文档介绍：CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA
CHRONICLES OF
AVONLEA
by L. M. MONTGOMERY
TO THE MEMORY OF Mrs. William A. Houston, A DEAR
FRIEND, WHO HAS GONE BEYOND
1
CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA
I. The Hurrying of Ludovic
Anne Shirley was curled up on the window-seat of Theodora Dix's
sitting-room one Saturday evening, looking dreamily afar at some fair
starland beyond the hills of sunset. Anne was visiting for a fortnight of her
vacation at Echo Lodge, where Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Irving were
spending the summer, and she often ran over to the old Dix homestead to
chat for awhile with Theodora. They had had their chat out, on this
particular evening, and Anne was giving herself over to the delight of
building an air-castle. She leaned her shapely head, with its braided
of dark red hair, against the window-casing, and her gray eyes
were like the moonlight gleam of shadowy pools.
Then she saw Ludovic ing down the lane. He was yet far
from the house, for the Dix lane was a long one, but Ludovic could be
recognized as far as he could be seen. No one else in Middle Grafton had
such a tall, gently-stooping, placidly-moving figure. In every kink and turn
of it there was an individuality all Ludovic's own.
Anne roused herself from her dreams, thinking it would only be tactful
to take her departure. Ludovic was courting Theodora. Everyone in
Grafton knew that, or, if anyone were in ignorance of the fact, it was not
because he had not had time to find out. Ludovic had ing down
that lane to see Theodora, in the same ruminating, unhastening fashion, for
fifteen years!
When Anne, who was slim and girlish and romantic, rose to go,
Theodora, who was plump and middle-aged and practical, said, with a
twinkle in her eye:
"There isn't any hurry, child. Sit down and have your call out. You've
seen ing down the lane, and, I suppose, you think you'll be a
crowd. But you won't. Ludovic rather likes a third person around, and so
do I. It spurs up the conversation as it were