Anne of Green Gables Read-Along Chapters 16-18

(Link to Twitter thread) Chapter Sixteen: Diana is Invited to Tea, with Tragic Results

“October was a beautiful month at Green Gables, when the birches in the hollow turned as golden as sunshine and the maples behind the orchard were royal crimson and the wild cherry-trees along the lane put on the loveliest shades of dark red and bronzy greens, while the fields sunned themselves in aftermaths.”

I just had to quote that because… dang, that’s some autumn. As Anne says, “I’m so glad to live in a world where there are Octobers.”

On this fine Saturday, Marilla is going to an Aid Society meeting in Carmody so she tells Anne to make dinner. (Or get it together – I feel like Marilla would have most of that already prepared.)

Anne is to make dinner for Jerry, the hired boy, and Matthew along with herself, and that does seem kind of important? Like they’re doing a lot of work to keep Green Gables running. Like there’s obviously a lot you can talk about with gender roles and division of labour, but at least it seems like everyone is aware housework IS work and it’s almost a little less invisible? It’s not dimished how important it is, you know?

Marilla isn’t just making Anne do chores – she’s setting her with a foundation of skills that she’ll have for the rest of her life, no matter what choices she makes later.

Apparently, though, the last time this was necessary Anne forgot “to put the tea to draw” until they were already sitting down. Matthew didn’t mind, but Marilla does. However, she does suggest that Anne can have Diana over for tea and to spend the afternoon while she’s gone.

…brave woman.

While she vetoes the use of the good rosebud china and fancy parlour that she only uses when either the minister or the Aid Society visit, Marilla does say that they can use the normal teaset in the sitting room. Anne can “cut some fruit-cake and have some of the cookies and snaps” along with opening some cherry preserves. Nice spread, honestly.

Marilla also says that there’s half a bottle of raspberry cordial in the sitting room pantry leftover from a church social that the girls can have with a cookie in the afternoon since Matthew will probably late for tea.

God, but people ate well in these books. Like, they have breakfast in the morning. They have dinner at noon. There’s tea in the afternoon, with an additional snack if tea is pushed back. And then you have supper in the evening. That’s a lot of eating!

Also the reason Matthew might be late to tea is that he’s “hauling potatoes to the vessel” which is called the Lily Sands and I have no idea what that means despite googling.

Is this like a selling them thing? I’ve been really wondering how the Cuthberts make money. Like clearly they do a ton of growing their own food and all that, but they also buy things and I really want to know how they were making money. @AnaMardoll‘s Prairie Fire threads have made me really critical of farming in this time period, lol. They grow things like potatoes and have an apple orchard and have cows, but I don’t think they’ve ever mentioned anything like wheat or anything like that.

So I’m keeping an eye on that.

The orchard has apples and other things, like cherries and I think maybe plums, but the apple harvest on Green Gables was apparently very good this year, and Marilla says the girls can pick whatever they want off what’s left on the trees. Anne calls Marilla very generous which is… a little sad. Marilla is just letting her have a friend over and giving them a few snacks, and Anne is so grateful. What a girl.

The girls go to pick a few apples in the orchard and spend the afternoon there catching up, especially about school. Diana has to sit with Gertie Pye now and she haaaaates it, but she has a lot of gossip to share. Phillips whipped a boy named Sam Boulter for “sassing” him and Sam’s father came down to the school and dared him to ever lay a hand on one of his children again.

Mic. Drop.

Everyone at school really misses Anne, Diana says, and Gilbert Blythe –

Anne does NOT want to discuss or even hear about GIlbert Blythe, so she says they should go inside and have some raspberry cordial. She looks on the second shelf of the sitting room pantry where Marilla said the cordial would be, but she can’t find it right away until she searches the back of the top shelf.

Diana takes a large tumblerful and says she didn’t know raspberry cordial could be so nice, and it’s much nicer than Mrs Rachel’s lol. Anne loyally says of course it is, because Marilla is a wonderful cook. Marilla has been trying to teach Anne to cook, but it has been A Struggle.

Anne tries to make a cake but forgot the flour. And as Nailed It says, a cake made only of eggs, oil, milk, and cake is an omlette.

Apparently Anne did this as a result of dreaming about Diana getting smallpox and Anne nursing her back to health, and then dying of smallpox herself. Then Diana would plant a rosebush by Anne’s grave and water it with her tears. There was also a fantasy about becoming a nun (though she’s Protestant, probably important later) and “taking the veil to bury a brokn heart in cloistered seclusion”.

Two things.

One, isn’t that an ASMR? A nun nursing you back to health in a convent? (No seriously that’s a thing.)

Two, it’s interesting that Anne has a thing about taking care of Diana during a serious illness. We talked about this before, but years after this was published, Montgomery got Spanish flu. She got very, very ill and nearly died, and it hurt her deeply that her husband wasn’t there for her during her illness. She nearly divorced him over it and for a deeply religious woman who believed marriage was forever no matter what, that’s saying a lot.

Also the nun fantasy may have led to an incident with a drowned mouse in the pudding sauce.

Marilla puts up with a lot, she really does.

Diana suddenly says she’s dizzy and sick and she needs to go home. Poor Anne walks her to the fence between their farms and then cries all the way back home because she was so disappointed in things going badly.

So that was Saturday. Sunday it rains a ton so Anne stays in the house all day, but Monday afternoon, she goes on an errand for Marilla to Mrs Rachel’s. Very shortly after she comes flying home in tears and flings herself on the sofa in the ktichen. Marilla asks if Anne was being “saucy” to Mrs Rachel again because she is wise XD

No, actually. Mrs Rachel was talking to Mrs Barry and apparently Anne sent Diana home from tea absolutely plastered.

Like drunk as a skunk.

Marilla is shocked and believes Anne, but asks what on earth Anne gave Diana. Of course Anne says nothing but cordial! Marilla marches into the sitting room pantry… and finds a bottle of her homemade currant wine.

And remembers she put the cordial in the cellar.

She comes back into the ktichen with the wine and her face “twitching in spite of herself”. Anne never actually tasted the drink so she didn’t have a clue what it was, and they were both bright red.

Marilla says drinking three big glasses of anything as a guest is a bit rude, and Mrs Barry should basically get over herself. And she says to Anne, “I can’t see as you were to blame although I’m sorry it happened so.” I like how she says that. She doesn’t blame Anne for her own mistake, but she’s also sympathetic to the fact that this is hard on her.

Mrs Barry has declared Anne a “wicked little girl” and that Diana can’t play with her anymore, and Anne is clearly devastated.

Marilla insists that if Anne explains what happened, Mrs Barry will understand, and even agrees to talk to Mrs Barry herself when Anne is too nervous. When she gets home, though, she is ANGRY. Mrs Barry didn’t believe that it was an accident and was rather rude about Marilla’s wine and kinda insulted her.

Without being prompted at all, Anne goes down to apologize herself. Which is a bit of character growth, eh? Anne did learn what apologies are worth making to whom, didn’t she?

Mrs Barry, though, is unbudging.

Anne is truly broken-hearted at this. She says that all that’s left to do is pray, “and I haven’t much hope that’ll do much good because, Marilla, I do not believe God Himself can do very much with such an obstinate person as Mrs Barry.” As usual, Marilla says Anne shouldn’t speak that way but she’s “striving to overcome that unholy tendancy to laughter which she was dismayed to find growing upon her.” I love the little lines like that.

Later when she’s updating Matthew on what’s going on, Marilla does laugh about it and honestly I’ve been giggling about it. An 11 year old accidentally getting her friend drunk is kinda funny, honestly, since Diana only got a headache out of the deal.

Marilla checks on Anne before she goes to bed herself, which is really sweet and such a parent thing, and sees that she cried herself to sleep. “Poor little soul,” she says sympathetically and kisses Anne’s cheek. And that’s where we end this chapter.

(Link to twitter thread.) Chapter Seventeen: A New Interest in Life

Anne is sewing in front of the kitchen window – side question, are there any numbers on which direction kitchen windows would usually face? Nothing to do with this scene in particular, but it made me curious. Anne can see the garden from the window.

And “garden” probably meant what we’d call a backyard in this, since a lot of vocab used in this time period was very British English, or where the children would be playing when you sent them outside, right? And that would probably the room you spent the most time in, really.

Plus if you’re growing herbs or whatever inside, you want good light, and same with sewing. Makes me wonder if there was any trend in particular, like east facing.

Anyways, Anne looks up to see Diana in the garden and desperately hopes Diana’s mother has changed her mind, but Diana is only there to say goodbye. She had to beg to even be allowed to do that, and was only given 10 minutes. The girls are, to say the least, wrecks. They promise fiercely to never forget each other and honestly this language is super queer, so a lot of this I’m just going to quote and let you judge.

Anne: “Oh, Diana, will you promise faithfully never to forget me, the friend of your youth, no matter what dearer friends may caress thee?”
Diana: “I’ll never have another bosom friend – I don’t want to have. I couldn’t love another as I love you.”

Anne asks if Diana really loves her, and Diana says, “Why, of course I do. Didn’t you know that?” Anne says she thought Diana liked her, but she never thought anybody could love her. She doesn’t think anyone has that she can remember. Which, that’s just sad. Poor thing.

Diana: “I love you devotedly, Anne, and I always will, you may be sure of that.”
Anne: “In the years to come thy memory will shine like a star over my lonely life.”

Look, obviously I enjoy reading a queer context into things, but I also think you can’t deny a deeply intimate friendship between Anne and Diana that if not romantic, could easily be called a queerplatonic relationship or similar. That’s something I want to come back to after reading more, so for right now… enjoy the shipper goggles XD

(…okay, one more. Does Anne NOT read as Chaotic Bisexual Energy to anyone?? XD)

Diana gives Anne a lock of her hair before she leaves and Anne tells Marilla she’ll sew a little bag to carry it around her neck forever. She also asks Marilla to, “Please see that it is buried with me, for I don’t believe I’ll live very long. Perhaps when she sees me lying dead and cold before her Mrs Barry may feel remorse for what she has done and will let Diana come to my funeral.”

Wryly, Marilla points out that she doesn’t believe Anne is about to drop dead of grief since she’s talking so much. Now, Anne is truly incredibly upset, but the act of BEING upset is almost making her feel better. It’s like a self-soothing thing, I think. Their goodbye being such a “romantic parting” (HER WORDS! But also I agree) temporarily comforts her.

The next Monday, Anne comes down with her books and announces she’s returning to school. At least there, she says, she can still *look* at Diana.

Marilla tells her not to break anymore slates over peoples’ heads XD

Also since the apple harvest was coming in and it was nice enough to sit outside for a few hours, it’s probably late October or early November? And Anne leaving school happened at the end of September. So maybe not the week Mrs Rachel predicted, but not that long.

Anne promises to be a model pupil but suspects that won’t be very fun.

I suspect being a “model pupil” won’t last forever 😉 This is why we love her.

The girls at school super missed Anne. “Her imagination had been sorely missed in games, her voice in the singing, and her dramatic ability in the perusal aloud of books at dinner hour.” They give her a ton of little gifts to welcome her back.

Seriously, I have to remember to keep an eye out for that in adaptations because besides a general dislike for Pye girls (that seems… not un-universal), Anne is very popular with the girls her age.

And that’s not quite the only people she’s popular with. After dinner, she finds a “strawberry apple” on her desk. Which look like this, and was apple research #1 last night.

Photo by Adam Nuber, courtesy of the Felix Gillet Institute. They’re a really cool organization and I highly suggest checking them out. What a cool type of apple, too, that can taste like a mix of apples and either strawberries, raspberries, or grapes!

And yes, I had to research apple twice yesterday. Is it ANY coincidence I’ve eaten like 6 apples this week? Noooope.

Anyways, Anne almost eats it… until she “remembered that the only place in Avonlea where strawberry apples grew was in the old Blythe orchard”. She ignores it after that.

The “slate pencil covered in red and yellow paper”, that costs two cents instead of one that Charlie Sloane gives her, however, she keeps, and gives him a big smile in thanks. I guess she got past the goggle eyes 😛

Diana isn’t allowed to even talk to Anne at school. They pass each other secret notes, though, and miss each other dreadfully.

Meanwhile, Anne has been staying out of trouble at school by fiercely competing to whoop Gilbert’s butt at all things school. Gilbert is in this rivalry entirely good-naturedly, but Anne still absolutely hates his guts and it’s not friendly at ALL on her side. She’s also rather die than admit to this competition, since then she’d have to admit he exists at all, something she’s loathe to do.

I find this part absolutely delightful XD

First place on the blackboard honour roll is constantly changing. “One awful day they were ties and their names were written up together. It was almost as bad as a “take-notice”, and Anne’s mortification was almost as evident as Gilbert’s satisfaction.”

She gets super angry at him when she beats his exam score, and he congratulates her in front of the whole school. I just love how much she HATES him but he likes her anyways and is honestly being a nice guy. He really hasn’t done anything besides ONCE teasing her about her hair, and apologizing for that, but she hates him so fiercely XD

Love that dynamic.

By the end of the term (December, before Christmas), both Anne and Gilbert have been promoted into the 5th class. The competition seems to be good for both of them. And in all seriousness, Anne is about two years younger than Gilbert (since he’s probably turned 14 and she’s turning 12 in a few months) and he could have been a lot less cool about competing with a girl younger than him. It’s a nice thing to have him enjoy it.

Anne is, however, absolutely dreadful at geometry. She’s not sure she’ll ever get it, Phillips is a dick about it, and “Gil – I mean, some of the others are so smart at it.” And of course she’s still super sad about Diana, and we’ll finish this chapter with how she feels about her.

“Even although we meet as strangers now I still love her with an *inextinquishable* love.”

(Link to Twitter thread) Chapter Eighteen: Anne to the Rescue

[Content warning for this chapter – severe child illness and talk of child death.]

It is January (it’s funny that Christmas wasn’t a big deal) and “a certain” Canadian Premier is visiting PEI on a political tour. He’s speaking in Charlottetown and “nearly all the men and a goodly proportion of the women had gone to town.” Charlottetown is about 30 miles away from Avonlea, by the way, so that’s a couple hours drive probably.

Apparently Mrs Rachel is a “red-hot politician”, thoug she’s not on the same political side as the Premier. She takes her husband as “he’d be useful looking after the horse” (oh my god XD) and Marilla for company, probably. Marilla has been hiding a secret interest in politics herself and she thought it might be her only chance to see a real live Premier.

So she, and probably most of the adults in the town, won’t be back til the following day.

On this chilly winter night, Anne and Matthew are sharing a nice warm kitchen with a glowing fire in the Waterloo Stove.

Matthew is sort reading but mostly gently falling asleep while Anne is studying hard. She wakes him up by talking about her homework and complains about how geometry makes her feel so frustrated at how she struggles with it.

Matthew says he ran into Phillips at the store in Carmody who told him Anne was the smartest scholar in school and making rapid progress. He decides Phillips is alright, but “Matthew would have thought anyone who praised Anne was ‘all right’.”

They begin to talk politics, for obvious reasons. Mrs Rachel apparently says “Canada is going to the dogs the way things are being run at Ottawa, and that’s an awful warning to the electors. She says if women were allowed to vote we would see a blessed change.” You know, someone make a note of that for adaptations. I feel like it may come up.

Look at how much Anne has grown from last May to January. She’s open to Mrs Rachel’s perspective and she’s found things worth focusing on over always imagining. Proud of our girl.

Anne asks Matthew what party he belongs to and he says Conservative. It’s apparently part of his religion? Anne says she’ll be Conservative as well and she’s glad as “Gil – some of the boys in school are Grits.” Grits are Liberals, if you’re not familiar with the term. Also, Mrs Rachel is a Liberal? Seriously can someone get Mrs Rachel drunk and gossip for a while?

Maybe that should be an adaptation note – Mrs Rachel has hidden depths.

So this leads into the fact that rumours are going around that Phillips is one as Prissy Andrews’ father is, and either he is already courting her, or he wants to, so he’s trying to impress her father. Anne starts to think about how she’ll feel about courting when she’s old enough, and she asks if Matthew ever went courting.

He says no, and the narrative says he “had certainly never thought of such a thing in his whole existence.” Real talk, do we read Matthew as queer, specifically aro-spec? Like he’s a 60+ year old bachelor who has no interest in women. He sounds kind of queer, no?

This is really cute. First Anne locks a tempting book in the sitting-room jam closet so she doesn’t get distracted from her studies by it. We’ve all been there.

Then she asks if Matthew wouldn’t like some russets. Russets in this context are apples. I thought they were potatoes for a bit, and they are not. It’s an apple that’s almost covered in patches of brownish rough skin.

(Image by AJR from Wikimedia commons.)

(Image by Elena Gaillard)

And I love this. “‘Well now, I dunno but what I would,” said Matthew, who never ate russets but knew Anne’s weakness for them.” And yes that was my second instance of having to do research about apples.

It’s probably around 6pm, by the way, since it’s dark but not that late (Anne goes to bed around 8). As Anne is coming up from the cellar with her apples, Diana Barry crashes through the door. Anne immmediately asks if her mother has “relented at last”.

It’s bad news.

You may remember when we met Diana, she said she had no sisters old enough to play with, but this is the first time we find out she has one sister, Minnie May, who’s three.

Minnie May is very, very sick.

Diana’s parents are in town to see the Premier, and obviously so is Mrs Rachel obviously, who having had 10 kids would probably know what to do in this situation and would be a very good adult to go to for help. There’s only “Young Mary Joe” (for reasons I don’t understand, it’s written exactly like that every time) who Mrs Barry got to watch the kids. She was a “buxom, broad-faced French girl from the Creek.”

Let’s be real, she’s probably like 14 at best. That seems to be how things go.

Minnie May has croup, and it’s bad.

Now, time for some history and medical information! Ready to learn?

What we call croup these days is a respiratory problem that causes swelling and narrowing in the voicebox, windpipes, and breathing tubes leading to the lungs. It’s caused by the same viruses as the common cold, and it usually follows the start of one. It causes a barking cough, raspy voice, and sometimes some difficulty breathing that can often be helped by having the child sit up.

It’s not an uncommon childhood ailment, and it’s uncomfortable and scary, but it’s rarely serious. Home remedies of steam, cool night air, and hydration usually are enough, but steroids may also be given if it’s severe.

As soon as he hears about Minnie May, Matthew immediately leaves to fetch the doctor from Carmody and Anne dresses quickly to go with Diana. Poor Diana is a mess, as both doctors went to see the Premier and Young Mary Joe has never seen anyone with croup before.

Anne stays calm and says she knows what to do as Mrs Hammond’s three sets of twins had croup multiple times. The only thing she stops to do is grab the bottle of ipecac in case the Barrys don’t have any.

(Side note, ipecac is one of those words I can’t spell. I consistently swap the e and a, so if you notice that, I am aware. Also, vomitting CW from here out.)

If you don’t know, ipecac is a syrup made out a plant that in low doses can act as an expectorant and in high doses as a emetic. It used to be a standard part of first aid kids up into the 1990s, as it was recommended to give it when a child had swallowed poison. We no longer do this as we’ve learned that can cause even more damage.

Basically it makes you puke. A lot.

The girls rush back to Diana’s house and Anne immediately goes to work setting the kettle to boil, making sure the fire is burning hot, and dosing Minnie May with the ipecac. It’s a long, rough night and Minnie May almost doesn’t make it.

Matthew and a doctor (from Spencerville) finally arrives at three am and Minnie May is much better and sleeping soundly. When the doctor speaks to Mr and Mrs Barry later, he says Anne saved Minnie May’s life.

Why is this? If croup as we know it is a respitory illness, ipecac would have no effect on it and would probably make Minnie May even sicker, right? Yeah, probably.

Note the phrase, “croup as we know it”.

Have you ever hear of diphtheria? It’s the “d” in your “tdap” vaccine. It is a very serious illness that we’ve almost entirely wiped out in our time from vaccines. One of the things that it caused was “diphtheritic croup”. This all but doesn’t exist anymore, again, because of vaccination. So most people don’t know what it is.

Once upon a time, in Anne’s time specifically, croup almost always referred to diphtheritic croup. What we call croup NOW, was then called “faux-croup” or “false croup” and “croup” and “true croup” MEANT diphtheritic croup.

Minnie May doesn’t have a cold. She has diphtheria.

Now, diphtheritic croup causes many of the same symptoms as “false croup”, but also a very swollen neck and some very dangerous things such as a grey membrane of dead cells that covers the airway and can even completely block it. Editing Laina: I’m not including a picture because it’s super gross. Don’t google unless you have a strong stomach.

Basically poor 3 year old Minnie May was suffocating, and the ipecac worked because it worked as airway clearance.

Probably the closest modern comparison would be people with cystic fibrosis. (Among other things) the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis produce large amounts of very thick, very sticky mucus which makes it difficult for them to breathe. They do airway clearance to help them breathe.

This is usually some form of chest physical therapy (sometimes manual, sometimes with a mechanical vest), but things like excercise or even singing can be a form of airway clearance, but I’m digressing though. My point here – when people with cystic fibrosis do airway clearance, they cough up a large amount of mucus.

When Anne gave Minnie May the last dose of ipecac, she “coughed up the phlegm and began to get better right away”.That was probably the diphtheria grey membrane thing. And that is honestly probably what saved Minnie May’s life.

Because that’s what doctors did in that time period.

This paper is from 1885, and it describes almost exactly what happens in the book.

So, if you ever see someone say that Anne was probably making Minnie May sicker, you have a well-researched answer to why she almost certainly was not. No shade to this article.

Maybe a little shade to this article.

In all seriousness, I’m truly not bashing anyone for misunderstanding this. It is a wonderful thing that cases of diphtheria are so rare that our cultural vocabulary has changed so much. Mrs Hammond’s three sets of twins all had croup, and not the modern kind. Now? People don’t know what diphthetic croup is. That is honestly a good thing, and we should say thanks to vaccines for that.

So, back to the book. With the doctor there and Minnie May doing better, Matthew and Anne walk home together. Anne is talking in that exhausted but wired way of someone who’s been up all night in an intense situation, you know? She praises how beautiful the morning is, and even Mrs Hammond’s three pairs of twins because taking care of them meant she knew what to do for Minnie May.

It’s a really beautiful scene between Matthew and Anne.

Anne is so tired, but she hates that she can’t go to school “for Gil – some of the others will get head of the class.” Matthew pretty much sends her straight to bed and tells her he’ll do her chores. He’s such a good grandpa. My heart ❤

Now remember that it was early evening, probably around six, when Diana came to get Anne and it’s probably early morning now. Sun coming up, maybe. Anne might have spent 9 or 10 hours straight nursing Minnie May. And she’s not 12 yet.

She goes to bed and sleeps til late afternoon. When does THAT happen on a farm???? If Marilla isn’t criticizing it, you know she needed it.

Our sweet girl, as soon as she comes into the kitchen and see Marilla, she asks about her trip and if she saw the Premier. She had a BIG THING happen and she still asks about Marilla first.

Marilla says he didn’t get to be Premier by his looks and he has a big nose. He’s a Conservative like Marilla and she liked him. We all know she’s not one to place a ton of value on looks anyways.

That’s probably Sir John MacDonald? He was Prime Minister twice, first from 1867-1873, and then again from 1878-1891. Don’t quote me on that one. The time period in this has not been defined strictly at all, and I am not very solid on history. Editing Laina: We’re going to come back to this actually.

Marilla says it was very fortunate Anne knew what to do, as Marilla herself wouldn’t, having never seen a case of croup. This is another sign that Minnie May had diphtheritic croup. “False croup”/modern croup is not uncommon in children at all.

I just wanna praise this line because it’s great. Marilla say to Anne, “I can tell by the look of you that you’re just full of with speeches, but they’ll keep.”

Marilla also has something to tell Anne, but she wants her to finish eating first. It’s not a very obvious thing, but Marilla spends a lot of time making sure Anne gets enough to eat. Our girl is prone to not eating when she’s upset or excited, and Marilla tries very hard not to let that happen.

This is speculation on my part, but I think Anne has had some times where there wasn’t a lot of food to go around and she at times learned to ignore hunger cues. Though she expresses a lot of interest in becoming fatter, she loses her appetite really easily. It’s nice to see her being taken care of.

It turns out Mrs Barry came to visit while Anne was asleep, but Marilla refused to wake her up. (Dang, like I said, she clearly needed the sleep.)

Mrs Barry says Anne saved Minnie May’s life and apologizes for how she acted about the wine incident. She’s invited Anne over that evening to see Diana as Diana caught a bad cold last night.

She’s lucky it’s not diphtheria tbh.

Anne leaps to her feet and asks if she can go right then without washing her dinner dishes (Marilla kept it warm in the oven), though she promises to do them when she gets back. She’s so excited she runs out without putting on a hat or any kind of coat. And it’s January, it’s probably pretty cold!

Marilla is gently exasperated. She talks to herself about how yelling after Anne is like yelling at the wind, but you can tell it’s with love.

When they reunite, Diana gives Anne a card with a verse that says:

If you love me as I love you

Nothing but death can part us two

Wow that’s not queer at all.

When Anne gets home she says Mrs Barry “kissed me and cried and said she was so sorry and she could never repay me”. Anne is very modest about it, and was even a little embarassed to be thanked so much.

My last speculation of the day – do you think the Barry’s had a bit of trouble with fertility? I mean look at Mrs Rachel, she was pregnant 13 times in her life. But Diana is 12 and Minnie May is 3. A nine year gap between children is larger. (For the time period.) Like obviously there’s no parents on earth who wouldn’t be terrified by what the Barrys went through, but I wonder. Editing Laina: Infanty mortality was also suggested as a possibility, which is true.)

Anyways, Anne is just happy. She’s happy to be friends with Diana again, she’s happy they had a wonderful afternoon together, she’s happy Minnie May is doing well, and she’s happy Mrs Barry likes her again. It’s nice to see her just. Happy. And that’s our thread today.

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