Chronicles of Avonlea | Page 4

SPEED! Was there ever such a
misfit of a name? Such a name for such a man is a delusion and a
snare."
Presently Ludovic got to the house, but stood so long on the doorstep in
a brown study, gazing into the tangled green boskage of the cherry
orchard, that Theodora finally went and opened the door before he
knocked. As she brought him into the sitting-room she made a comical
grimace at Anne over his shoulder.
Ludovic smiled pleasantly at Anne. He liked her; she was the only
young girl he knew, for he generally avoided young girls--they made
him feel awkward and out of place. But Anne did not affect him in this
fashion. She had a way of getting on with all sorts of people, and,
although they had not known her very long, both Ludovic and
Theodora looked upon her as an old friend.
Ludovic was tall and somewhat ungainly, but his unhesitating placidity
gave him the appearance of a dignity that did not otherwise pertain to

him. He had a drooping, silky, brown moustache, and a little curly tuft
of imperial,--a fashion which was regarded as eccentric in Grafton,
where men had clean-shaven chins or went full-bearded. His eyes were
dreamy and pleasant, with a touch of melancholy in their blue depths.
He sat down in the big bulgy old armchair that had belonged to
Theodora's father. Ludovic always sat there, and Anne declared that the
chair had come to look like him.
The conversation soon grew animated enough. Ludovic was a good
talker when he had somebody to draw him out. He was well read, and
frequently surprised Anne by his shrewd comments on men and matters
out in the world, of which only the faint echoes reached Deland River.
He had also a liking for religious arguments with Theodora, who did
not care much for politics or the making of history, but was avid of
doctrines, and read everything pertaining thereto. When the
conversation drifted into an eddy of friendly wrangling between
Ludovic and Theodora over Christian Science, Anne understood that
her usefulness was ended for the time being, and that she would not be
missed.
"It's star time and good-night time," she said, and went away quietly.
But she had to stop to laugh when she was well out of sight of the
house, in a green meadow bestarred with the white and gold of daisies.
A wind, odour-freighted, blew daintily across it. Anne leaned against a
white birch tree in the corner and laughed heartily, as she was apt to do
whenever she thought of Ludovic and Theodora. To her eager youth,
this courtship of theirs seemed a very amusing thing. She liked Ludovic,
but allowed herself to be provoked with him.
"The dear, big, irritating goose!" she said aloud. "There never was such
a lovable idiot before. He's just like the alligator in the old rhyme, who
wouldn't go along, and wouldn't keep still, but just kept bobbing up and
down."
Two evenings later, when Anne went over to the Dix place, she and
Theodora drifted into a conversation about Ludovic. Theodora, who
was the most industrious soul alive, and had a mania for fancy work
into the bargain, was busying her smooth, plump fingers with a very
elaborate Battenburg lace centre-piece. Anne was lying back in a little
rocker, with her slim hands folded in her lap, watching Theodora. She
realized that Theodora was very handsome, in a stately, Juno-like

fashion of firm, white flesh, large, clearly-chiselled outlines, and great,
cowey, brown eyes. When Theodora was not smiling, she looked very
imposing. Anne thought it likely that Ludovic held her in awe.
"Did you and Ludovic talk about Christian Science ALL Saturday
evening?" she asked.
Theodora overflowed into a smile.
"Yes, and we even quarrelled over it. At least I did. Ludovic wouldn't
quarrel with anyone. You have to fight air when you spar with him. I
hate to square up to a person who won't hit back."
"Theodora," said Anne coaxingly, "I am going to be curious and
impertinent. You can snub me if you like. Why don't you and Ludovic
get married?"
Theodora laughed comfortably.
"That's the question Grafton folks have been asking for quite a while, I
reckon, Anne. Well, I'd have no objection to marrying Ludovic. That's
frank enough for you, isn't it? But it's not easy to marry a man unless he
asks you. And Ludovic has never asked me."
"Is he too shy?" persisted Anne. Since Theodora was in the mood, she
meant to sift this puzzling affair to the bottom.
Theodora dropped her work and looked meditatively out over the green
slopes of the summer world.
"No, I don't think it is that. Ludovic isn't shy. It's just his way-- the
Speed way.