“Yes, there is need to cry about it!”

“Well, don’t cry anymore. We are not going to let you out at night. You’ll stay here until we ask Mrs. Spencer about this mistake. What’s your name?”

“Can you please call me Cordelia?” she asked.

“Call you Cordelia? Is that your name?”

“No, but I want to be called Cordelia.”

“Tell me your real name.”

“Anne Shirley, but please call me Cordelia, it’s such a romantic name.” she said.

“No, Anne is a good name. Now, Anne, tell me about this mistake. Weren’t there any boys?”

“No, there were many of them, but Mrs. Spencer said you wanted a girl.”

“It’s all because of my hair. But would you keep me if I had brown hair and not red?” asked Anne.

“We need a boy to help Matthew on the farm.”

Marilla gave the girl some food, but she didn’t want to eat.

“I’m very sad. I can’t eat when I’m sad.”

Night came and Marilla put the girl in bed. She told her to change her clothes and went away. Then she came, took the candle and said ‘goodnight’.

“How can you say GOOD night when it’s the worst night?” said the girl. Marilla didn’t know what to say and went away.

“We need to send this girl back,” she said to Matthew.

“Do we really? She seems31 nice.”

“Matthew Cuthbert you don’t think we should keep her?!” said Marilla angrily.

Matthew never had much of a voice32. “Well, I don’t know, but she’s nice and interesting,” he said.

“Well, I’m not going to keep her,” said Marilla.

“As you say, Marilla. I’m going to sleep.”

Exercise: What are these words?

to argue

voice

to seem

candle

answer

Anne woke and sat up in bed. For a moment she couldn’t understand where she was. It was a nice June morning, the sun was shining. She went to open the window and saw a beautiful cherry33 tree next to the house. There were also many other trees in the garden.

Marilla came into the room and told her to dress up. “Breakfast is waiting for you, so get dressed, wash your face, comb34 your hair and come downstairs,” she told.

Anne did all that and went into the kitchen. “I’m so glad the sun is shining,” she said. “The world doesn’t seem35 so grey as yesterday evening. But I also like rainy mornings. All mornings are interesting, don’t you think?”

“Hold your tongue36. Why do you talk so much?” asked Marilla.

The girl stopped talking and didn’t say a word while eating. That was strange. The room was silent37.

“Can you wash the dishes?” asked Marilla.

“I can. I’m better at looking after38 children, but I can wash dishes too.”

She washed the dishes. Then Marilla took Anne and they both went to Mrs. Spencer. Marilla needed to give the girl back. As they went away, Matthew stood there and watched them sadly.

Exercise: What are these words?

to comb

to seem

tongue

silent

look after

Exercise: Choose the right word.

1. Marilla’s friend Mrs. Rachel told her that adopting/imagining a child is a very foolish thing to do.

2. Marilla wanted to bring a strange child home not knowing his parents and not knowing the boy’s whistle/personality.

3. Her face was small and white, she also had candle/freckles.

“Do you know,” said Anne, “I’ve decided to enjoy this ride. I’m not going to think about returning to the children’s home, I’ll just think about the road. Oh, look, there’s a wild rose. Don’t you think it’s nice to be a rose? Wouldn’t it be nice, if flowers talked? Do you know any girl whose hair was black and then turned another color when she grew up?”

“No, I don’t. And I think your hair won’t turn another color either,” said Marilla.

Anne sighed39.

“If you like talking so much, you can tell me what you know about yourself,” said Marilla.

“What I know is not interesting. Let me tell you what I imagine40.”

“No, I don’t want to hear you imagination. Just tell me the facts.”

“I was eleven last March,” said Anne. “I was born in Bolingbroke. My father was a teacher in a high school. My mother was a teacher too. They were poor and lived in a tiny41 house. My mother died of fever42 when I was three months old. And father died of fever too, four days after her.

Mrs. Thomas, the woman who came in to clean, took me and I lived with her and her children for eight years. I looked after 43her children, there were four of them. But Mr. Thomas fell under the train and died. The mother of Mrs. Thomas took her and her children but she didn’t want me.

Then Mrs. Hammond saw that I could be handy44 with children and took me. She had eight children. I lived with them over two years.

Then Mr. Hammond died, Mrs. Hammond became very poor, divided45 her children among her relatives and went to the United States. I went to the children’s house because nobody wanted to take me. They didn’t want to take me either46, they said there were too many children in the children’s house. But they had to take me and I lived there four months before Mrs. Spencer came.”

Anne finished her story.

“Did you go to school?” asked Marilla.

“Not much. I went a little last year when I lived with Mrs. Thomas. But they lived so far away from school and I couldn’t go there in winter. But I can read pretty well and I know a lot of poems by heart.”

“Were those women, Mrs. Thomas and Mrs. Hammond good to you?” asked Marilla, looking at Anne out of the corner of her eye.

“O-o-h,” said Anne. “I’m sure they wanted to be, but it’s hard sometimes when you have to work so much and have so many children. But I’m sure they wanted to be good.”

Marilla didn’t ask questions anymore and they drove in silence. Suddenly, Marilla felt such a pity47 for the child. Poor unloved child, she thought. No wonder the girl wanted a real home. Maybe they could have her, thought the woman again.

She talked too much, thought Marilla. But we can train her out of that. She’s ladylike48.

“What is that big house ahead of us?” asked the girl.

“Hotel. A lot of Americans come here. But the season hasn’t started yet,” said Marilla.

“I was afraid it might be Mrs. Spencer’s house,” said Anne sadly. “I don’t want to go there.”