by any display of levity.
"Isn't it dreadful? What IS to be done?" asked Miss Corneliadespairingly. Miss Cornelia had vowed that she was done with worryingover the pranks of the manse children, but she went on worrying just thesame.
Anne led the way to the veranda, where Susan was knitting, with Shirleyand Rilla conning their primers on either side. Susan was already onher second pair of stockings for Faith. Susan never worried over poorhumanity. She did what in her lay for its betterment and serenely leftthe rest to the Higher Powers.
"Cornelia Elliott thinks she was born to run this world, Mrs. Dr.dear," she had once said to Anne, "and so she is always in a stew oversomething. I have never thought _I_ was, and so I go calmly along. Notbut what it has sometimes occurred to me that things might be run alittle better than they are. But it is not for us poor worms to nourishsuch thoughts. They only make us uncomfortable and do not get usanywhere."
"I don't see that anything can be done--now--" said Anne, pulling outa nice, cushiony chair for Miss Cornelia. "But how in the world did Mr.Vickers allow that letter to be printed? Surely he should have knownbetter."
"Why, he's away, Anne dearie--he's been away to New Brunswick for aweek. And that young scalawag of a Joe Vickers is editing the _Journal_in his absence. Of course, Mr. Vickers would never have put it in, evenif he is a Methodist, but Joe would just think it a good joke. As yousay, I don't suppose there is anything to be done now, only live itdown. But if I ever get Joe Vickers cornered somewhere I'll give hima talking to he won't forget in a hurry. I wanted Marshall to stop oursubscription to the _Journal_ instantly, but he only laughed and saidthat to-day's issue was the only one that had had anything readable init for a year. Marshall never will take anything seriously--just like aman. Fortunately, Evan Boyd is like that, too. He takes it as a joke andis laughing all over the place about it. And he's another Methodist! Asfor Mrs. Burr of Upper Glen, of course she will be furious and they willleave the church. Not that it will be a great loss from any point ofview. The Methodists are quite welcome to THEM."
"It serves Mrs. Burr right," said Susan, who had an old feud with thelady in question and had been hugely tickled over the reference to herin Faith's letter. "She will find that she will not be able to cheat theMethodist parson out of HIS salary with bad yarn."
"The worst of it is, there's not much hope of things getting anybetter," said Miss Cornelia gloomily. "As long as Mr. Meredith wasgoing to see Rosemary West I did hope the manse would soon have aproper mistress. But that is all off. I suppose she wouldn't have him onaccount of the children--at least, everybody seems to think so."
"I do not believe that he ever asked her," said Susan, who could notconceive of any one refusing a minister.
"Well, nobody knows anything about THAT. But one thing is certain,he doesn't go there any longer. And Rosemary didn't look well all thespring. I hope her visit to Kingsport will do her good. She's been gonefor a month and will stay another month, I understand. I can't rememberwhen Rosemary was away from home before. She and Ellen could never bearto be parted. But I understand Ellen insisted on her going this time.And meanwhile Ellen and Norman Douglas are warming up the old soup."
"Is that really so?" asked Anne, laughing. "I heard a rumour of it, butI hardly believed it."
"Believe it! You may believe it all right, Anne, dearie. Nobody is inignorance of it. Norman Douglas never left anybody in doubt as to hisintentions in regard to anything. He always did his courting before thepublic. He told Marshall that he hadn't thought about Ellen for years,but the first time he went to church last fall he saw her and fell inlove with her all over again. He said he'd clean forgot how handsomeshe was. He hadn't seen her for twenty years, if you can believe it. Ofcourse he never went to church, and Ellen never went anywhere elseround here. Oh, we all know what Norman means, but what Ellen means is adifferent matter. I shan't take it upon me to predict whether it will bea match or not."
"He jilted her once--but it seems that does not count with some people,Mrs. Dr. dear," Susan remarked rather acidly.
"He jilted her in a fit of temper and repented it all his life," saidMiss Cornelia. "That is different from a cold-blooded jilting. For mypart, I never detested Norman as some folks do. He could never over-crowME. I DO wonder what started him coming to church. I have never beenable to believe Mrs. Wilsons's story that Faith Meredith went there andbullied him into it. I've always intended to ask Faith herself, but I'venever happened to think of it just when I saw her. What influence couldSHE have over Norman Douglas? He was in the store when I left, bellowingwith laughter over that scandalous letter. You could have heard him atFour Winds Point. 'The greatest girl in the world,' he was shouting.'She's that full of spunk she's bursting with it. And all the oldgrannies want to tame her, darn them. But they'll never be able to doit--never! They might as well try to drown a fish. Boyd, see that youput more fertilizer on your potatoes next year. Ho, ho, ho!' And then helaughed till the roof shook."
"Mr. Douglas pays well to the salary, at least," remarked Susan.
"Oh, Norman isn't mean in some ways. He'd give a thousand withoutblinking a lash, and roar like a Bull of Bashan if he had to pay fivecents too much for anything. Besides, he likes Mr. Meredith's sermons,and Norman Douglas was always willing to shell out if he got his brainstickled up. There is no more Christianity about him than there is abouta black, naked heathen in Africa and never will be. But he's clever andwell read and he judges sermons as he would lectures. Anyhow, it's wellhe backs up Mr. Meredith and the children as he does, for they'll needfriends more than ever after this. I am tired of making excuses forthem, believe ME."
"Do you know, dear Miss Cornelia," said Anne seriously, "I think we haveall been making too many excuses. It is very foolish and we ought tostop it. I am going to tell you what I'd LIKE to do. I shan't do it, ofcourse"--Anne had noted a glint of alarm in Susan's eye--"it would betoo unconventional, and we must be conventional or die, after we reachwhat is supposed to be a dignified age.
But I'd LIKE to do it. I'd liketo call a meeting of the Ladies Aid and W.M.S. and the Girls SewingSociety, and include in the audience all and any Methodists who havebeen criticizing the Merediths--although I do think if we Presbyteriansstopped criticizing and excusing we would find that other denominationswould trouble themselves very little about our manse folks. I wouldsay to them, 'Dear Christian friends'--with marked emphasis on'Christian'--I have something to say to you and I want to say it goodand hard, that you may take it home and repeat it to your families.You Methodists need not pity us, and we Presbyterians need not pityourselves. We are not going to do it any more. And we are going to say,boldly and truthfully, to all critics and sympathizers, 'We are PROUD ofour minister and his family. Mr. Meredith is the best preacher GlenSt. Mary church ever had. Moreover, he is a sincere, earnest teacher oftruth and Christian charity. He is a faithful friend, a judicious pastorin all essentials, and a refined, scholarly, well-bred man. His familyare worthy of him. Gerald Meredith is the cleverest pupil in the Glenschool, and Mr. Hazard says that he is destined to a brilliant career.He is a manly, honourable, truthful little fellow. Faith Meredith isa beauty, and as inspiring and original as she is beautiful. Thereis nothing commonplace about her. All the other girls in the Glen puttogether haven't the vim, and wit, and joyousness and 'spunk' she has.She has not an enemy in the world. Every one who knows her loves her.Of how many, children or grown-ups, can that be said? Una Meredithis sweetness personified. She will make a most lovable woman. CarlMeredith, with his love for ants and frogs and spiders, will some daybe a naturalist whom all Canada--nay, all the world, will delight tohonour. Do you know of any other family in the Glen, or out of it, ofwhom all these things can be said? Away with shamefaced excuses andapologies. We REJOICE in our minister and his splendid boys and girls!"
Anne stopped, partly because she was out of breath after her vehementspeech and partly because she could not trust herself to speak furtherin view of Miss Cornelia's face. That good lady was staring helplesslyat Anne, apparently engulfed in billows of new ideas. But she came upwith a gasp and struck out for shore gallantly.
"Anne Blythe, I wish you WOULD call that meeting and say just that!You've made me ashamed of myself, for one, and far be it from meto refuse to admit it. OF COURSE, that is how we should havetalked--especially to the Methodists. And it's every word of ittrue--every word. We've just been shutting our eyes to the bigworth-while things and squinting them on the little things that don'treally matter a pin's worth. Oh, Anne dearie, I can see a thing whenit's hammered into my head. No more apologizing for Cornelia Marshall!_I_ shall hold MY head up after this, believe ME--though I MAY talkthings over with you as usual just to relieve my feelings if theMerediths do any more startling stunts. Even that letter I felt so badabout--why, it's only a good joke after all, as Norman says. Not manygirls would have been cute enough to think of writing it--and allpunctuated so nicely and not one word misspelled. Just let me hear anyMethodist say one word about it--though all the same I'll never forgiveJoe Vickers--believe ME! Where are the rest of your small fry to-night?"
"Walter and the twins are in Rainbow Valley. Jem is studying in thegarret."
"They are all crazy about Rainbow Valley. Mary Vance thinks it's theonly place in the world. She'd be off up here every evening if I'd lether. But I don't encourage her in gadding. Besides, I miss the creaturewhen she isn't around, Anne dearie. I never thought I'd get so fond ofher. Not but what I see her faults and try to correct them. But she hasnever said one saucy word to me since she came to my house and she isa GREAT help--for when all is said and done, Anne dearie, I am not soyoung as I once was, and there is no sense denying it. I was fifty-ninemy last birthday. I don't FEEL it, but there is no gainsaying the FamilyBible."