第88章

But Mr. Irving will take Miss Lavendar away. . .and dear knows what will happen to the little stone house. . .and so there are two sides to it, as there seems to be to everything in this world."The important note was written and Anne herself carried it to the Grafton post office, where she waylaid the mail carrier and asked him to leave it at the Avonlea office.

"It's so very important," Anne assured him anxiously. The mail carrier was a rather grumpy old personage who did not at all look the part of a messenger of Cupid; and Anne was none too certain that his memory was to be trusted. But he said he would do his best to remember and she had to be contented with that.

Charlotta the Fourth felt that some mystery pervaded the stone house that afternoon. . .a mystery from which she was excluded.

Miss Lavendar roamed about the garden in a distracted fashion.

Anne, too, seemed possessed by a demon of unrest, and walked to and fro and went up and down. Charlotta the Fourth endured it till atience ceased to be a virtue; then she confronted Anne on the occasion of that romantic young person's third aimless peregrination through the kitchen.

"Please, Miss Shirley, ma'am," said Charlotta the Fourth, with an indignant toss of her very blue bows, "it's plain to be seen you and Miss Lavendar have got a secret and I think, begging your pardon if I'm too forward, Miss Shirley, ma'am, that it's real mean not to tell me when we've all been such chums.""Oh, Charlotta dear, I'd have told you all about it if it were my secret. . .but it's Miss Lavendar's, you see. However, I'll tell you this much. . .and if nothing comes of it you must never breathe a word about it to a living soul. You see, Prince Charming is coming tonight. He came long ago, but in a foolish moment went away and wandered afar and forgot the secret of the magic pathway to the enchanted castle, where the princess was weeping her faithful heart out for him. But at last he remembered it again and the princess is waiting still. . .because nobody but her own dear prince could carry her off.""Oh, Miss Shirley, ma'am, what is that in prose?" gasped the mystified Charlotta.

Anne laughed.

"In prose, an old friend of Miss Lavendar's is coming to see her tonight.""Do you mean an old beau of hers?" demanded the literal Charlotta.

"That is probably what I do mean. . .in prose," answered Anne gravely.

"It is Paul's father. . .Stephen Irving. And goodness knows what will come of it, but let us hope for the best, Charlotta.""I hope that he'll marry Miss Lavendar," was Charlotta's unequivocal response.

"Some women's intended from the start to be old maids, and I'm afraid I'm one of them, Miss Shirley, ma'am, because I've awful little patience with the men.

But Miss Lavendar never was. And I've been awful worried, thinking what on earth she'd do when I got so big I'd HAVE to go to Boston. There ain't any more girls in our family and dear knows what she'd do if she got some stranger that might laugh at her pretendings and leave things lying round out of their place and not be willing to be called Charlotta the Fifth.

She might get someone who wouldn't be as unlucky as me in breaking dishes but she'd never get anyone who'd love her better."And the faithful little handmaiden dashed to the oven door with a sniff.

They went through the form of having tea as usual that night at Echo Lodge; but nobody really ate anything. After tea Miss Lavendar went to her room and put on her new forget-me-not organdy, while Anne did her hair for her. Both were dreadfully excited;but Miss Lavendar pretended to be very calm and indifferent.