Anne Of Avonlea - Chapter 28

"Anne of Avonlea" was written by L. M. Montgomery and published in 1909, following the enormous success of Anne of Green Gables the prior year.

In this second book, Anne Shirley is sixteen years old and working in Avonlea as the local schoolteacher, determined to be sensible, responsible and worthy of the life she’s been given.

Chapter 28 brings several quiet endings...and a long-delayed beginning...!

Anne says goodbye to her school and to a chapter of her own life, feeling the ache of parting even as new hopes beckon. Time at Echo Lodge restores Miss Lavendar’s brightness, while Paul’s greatest wish is unexpectedly fulfilled...

Old romance, long asleep, stirs again as past and present meet. With Anne acting as delighted witness and messenger, the enchanted palace opens its doors at last...

Find the full playlist for Anne of Avonlea here on Insight Timer.

Transcript

Hello there,

Thank you so much for joining me for this continued reading of Anne of Avonlea,

The delightful sequel to Anne of Green Gables.

This book was published in 1909 by Canadian author Lucy Moore Montgomery.

If you've already been listening along you'll know that we're hearing about Anne Shirley as a little bit older teenager working in her community as a school teacher,

Helping out with various projects.

If you haven't already heard the preceding parts of this book and you'd like to,

You can certainly look for the playlist for Anne of Avonlea and you'll find all the chapters there in order.

It makes it a lot easier to keep track of where you're at and to move from one part to the next,

But for now let's just take a moment here to have a nice deep exhale,

Letting go of the day,

Letting go of whichever baggage we might be bringing along with us into this moment.

For right now there's nowhere else we have to go,

Nothing else we have to be doing,

So we can just relax,

Get ourselves comfortable and enjoy the ongoing sweet old tale of Anne of Avonlea.

Chapter 28.

The Prince comes back to the Enchanted Palace.

The last day of school came and went.

A triumphant semi-annual examination was held and Anne's pupils acquitted themselves splendidly.

At the close they gave her an address and a writing desk.

All the girls and ladies present cried and some of the boys had it cast up to them later on that they cried too,

Although they always denied it.

Mrs Harmon Andrews,

Mrs Peter Sloane and Mrs William Bell walked home together and talked things over.

I do think it is such a pity Anne is leaving when the children seem so much attached to her,

Sighed Mrs Peter Sloane,

Who had a habit of sighing over everything and even finished off her jokes that way.

To be sure,

She added hastily,

We all know we'll have a good teacher next year too.

Jane will do her duty,

I've no doubt,

Said Mrs Andrews rather stiffly.

I don't suppose she'll tell the children quite so many fairy tales or spend so much time roaming about the woods with them,

But she has her name on the inspector's roll of honour and the Newbridge people are in a terrible state over her leaving.

I'm real glad Anne is going to college,

Said Mrs Bell.

She has always wanted it and it will be a splendid thing for her.

Well,

I don't know,

Mrs Andrews was determined not to agree fully with anybody that day.

I don't see that Anne needs any more education.

She'll probably be marrying Gilbert Blythe if his infatuation for her lasts till he gets through college and what good will Latin and Greek do her then?

If they taught you at college how to manage a man,

There might be some sense in her going,

Mrs Harmon Andrews,

So avidly gossip whispered,

Had never learned how to manage her man and as a result the Andrews household was not exactly a model of domestic happiness.

I see that the Charlottetown call to Mr Alan is up before the presbytery,

Said Mrs Bell.

That means we'll be losing him soon,

I suppose.

They're not going before September,

Said Mrs Sloan.

It will be a great loss to the community.

Though I always did think that Mrs Alan dressed rather too gay for a minister's wife,

But we are none of us perfect.

Did you notice how neat and snug Mr Harrison looked today?

I never saw such a changed man.

He goes to church every Sunday and has subscribed to the salary.

Hasn't that Paul Irving grown to be a big boy,

Said Mrs Andrews.

He was such a mite for his age when he came here.

I declare I hardly knew him today.

He's getting to look a lot like his father.

He's a smart boy,

Said Mrs Bell.

He's smart enough,

But Mrs Andrews lowered her voice.

I believe he tells queer stories.

Gracie came home from school one day last week with the greatest rigmarole he had told her about people who lived down at the shore.

Stories there couldn't be a word of truth in,

You know.

I told Gracie not to believe them,

And she said Paul didn't intend her to,

But if he didn't,

What did he tell them to her for?

Anne says Paul is a genius,

Said Mrs Sloan.

He may be.

You never know what to expect of them Americans,

Said Mrs Andrews.

Mrs Andrews' only acquaintance with the word genius was derived from the colloquial fashion of calling any eccentric individual a queer genius.

She probably thought,

With Mary Jo,

That it meant a person with something wrong in his upper story.

Back in the schoolroom,

Anne was sitting alone at her desk,

As she had sat on the first day of school two years before.

Her face leaning on her hand,

Her dewy eyes looking wistfully out of the window to the lake of shining waters.

Her heart was so wrung over the parting with her pupils that,

For a moment,

College had lost all its charm.

She still felt the clasp of Annette Bell's arms about her neck,

And heard the childish wail,

I'll never love any teacher as much as you,

Miss Shirley,

Never,

Never.

For two years,

She had worked earnestly and faithfully,

Making many mistakes and learning from them.

She had had her reward.

She had taught her scholars something,

But she felt that they had taught her much more.

Lessons of tenderness,

Self-control,

Innocent wisdom,

Law of childish hearts.

Perhaps she had not succeeded in inspiring any wonderful ambitions in her pupils,

But she had taught them,

More by her own sweet personality than by all her careful precepts,

That it was good and necessary,

In the years that were before them,

To live their lives finely and graciously,

Holding fast to truth and courtesy and kindness,

Keeping aloof from all that savoured of falsehood and meanness and vulgarity.

They were,

Perhaps,

All unconscious of having learned such lessons,

But they would remember and practice them long after they had forgotten the capital of Afghanistan and the dates of the Wars of the Roses.

Another chapter in my life is closed,

Said Anne aloud,

As she locked her desk.

She really felt very sad over it,

But the romance in the idea of that closed chapter did comfort her a little.

Anne spent a fortnight at Echo Lodge,

Early in her vacation,

And everybody concerned had a good time.

She took Miss Lavender on a shopping expedition to town and persuaded her to buy a new organdy dress.

Then came the excitement of cutting and making it together,

While the happy Charlotte of the Forth basted and swept up clippings.

Miss Lavender had complained that she could not feel much interest in anything,

But the sparkle came back to her eyes over her pretty dress.

What a foolish,

Frivolous person I must be,

She sighed.

I'm wholesomely ashamed to think that a new dress,

Even it is a forget-me-not organdy,

Should exhilarate me so.

When a good conscience and an extra contribution to foreign missions couldn't do it.

Midway in her visit,

Anne went home to Green Gables for a day to mend the twins' stockings and settle up Davy's accumulated store of questions.

In the evening,

She went down to the shore road to see Paul Irving.

As she passed by the low square window of the Irving sitting room,

She caught a glimpse of Paul on somebody's lap,

But the next moment he came flying through the hall.

Oh Miss Shirley,

He cried excitedly,

You can't think what has happened.

Something so splendid.

Father is here.

Just think of that.

Father is here.

Come right in.

Father,

This is my beautiful teacher.

You know,

Father.

Stephen Irving came forward to meet Anne with a smile.

He was a tall,

Handsome man of middle age with iron grey hair,

Deep set,

Dark blue eyes,

And a strong,

Sad face.

Splendidly modelled about chin and brow.

Just the face for a hero of romance.

Anne thought with a thrill of intense satisfaction.

It was so disappointing to meet someone who ought to be a hero and find him bald or stooped or otherwise lacking in manly beauty.

Anne would have thought it dreadful if the object of Miss Lavender's romance had not looked the part.

So this is my little son's beautiful teacher of whom I have heard so much,

Said Mr Irving with a hearty handshake.

Paul's letters have been so full of you Miss Shirley that I feel as if I were pretty well acquainted with you already.

I want to thank you for what you have done for Paul.

I think that your influence has been just what he needed.

Mother is one of the best and dearest of women but her robust,

Matter-of-fact,

Scotch common-sense could not always understand a temperament like my laddie's.

What was lacking in her,

You have supplied.

Between you,

I think Paul's training in these two past years has been as nearly ideal as a motherless boy's could be.

Everybody likes to be appreciated.

Under Mr Irving's praise,

Anne's face burst flower-like into rosy bloom and the busy,

Weary man of the world,

Looking at her,

Thought he had never seen a fairer,

Sweeter slip of girlhood than this little down east school teacher with her red hair and wonderful eyes.

Paul sat between them,

Blissfully happy.

I never dreamed father was coming,

He said radiantly.

Even grandma didn't know it.

It was a great surprise.

As a general thing,

Paul shook his brown curls gravely,

I don't like to be surprised.

You lose all the fun of expecting things when you're surprised but in a case like this,

It is all right.

Father came last night after I had gone to bed and after grandma and Mary Jo had stopped being surprised,

He and grandma came upstairs to look at me,

Not meaning to wake me up till morning,

But I woke right up and saw father.

I tell you,

I just sprang at him.

With a hug like a bear's,

Said Mr Irving,

Putting his arms around Paul's shoulder smilingly.

I hardly knew my boy,

He had grown so big and brown and sturdy.

I don't know which was the most pleased to see father,

Grandma or I,

Continued Paul.

Grandma's been in kitchen all day making the things father likes to eat.

She wouldn't trust them to Mary Jo,

She says,

That's her way of showing gladness.

I like best just to sit and talk to father.

But I'm going to leave you for a little while now,

If you'll excuse me,

I must get the cows for Mary Jo,

That is one of my daily duties.

When Paul had scampered away to do his daily duty,

Mr Irving talked to Anne of various matters,

But Anne felt that he was thinking of something else underneath all the time.

Presently,

It came to the surface.

In Paul's last letter,

He spoke of going with you to visit an old friend of mine,

Miss Lewis,

At the Stone House in Grafton.

Do you know her well?

Yes,

Indeed,

She is a very dear friend of mine,

Was Anne's demure reply,

Which gave no hint of the sudden thrill that tingled over her from head to foot.

At Mr Irving's question,

Anne felt instinctively that romance was peeping at her around a corner.

Mr Irving rose and went to the window,

Looking out on a great golden billowing sea,

Where a wild wind was harping.

For a few moments,

There was silence in the little dark walled room.

Then he turned and looked down into Anne's sympathetic face with a smile,

Half whimsical,

Half tender.

I wonder how much you know,

He said.

I know all about it,

Replied Anne promptly.

You see,

She explained hastily,

Miss Lavender and I are very intimate.

She wouldn't tell things of such a sacred nature to everybody.

We are kindred spirits.

Yes,

I believe you are.

Well,

I am going to ask a favour of you.

I would like to go and see Miss Lavender,

If she will let me.

Will you ask her if I may come?

Would she not?

Oh,

Indeed she would.

Yes,

This was romance.

The very,

The real thing,

With all the charm of rhyme and story and dream.

It was a little belated,

Perhaps,

Like a rose blooming in October,

Which should have bloomed in June.

But nonetheless,

A rose,

All sweetness and fragrance,

With the gleam of gold in its heart.

Never did Anne's feet bear her on a more willing errand than on that walk through the to Grafton the next morning.

She found Miss Lavender in the garden.

Anne was fearfully excited.

Her hands grew cold and her voice trembled.

Miss Lavender,

I have something to tell you.

Something very important.

Can you guess what it is?

Anne never supposed that Miss Lavender could guess.

But Miss Lavender's face grew very pale and Miss Lavender said in a quiet,

Still voice,

From which all the colour and sparkle that Miss Lavender's voice usually suggested had faded.

Stephen Irving is home.

How did you know?

Who told you?

Cried Anne disappointedly,

Vexed that her great revelation had been anticipated.

Nobody.

I knew that must be it,

Just from the way you spoke.

He wants to come and see you,

Said Anne.

May I send him word that he may?

Yes,

Of course,

Fluttered Miss Lavender.

There is no reason why he shouldn't.

He is only coming as any old friend might.

Anne had her own opinion about that as she hastened into the house to write a note at Miss Lavender's desk.

Oh,

It's delightful to be living in a storybook,

She thought gaily.

It will come out all right,

Of course.

It must.

And Paul will have a mother after his own heart and everybody will be happy.

But Mr Irving will take Miss Lavender 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.

Charlotte IV felt that some mystery pervaded the stone house that afternoon,

A mystery from which she was excluded.

Miss Lavender 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.

Charlotte IV endured it till patience 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 Charlotte IV with an indignant toss of her very blue bows.

It's plain to be seen you and Miss Lavender 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,

Charlotte,

Dear,

I'd have told you all about it if it were my secret,

But it's Miss Lavender'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 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 Charlotte and laughed.

In prose,

An old friend of Miss Lavender's is coming to see her tonight.

Do you mean an old beau of hers,

Demanded the literal Charlotte.

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,

Charlotte.

I hope that he'll marry Miss Lavender,

Was Charlotte'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 Lavender 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 around out of their place and not be willing to be called Charlotte of 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 Lavender went to her room and put on her new forget-me-not organdy while Anne did her hair for her.

Both were dreadfully excited,

Excited.

But Miss Lavender pretended to be very calm and indifferent.

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,

Charlotte has forgotten to dust the stair railing again.

I really must speak 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 25 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 a star 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 parlour door.

When he had gone in,

She shut it tightly behind him and turned to confront Charlotte IV,

Who was in the hall,

All nods and becks and wreathed smiles.

Oh,

Miss Shirley-Mum,

She breathed.

I peeked from the kitchen window and he's awful handsome and just the right age for Miss Lavender.

And,

Oh,

Miss Shirley-Mum,

Do you think it would be much harm to listen at the door?

It would be dreadful,

Charlotte,

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 around just waiting,

Sighed Charlotte.

What if he don't propose after all,

Miss Shirley-Mum?

You can never be sure of them men.

My older sister,

Charlotte I,

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-Mum,

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-Mum,

Gasped Charlotte,

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 Lavender were strolling slowly down the middle path to the stone bench.

Oh,

Miss Shirley-Mum,

He's got his arm around her waist,

Whispered Charlotte the Fourth delightedly.

He must have proposed to her or she'd never allow it.

Anne caught Charlotte the Fourth by her own plump waist and danced her around the kitchen until they were both out of breath.

Oh,

Charlotte,

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,

Charlotte?

No,

I can understand that,

Said Charlotte.

A wedding ain't poetry.

Why,

Miss Shirley-Mum,

You're crying.

What for?

Because it's all so beautiful and storybookish and romantic and romantic.

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 risk in marrying anybody,

Conceded Charlotte the Fourth.

But when all's said and done,

Miss Shirley-Mum,

There's many a worse thing than husband.

Reviews

Uh oh. Left us on a bit of a cliffhanger😮. Hope the next chapter is a yes!!

Oooh, how exciting! I wonder what will happen next?