7 Anne's House Of Dreams

Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. Montgomery is a novel published in 1917. The story follows Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe as newlyweds, beginning their life together in Four Winds, Prince Edward Island. In their seaside home, they meet unforgettable neighbours, including a lighthouse keeper, an outspoken spinster, and a woman trapped in a tragic marriage.
In this episode, they meet Captain Jim a kindred spirit.
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Transcript

Welcome to sleep stories with Steph your go-to podcast. That offers you a calm and relaxing transition. Into a great night's sleep. It is time to relax and fully let go. There is nothing you need to be doing now. And know where you need to go. Close your eyes. And feel yourself sink into the support beneath you. And let all the worries of the day go. Drift away. This is your time. And your space. Take a deep breath in through your nose. And let it out with a long sigh. That's it! There is nothing you need to be doing now. And know where you need to go. Happy listening. Chapter 7 The Schoolmaster's Bride Who was the first bride who came to this house, Captain Jim? Asked Anne as they sat round the fireplace after supper. Was she the part of the story I've heard was connected with this house? " asked Gilbert. Someone told me you could tell it, Captain Jim. Well, Yes, I know it. I reckon I'm the only person living in Four Winds now that can remember the schoolmas as bright as she was when she came to the island. She's been dead this thirty year. But she was one of them women you never forget. Tell us the story, Pleaded Anne. I want to find out all about the women who've lived in this house before me. Well, There's just been three. Elizabeth Russell, Mrs Ned Russell and the schoolmaster's bride. Elizabeth Russell was a nice clever little critter, And Mrs. Ned was a nice woman too, But they weren't ever like the schoolmaster's bride. The schoolmaster's name was John Selwyn. He came out from the old country to teach school at the Glen when I was a boy of 16. He wasn't much like the usual run of derelicts who used to come out to PEI. Most of them were clever, Drunken critters who taught the children the three R's when they were sober and lambasted them when they wasn't. But John Selwyn was a fine, Handsome young fellow. He boarded at my father's and he and me were cronies, Though he was ten years older than me. We read and walked and talked a heap together. He knew all about the poetry that was ever written, I reckon, And he used to quote it to me along the shore. Dad thought it an awful waste of time, But he sort of endured it, Hoping it'd put me off the notion of going to sea. Well, Nothing could do that. Mother come of a race of sea-going folk and it was born in me. But I love to hear John read and recite. It's almost 60 years ago now, But I could repeat yards of poetry I learned from him. Captain Jim was silent for a space, Gazing into the glowing fire in the quest of the bygones. Then with a sigh he resumed his story. I remember one spring evening I met him on the sand hills. He looks sort of uplifted, Just like you did, Dr. Blythe, When you brought Mistress Blythe in tonight. I thought of him the minute I seen you. And he told me he had a sweetheart back home when she was coming out to him. I wasn't more than half pleased. That young lump of selfishness I was, I thought he wouldn't be as much my friend after she came. But I had enough decency not to let him see it, And he told me all about her. Her name was Percis Leigh, And she would have come out with him if it hadn't been for her old uncle. He was sick, And he'd look after her when her parents died. And she wouldn't leave him and now he was dead and she was coming out to marry John Selwyn. Wasn't no easy journey for a woman in them days. There weren't no steamers, You must recollect. When do you expect her? Says I. She sails on the Royal William the 20th in June, Says he. And so she shall be here by mid-July. I must send Carpenter Johnson to build me a home for her. Her letter came today. I know before I opened it, Being good news for me, I saw her a few nights ago. I didn't understand it then, And he explained. He said he had a gift or a curse. Them were his words, Mistress Blythe. A gift or a curse, He didn't know which one it was. He had a great-great-grandmother had it. And they burned her for a witch on account of it. He said queer spells, Trances I think the name he was, He gave them, Came over him now and again. Oh, They're such things, Doctor. There are people who certainly are subject to trances. Answered Gilbert. The matter is more in line of the psychical research than medical. What were the chances of this John Selwyn life? Like dreams. He said he could see things in them. Mind you, I'm telling you just what he said. Things that were happening, Things that were going to happen, He said. They were sometimes a comfort to him and sometimes a horror. Four nights before he'd been into one, He went into it when he was looking into a fire and he saw an old room he knew well in England. And Percy's Lee holding out her hands to him and looking glad and happy. So he knew he was going to hear good news about it. A dream? Likely, " conceded Captain Jim. That's what I said to him at the time. It was vast more comfortable to think of it as such. I didn't like the idea of him seeing things like that. It was real uncanny. No, I didn't dream it. But we won't talk of this again, Says he. You won't be so much my friend if you think about it. I told him. Couldn't make me any less his friend. But he just shook his head, Says he. Lad, I know I've lost friends before because of this. I don't blame them. There are times when I feel hardly friendly to myself because of it. But such a power has a bit of divinity in it. Whether of good or an evil divinity, Who shall say? Them was his words. I think I understand, " whispered Anne. She was listening in her old attitude of clasped lips and shining eyes. Captain Jim treated himself to an admiring smile before he went on. Well, Pretty soon all the Glen and Four Winds people knew the schoolmaster's bride was coming. They were glad because they thought so much of him. And everyone took an interest in his new house. This house. He picked this site for him because you could see this harbour and you could see the sea from it. He made the garden out there for his bride, But he didn't plant the lombardies. Ned Russell planted them. But there's a double row of rose bushes in the garden that the little girls who went to the Glen School set out there. Just for the schoolmaster's bride. He said they were pink for her chips and white for her brow and red for her lips. He quoted poetry so much he sorta got into the habit of talking it too, I reckon. Almost everyone sent him some little present to help the furnishing of the house. This little house was rich in love. And when the Russells came into it, They were well to do and furnished it real handsome. But the first furniture was plain enough. The women scented quilts and tablecloths and towels, And one man made a chest for her and another a table. Even blind old Aunt Margaret Boyd wove a little basket out of the sweet-scented sandhill grass. The schoolmaster's wife used it for years to keep her handkerchiefs in. When at last everything was ready, Even up to the logs in the big fireplace. It wasn't exactly this fireplace. Miss Elizabeth had this pudding when she made the house over 15 years ago. It was a big old-fashioned fireplace those days where you could have roasted an ox. Many's the time I've sat here and spun yards, Same as I'm doing tonight. Again there was a silence, While Captain Jim kept a passing tryst with visitors Anne and Gilbert could not see. The folks who had sat with him round that fireplace in the vanished years. It was the first of July when the house was finished, He continued. The schoolmaster began to count the days then. We used to see him walking along the shore and we'd say to each other, She'll soon be here with him now. She was expected the middle of July, But when that came and she didn't come. . . No one felt anxious. Vessels were often delayed for days and maybe weeks. The royal William was a week overdue then, And so two, And then three. At last we began to be frightened and it got worse and worse. Finally, I couldn't bear to look in John Solwyn's eyes. Do you know, Mistress Blythe, I used to think they looked just like what his old great-great-grandmothers must have been when they were burning her to death. He never said much, But he taught school like a man in a dream and hurried to the shore. Many a night he walked there from dark till dawn. People said he was losing his mind. Everyone had given up hope. It was the middle of September and the schoolmaster's bride hadn't come. Never would come, We thought. There was a big storm there that lasted three days and on the evening after it died away I went to the shore. I found the schoolmaster there, Leaning with his arms folded against a big rock, Gazing out to the sea. I spoke to him, But he didn't answer. His eyes seemed to be looking at something I couldn't see. His face was set like a dead man's. John, I called out, Just like that, Just like a frightened child. Wake up, Wake up, John. That strange, Awful look seemed to sort of fade out of his eyes. He turned his head towards me and said, All is well, Lad. I've seen the Royal William coming round East Point. She'll be here by dawn. Tomorrow night I shall sit with my bride by my own hearth fire. Do you think he did see it? Demanded Captain Jim abruptly. God knows, Said Gilbert softly. Great love and great pain might compass we know not what marvels. I'm sure he did see it, To them earnestly. Because you know, Sir Captain Jim, The Royal William came into Four Winds Harbour at daylight the next morning. Every soul in the glen and along the shore was at the old wharf to meet her. The schoolmaster had been watching there all night, How we cheered as she sailed up the channel. And Purser's Lee was on board, Asked Dan. Yes, Her and the captain's wife. They'd had an awful passage, Storm after storm. Their parishes gave out too, But they were there at last. When Persis Leigh stepped onto the old wall of John Sullivan, He took her in his arms and the folks stopped cheering and began to cry. I cried myself, Though it was years, Mind you, Before I'd admitted. Ain't it funny how ashamed boys are of tears? Was Percy's Lee beautiful? I'll stand. Well now, I don't know what you call a beautiful exactly. Somehow you never got so far along as to wonder if she was being handsome or not. It just didn't matter. There was something so sweet and winsome about her. You had to love her. That was all. But she was pleasant to look at. Big, Clear, Hazel eyes, Heaps of glossy brown hair and English skin. John and her were married at our house that night at early candle lightning. Everyone from far and near was there to see it. Mistress Selwyn lighted the fire. We went away and left them sitting there, Just as John had seen in that vision of his. It's a dear story, " said Anne, Feeling that for once she'd got enough romance to satisfy her. How long did they live here? 15 years. I ran off to sea after they were married like the young scallywag I was. But every time I came back from the voyage, I'd heard for here. Even before I went home, I'd heard Mistress Selwyn tell all about it. Fifteen happy years. Some folks are like that, You know. They couldn't be unhappy for long, No matter what happened. They quarreled once or twice, For they was both high-spirited. But Mistress Selwyn says to me once, Says she, Laughing in that pretty way of hers, I felt dreadful when John and I quarreled. But underneath it all I was very happy because I had such a nice husband to quarrel with. They moved to Charlottetown after that and Ned Russell bought this house and his bride here. They were a gay young pair as I remember them. She came to live with them a year or so later, Miss Elizabeth Russell. She was Alec's sister. She was a creature of mirth, Too. The walls of this house must be sodder-soaked with laughing and good times, You know. You're the third bride I've seen come here, Mistress Blythe. I'm the handsomest. Captain Jim contrived to give his sunflower compliment the delicacy of a violet, And Anne wore it proudly. She was looking her best that night, With a bridal rose on her cheeks and the love light in her eyes. Even gruff old Doctor Dave gave her an approving glance and told his wife as they drove home together that that red-headed wife of the boys was something of a beauty. Now I must be getting back to the line. And now it's Captain Jim. I've enjoyed this evening something tremendous. You must come to see us often, " said Anne. I wonder if you'd get that invitation if you knew how likely I'd accept it. Which is another way of saying, If you wonder if I mean it, Smiled Anne, I do, Cross my heart, As we used to say at school. Then I'll come. You're likely to be pestered with me at any hour, And I'll be proud to have you drop down and visit me again too. Generally I haven't seen anyone to talk of but the first mate bless his sociable heart. He's a mighty good listener, And he's forgotten more than any MacAllister of them ever knew. But he ain't much of a conversationalist. You're young and I'm old. But our souls are about the same age, I reckon. We both belong to the race that knows Joseph, As Cornelia Bryant would say. The race that knows Joseph. Puzzle that. Yeah, Cornelia divides all the folks in the world into two kinds. The race that knows Joseph and the race that don't. If a person sort of sees eye to eye with you and has pretty much the same idea about things and the same taste in jokes. . . Why, Then he belongs to the race that knows Joseph. I understand! " exclaimed Anne, Light breaking in upon her. It's what I used to call. . . Kindred spirits. Just so, Agreed Captain Jim. Well, We are that, Whatever it is. When you came in tonight, Mistress Blythe, I said to myself, Says I, She's of the race that knows Joseph. And mighty glad was I, For it wasn't so we couldn't have any real satisfaction in each other's company. The race that knows Joseph is the salt of the earth, I reckon. The moon had just risen when Anne and Gilbert went to the door with their guests. For Wins Harbour was beginning to be a thing of a dream and glamour and enchantment. What a beautiful night, Said Mrs Doctor Dave as she climbed into the Doctor's buggy. Most nights are beautiful, " said Captain Jim. But I love that moonlight over four winds. Makes me sort of wonder what's left for heaven. Moon's a great friend of mine, Mistress Blythe. I loved her ever since I can remember. When I was a little chap of eight, I fell asleep in the garden one evening and wasn't missed. I woke up alongside the night and was scared to death with shadows and queer noises. I didn't move. Then all at once I saw the moon looking down at me through the apple boughs just like an old friend, And I was comforted right off. The laughter of the good nights then died away. Anne and Gilbert walked hand in hand around their garden. The brook that ran across the corner dimpled in the shadows of the birches. The poppies along its banks were like shallow cups of moonlight, And flowers that had been planted by the hands of the schoolmaster's bride flung their sweetness on the shadowy air, Like the beauty and blessing of sacred yesterdays. And paused in the gloom to gather a spray. I love to smell flowers in the dark, " she said. You can get hold of their soul then. Oh Gilbert, This little house is all I've dreamed it. And I'm so glad that we're not the first who have kept Bridal Tryst here.