I could
have made it much more flowery if I'd had a little more time to think it
over."

Poor Marilla was only preserved from complete collapse by remembering
that it was not irreverence, but simply spiritual ignorance on the part
of Anne that was responsible for this extraordinary petition. She tucked
the child up in bed, mentally vowing that she should be taught a prayer
the very next day, and was leaving the room with the light when Anne
called her back.

"I've just thought of it now. I should have said, 'Amen' in place
of 'yours respectfully,' shouldn't I?--the way the ministers do. I'd
forgotten it, but I felt a prayer should be finished off in some way, so
I put in the other. Do you suppose it will make any difference?"

"I--I don't suppose it will," said Marilla. "Go to sleep now like a good
child. Good night."

"I can only say good night tonight with a clear conscience," said Anne,
cuddling luxuriously down among her pillows.

Marilla retreated to the kitchen, set the candle firmly on the table,
and glared at Matthew.

"Matthew Cuthbert, it's about time somebody adopted that child and
taught her something. She's next door to a perfect heathen. Will you
believe that she never said a prayer in her life till tonight? I'll send
her to the manse tomorrow and borrow the Peep of the Day series, that's
what I'll do. And she shall go to Sunday-school just as soon as I can
get some suitable clothes made for her. I foresee that I shall have
my hands full. Well, well, we can't get through this world without our
share of trouble. I've had a pretty easy life of it so far, but my time
has come at last and I suppose I'll just have to make the best of it."

CHAPTER VIII. Anne's Bringing-up Is Begun

For reasons best known to herself, Marilla did not tell Anne that
she was to stay at Green Gables until the next afternoon. During the
forenoon she kept the child busy with various tasks and watched over her
with a keen eye while she did them. By noon she had concluded that Anne
was smart and obedient, willing to work and quick to learn; her most
serious shortcoming seemed to be a tendency to fall into daydreams in
the middle of a task and forget all about it until such time as she was
sharply recalled to earth by a reprimand or a catastrophe.

When Anne had finished washing the dinner dishes she suddenly confronted
Marilla with the air and expression of one desperately determined to
learn the worst. Her thin littl