ther for you upstairs in your ma's
room. You can go up and see him.' I was so excited and delighted I
just flew upstairs. And old Mrs. Flagg lifted up the baby for me to
see. Lord, Anne, dearie, I never was so disappointed in my life. You
see, I'd been praying for A BROTHER TWO YEARS OLDER THAN MYSELF."

"How long did it take you to get over your disappointment?" asked Anne,
amid her laughter.

"Well, I had a spite at Providence for a good spell, and for weeks I
wouldn't even look at the baby. Nobody knew why, for I never told.
Then he began to get real cute, and held out his wee hands to me and I
began to get fond of him. But I didn't get really reconciled to him
until one day a school chum came to see him and said she thought he was
awful small for his age. I just got boiling mad, and I sailed right
into her, and told her she didn't know a nice baby when she saw one,
and ours was the nicest baby in the world. And after that I just
worshipped him. Mother died before he was three years old and I was
sister and mother to him both. Poor little lad, he was never strong,
and he died when he wasn't much over twenty. Seems to me I'd have
given anything on earth, Anne, dearie, if he'd only lived."

Miss Cornelia sighed. Gilbert had gone down and Leslie, who had been
crooning over the small James Matthew in the dormer window, laid him
asleep in his basket and went her way. As soon as she was safely out
of earshot, Miss Cornelia bent forward and said in a conspirator's
whisper:

"Anne, dearie, I'd a letter from Owen Ford yesterday. He's in
Vancouver just now, but he wants to know if I can board him for a month
later on. YOU know what that means. Well, I hope we're doing right."

"We've nothing to do with it--we couldn't prevent him from coming to
Four Winds if he wanted to," said Anne quickly. She did not like the
feeling of match-making Miss Cornelia's whispers gave her; and then she
weakly succumbed herself.

"Don't let Leslie know he is coming until he is here," she said. "If
she found out I feel sure she would go away at once. She intends to go
in the fall anyhow--she told me so the other day. She is going to
Montreal to take up nursing and make what she can of her life."

"Oh, well, Anne, dearie," said Miss Cornelia, nodding sagely "that is
all as it may be. You and I have done our part and we must leave the
rest to Higher Hands."

CHAPTER 35

POLITICS AT FOUR WINDS

When anne came dow