Rilla of Ingleside | Page 7

is abominably vain." "She has
something to be vain about," retorted Susan. "She is the prettiest girl in

Glen St. Mary. Do you think that all those over-harbour MacAllisters
and Crawfords and Elliotts could scare up a skin like Rilla's in four
generations? They could not. No, Mrs. Dr. dear, I know my place but I
cannot allow you to run down Rilla. Listen to this, Mrs. Marshall
Elliott." Susan had found a chance to get square with Miss Cornelia for
her digs at the children's love affairs. She read the item with gusto.
"'Miller Douglas has decided not to go West. He says old P.E.I. is good
enough for him and he will continue to farm for his aunt, Mrs. Alec
Davis.'" Susan looked keenly at Miss Cornelia. "I have heard, Mrs.
Marshall Elliott, that Miller is courting Mary Vance." This shot pierced
Miss Cornelia's armour. Her sonsy face flushed. "I won't have Miller
Douglas hanging round Mary," she said crisply. "He comes of a low
family. His father was a sort of outcast from the Douglases--they never
really counted him in--and his mother was one of those terrible Dillons
from the Harbour Head." "I think I have heard, Mrs. Marshall Elliott,
that Mary Vance's own parents were not what you could call
aristocratic." "Mary Vance has had a good bringing up and she is a
smart, clever, capable girl," retorted Miss Cornelia. "She is not going to
throw herself away on Miller Douglas, believe me! She knows my
opinion on the matter and Mary has never disobeyed me yet." "Well, I
do not think you need worry, Mrs. Marshall Elliott, for Mrs. Alec Davis
is as much against it as you could be, and says no nephew of hers is
ever going to marry a nameless nobody like Mary Vance." Susan
returned to her mutton, feeling that she had got the best of it in this
passage of arms, and read another "note." "'We are pleased to hear that
Miss Oliver has been engaged as teacher for another year. Miss Oliver
will spend her well-earned vacation at her home in Lowbridge.'" "I'm
so glad Gertrude is going to stay," said Mrs. Blythe. "We would miss
her horribly. And she has an excellent influence over Rilla who
worships her. They are chums, in spite of the difference in their ages."
"I thought I heard she was going to be married?"
"I believe it was talked of but I understand it is postponed for a year."
"Who is the young man?"
"Robert Grant. He is a young lawyer in Charlottetown. I hope Gertrude

will be happy. She has had a sad life, with much bitterness in it, and she
feels things with a terrible keenness. Her first youth is gone and she is
practically alone in the world. This new love that has come into her life
seems such a wonderful thing to her that I think she hardly dares
believe in its permanence. When her marriage had to be put off she was
quite in despair--though it certainly wasn't Mr. Grant's fault. There
were complications in the settlement of his father's estate--his father
died last winter--and he could not marry till the tangles were unravelled.
But I think Gertrude felt it was a bad omen and that her happiness
would somehow elude her yet." "It does not do, Mrs. Dr. dear, to set
your affections too much on a man," remarked Susan solemnly. "Mr.
Grant is quite as much in love with Gertrude as she is with him, Susan.
It is not he whom she distrusts--it is fate. She has a little mystic streak
in her--I suppose some people would call her superstitious. She has an
odd belief in dreams and we have not been able to laugh it out of her. I
must own, too, that some of her dreams--but there, it would not do to
let Gilbert hear me hinting such heresy. What have you found of much
interest, Susan?" Susan had given an exclamation. "Listen to this, Mrs.
Dr. dear. 'Mrs. Sophia Crawford has given up her house at Lowbridge
and will make her home in future with her niece, Mrs. Albert
Crawford.' Why that is my own cousin Sophia, Mrs. Dr. dear. We
quarrelled when we were children over who should get a
Sunday-school card with the words 'God is Love,' wreathed in rosebuds,
on it, and have never spoken to each other since. And now she is
coming to live right across the road from us." "You will have to make
up the old quarrel, Susan. It will never do to be at outs with your
neighbours." "Cousin Sophia began the quarrel, so she can begin the
making up also, Mrs. Dr. dear," said Susan loftily. "If she does I hope I
am a good enough