Page:Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920).djvu/50

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
24
FURTHER CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA

there, and she kept them going. The Mercers were quite new to Avonlea, having come here only two months previously.

I was sitting by the window and Wilhelmina Mercer, Maggie Henderson, Susette Cross and Georgie Hall were in a little group just before me. I wasn’t listening to their chatter at all, but presently Georgie exclaimed teasingly:

“Miss Charlotte is laughing at us. I suppose she thinks we are awfully silly to be talking about beaux.”

The truth was that I was simply smiling over some very pretty thoughts that had come to me about the roses which were climbing over Mary Gillespie’s sill. I meant to inscribe them in the little blank book when I went home. Georgie’s speech brought me back to harsh realities with a jolt. It hurt me, as such speeches always did.

“Didn’t you ever have a beau, Miss Holmes?” said Wilhelmina laughingly.

Just as it happened, a silence had fallen over the room for a moment, and everybody in it heard Wilhelmina’s question.

I really do not know what got into me and possessed me. I have never been able to account for what I said and did, because I am naturally a truthful person and hate all deceit. It seemed to me that I simply could not say “No” to Wilhelmina before