parties in question at all. They had come to a clear and distinct understanding of the respective duties and rights of their new arrangements and meant to abide by them.
“I won’t meddle with you nor you with me,” Mrs. Rachel had said decidedly, “and as for the twins, I’ll be glad to do all I can for them; but I won’t undertake to answer Davy’s questions, that’s what. I’m not an encyclopedia, neither am I a Philadelphia lawyer. You’ll miss Anne for that.”
“Sometimes Anne’s answers were about as queer as Davy’s questions,” said Marilla drily. “The twins will miss her and no mistake; but her future can’t be sacrificed to Davy’s thirst for information. When he asks questions I can’t answer I’ll just tell him children should be seen and not heard. That was how I was brought up, and I don’t know but what it was just as good a way as all these new-fangled notions for training children.”
“Well, Anne’s methods seem to have worked fairly well with Davy,” said Mrs. Lynde smilingly. “He is a reformed character, that’s what.”
“He isn’t a bad little soul,” conceded Marilla. “I never expected to get as fond of those children as I have. Davy gets round you somehow . . . and Dora is a lovely child, although she is . . . kind of . . . well, kind of . . .”
“Monotonous? Exactly,” supplied Mrs. Rachel. “Like a book where every page is the same, that’s what. Dora will make a good, reliable woman but
