t as much mortified as Emily. I went out and carried
Ginger to the barn. I can't say I enjoyed the meal. I knew by the look
of Emily that there was trouble brewing for Ginger and James A. When the
folks went away I started for the cow pasture and on the way I did some
thinking. I felt sorry for Emily and kind of fancied I hadn't been so
thoughtful of her as I might; and besides, I wondered if the ministers
would think that Ginger had learned his vocabulary from me. The long
and short of it was, I decided that Ginger would have to be mercifully
disposed of and when I'd druv the cows home I went in to tell Emily
so. But there was no Emily and there was a letter on the table . . . just
according to the rule in story books. Emily writ that I'd have to choose
between her and Ginger; she'd gone back to her own house and there she
would stay till I went and told her I'd got rid of that parrot.

"I was all riled up, Anne, and I said she might stay till doomsday if
she waited for that; and I stuck to it. I packed up her belongings and
sent them after her. It made an awful lot of talk . . . Scottsford was
pretty near as bad as Avonlea for gossip . . . and everybody sympathized
with Emily. It kept me all cross and cantankerous and I saw I'd have to
get out or I'd never have any peace. I concluded I'd come to the Island.
I'd been here when I was a boy and I liked it; but Emily had always said
she wouldn't live in a place where folks were scared to walk out after
dark for fear they'd fall off the edge. So, just to be contrary, I moved
over here. And that's all there is to it. I hadn't ever heard a word
from or about Emily till I come home from the back field Saturday and
found her scrubbing the floor but with the first decent dinner I'd had
since she left me all ready on the table. She told me to eat it first
and then we'd talk . . . by which I concluded that Emily had learned some
lessons about getting along with a man. So she's here and she's going to
stay . . . seeing that Ginger's dead and the Island's some bigger than she
thought. There's Mrs. Lynde and her now. No, don't go, Anne. Stay and
get acquainted with Emily. She took quite a notion to you Saturday . . .
wanted to know who that handsome redhaired girl was at the next house."

Mrs. Harrison welcomed Anne radiantly and insisted on her staying to
tea.

"James A. has been telling me all about you and how kind you've been,
making cakes and things for him," she said. "I wan