one I've got.' Jane Ann's man ain't such a bad sort,
nuther, though he's so contrary that he wears his fur coat when the
thermometer's at ninety. The only way to git him to do anything is to
coax him to do the opposite. But there ain't any love to smooth things
down and it's a poor way of living. Jog along, black mare. There's
Janet's place in the hollow--'Wayside,' she calls it. Quite
pictureaskew, ain't it? I guess you'll be glad to git out of this, with
all them mail bags jamming round you."

"Yes, but I have enjoyed my drive with you very much," said Anne
sincerely.

"Git away now!" said Mrs. Skinner, highly flattered. "Wait till I tell
Thomas that. He always feels dretful tickled when I git a compliment.
Jog along, black mare. Well, here we are. I hope you'll git on well in
the school, miss. There's a short cut to it through the ma'sh back of
Janet's. If you take that way be awful keerful. If you once got stuck in
that black mud you'd be sucked right down and never seen or heard tell
of again till the day of judgment, like Adam Palmer's cow. Jog along,
black mare."

Chapter XXXI

Anne to Philippa

"Anne Shirley to Philippa Gordon, greeting.

"Well-beloved, it's high time I was writing you. Here am I, installed
once more as a country 'schoolma'am' at Valley Road, boarding at
'Wayside,' the home of Miss Janet Sweet. Janet is a dear soul and very
nicelooking; tall, but not over-tall; stoutish, yet with a certain
restraint of outline suggestive of a thrifty soul who is not going to
be overlavish even in the matter of avoirdupois. She has a knot of soft,
crimpy, brown hair with a thread of gray in it, a sunny face with rosy
cheeks, and big, kind eyes as blue as forget-me-nots. Moreover, she is
one of those delightful, old-fashioned cooks who don't care a bit if
they ruin your digestion as long as they can give you feasts of fat
things.

"I like her; and she likes me--principally, it seems, because she had a
sister named Anne who died young.

"'I'm real glad to see you,' she said briskly, when I landed in her
yard. 'My, you don't look a mite like I expected. I was sure you'd be
dark--my sister Anne was dark. And here you're redheaded!'

"For a few minutes I thought I wasn't going to like Janet as much as I
had expected at first sight. Then I reminded myself that I really must
be more sensible than to be prejudiced against any one simply because
she called my hair red. Probably the word 'auburn' was not