"I must really mend that rent in the curtain tomorrow," she said anxiously, inspecting it as if it were the only thing of any importance just then. "Those curtains have not worn as well as they should, considering the price I paid. Dear me, Charlotta has forgotten to dust the stair railing AGAIN. I really MUSTspeak to her about it."
Anne was sitting on the porch steps when Stephen Irving came down the lane and across the garden.
"This is the one place where time stands still," he said, looking around him with delighted eyes. "There is nothing changed about this house or garden since I was here twenty-five years ago.
It makes me feel young again."
"You know time always does stand still in an enchanted palace," said Anne seriously. "It is only when the prince comes that things begin to happen."Mr. Irving smiled a little sadly into her uplifted face, all astar with its youth and promise.
"Sometimes the prince comes too late," he said. He did not ask Anne to translate her remark into prose. Like all kindred spirits he "understood.""Oh, no, not if he is the real prince coming to the true princess,"said Anne, shaking her red head decidedly, as she opened the parlor door.
When he had gone in she shut it tightly behind him and turned to confront Charlotta the Fourth, who was in the hall, all "nods and becks and wreathed smiles.""Oh, Miss Shirley, ma'am," she breathed, "I peeked from the kitchen window. . .and he's awful handsome. . .and just the right age for Miss Lavendar. And oh, Miss Shirley, ma'am, do you think it would be much harm to listen at the door?""It would be dreadful, Charlotta," said Anne firmly, "so just you come away with me out of the reach of temptation.""I can't do anything, and it's awful to hang round just waiting," sighed Charlotta. "What if he don't propose after all, Miss Shirley, ma'am?
You can never be sure of them men. My older sister, Charlotta the First, thought she was engaged to one once. But it turned out HE had a different opinion and she says she'll never trust one of them again.
And I heard of another case where a man thought he wanted one girl awful bad when it was really her sister he wanted all the time.
When a man don't know his own mind, Miss Shirley, ma'am, how's a poor woman going to be sure of it?""We'll go to the kitchen and clean the silver spoons," said Anne.
"That's a task which won't require much thinking fortunately. . .
for I COULDN'T think tonight. And it will pass the time."It passed an hour. Then, just as Anne laid down the last shining spoon, they heard the front door shut. Both sought comfort fearfully in each other's eyes.
"Oh, Miss Shirley, ma'am," gasped Charlotta, "if he's going away this early there's nothing into it and never will be." They flew to the window.
Mr. Irving had no intention of going away. He and Miss Lavendar were strolling slowly down the middle path to the stone bench.
"Oh, Miss Shirley, ma'am, he's got his arm around her waist,"whispered Charlotta the Fourth delightedly. "He must have proposed to her or she'd never allow it."Anne caught Charlotta the Fourth by her own plump waist and danced her around the kitchen until they were both out of breath.
"Oh, Charlotta," she cried gaily, "I'm neither a prophetess nor the daughter of a prophetess but I'm going to make a prediction.
There'll be a wedding in this old stone house before the maple leaves are red. Do you want that translated into prose, Charlotta?""No, I can understand that," said Charlotta. "A wedding ain't poetry. Why, Miss Shirley, ma'am, you're crying! What for?""Oh, because it's all so beautiful. . .and story bookish. . .and romantic. . .and sad," said Anne, winking the tears out of her eyes. "It's all perfectly lovely. . .but there's a little sadness mixed up in it too, somehow.""Oh, of course there's a resk in marrying anybody," conceded Charlotta the Fourth, "but, when all's said and done, Miss Shirley, ma'am, there's many a worse thing than a husband."
