CHAPTER 37
MISS CORNELIA MAKES A STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT
Miss Cornelia sailed down to the little house one drowsy afternoon,when the gulf was the faint, bleached blue of the August seas, and theorange lilies at the gate of Anne's garden held up their imperial cupsto be filled with the molten gold of August sunshine. Not that MissCornelia concerned herself with painted oceans or sun-thirsty lilies.She sat in her favorite rocker in unusual idleness. She sewed not,neither did she spin. Nor did she say a single derogatory wordconcerning any portion of mankind. In short, Miss Cornelia'sconversation was singularly devoid of spice that day, and Gilbert, whohad stayed home to listen to her, instead of going a-fishing, as he hadintended, felt himself aggrieved. What had come over Miss Cornelia?She did not look cast down or worried. On the contrary, there was acertain air of nervous exultation about her.
"Where is Leslie?" she asked--not as if it mattered much either.
"Owen and she went raspberrying in the woods back of her farm,"answered Anne. "They won't be back before supper time--if then."
"They don't seem to have any idea that there is such a thing as aclock," said Gilbert. "I can't get to the bottom of that affair. I'mcertain you women pulled strings. But Anne, undutiful wife, won't tellme. Will you, Miss Cornelia?"
"No, I shall not. But," said Miss Cornelia, with the air of onedetermined to take the plunge and have it over, "I will tell yousomething else. I came today on purpose to tell it. I am going to bemarried."
Anne and Gilbert were silent. If Miss Cornelia had announced herintention of going out to the channel and drowning herself the thingmight have been believable. This was not. So they waited. Of courseMiss Cornelia had made a mistake.
"Well, you both look sort of kerflummexed," said Miss Cornelia, with atwinkle in her eyes. Now that the awkward moment of revelation wasover, Miss Cornelia was her own woman again. "Do you think I'm tooyoung and inexperienced for matrimony?"
"You know--it IS rather staggering," said Gilbert, trying to gather hiswits together. "I've heard you say a score of times that you wouldn'tmarry the best man in the world."
"I'm not going to marry the best man in the world," retorted MissCornelia. "Marshall Elliott is a long way from being the best."
"Are you going to marry Marshall Elliott?" exclaimed Anne, recoveringher power of speech under this second shock.
"Yes. I could have had him any time these twenty years if I'd liftedmy finger. But do you suppose I was going to walk into church beside aperambulating haystack like that?"
"I am sure we are very glad--and we wish you all possible happiness,"said Anne, very flatly and inadequately, as she felt. She was notprepared for such an occasion. She had never imagined herself offeringbetrothal felicitations to Miss Cornelia.
"Thanks, I knew you would," said Miss Cornelia. "You are the first ofmy friends to know it."
"We shall be so sorry to lose you, though, dear Miss Cornelia," saidAnne, beginning to be a little sad and sentimental.
"Oh, you won't lose me," said Miss Cornelia unsentimentally. "Youdon't suppose I would live over harbor with all those MacAllisters andElliotts and Crawfords, do you? 'From the conceit of the Elliotts, thepride of the MacAllisters and the vain-glory of the Crawfords, goodLord deliver us.' Marshall is coming to live at my place. I'm sickand tired of hired men. That Jim Hastings I've got this summer ispositively the worst of the species. He would drive anyone to gettingmarried. What do you think? He upset the churn yesterday and spilleda big churning of cream over the yard. And not one whit concernedabout it was he! Just gave a foolish laugh and said cream was good forthe land. Wasn't that like a man? I told him I wasn't in the habit offertilising my back yard with cream."
"Well, I wish you all manner of happiness too, Miss Cornelia," saidGilbert, solemnly; "but," he added, unable to resist the temptation totease Miss Cornelia, despite Anne's imploring eyes, "I fear your day ofindependence is done. As you know, Marshall Elliott is a verydetermined man."
"I like a man who can stick to a thing," retorted Miss Cornelia. "AmosGrant, who used to be after me long ago, couldn't. You never saw sucha weather-vane. He jumped into the pond to drown himself once and thenchanged his mind and swum out again. Wasn't that like a man? Marshallwould have stuck to it and drowned."
"And he has a bit of a temper, they tell me," persisted Gilbert.
"He wouldn't be an Elliott if he hadn't. I'm thankful he has. It willbe real fun to make him mad. And you can generally do something with atempery man when it comes to repenting time. But you can't do anythingwith a man who just keeps placid and aggravating."
"You know he's a Grit, Miss Cornelia."
"Yes, he IS," admitted Miss Cornelia rather sadly. "And of coursethere is no hope of making a Conservative of him. But at least he is aPresbyterian. So I suppose I shall have to be satisfied with that."
"Would you marry him if he were a Methodist, Miss Cornelia?"
"No, I would not. Politics is for this world, but religion is forboth."
"And you may be a 'relict' after all, Miss Cornelia."
"Not I. Marshall will live me out. The Elliotts are long-lived, andthe Bryants are not."
"When are you to be married?" asked Anne.
"In about a month's time. My wedding dress is to be navy blue silk.And I want to ask you, Anne, dearie, if you think it would be all rightto wear a veil with a navy blue dress. I've always thought I'd like towear a veil if I ever got married. Marshall says to have it if I wantto. Isn't that like a man?"
"Why shouldn't you wear it if you want to?" asked Anne.
"Well, one doesn't want to be different from other people," said MissCornelia, who was not noticeably like anyone else on the face of theearth. "As I say, I do fancy a veil. But maybe it shouldn't be wornwith any dress but a white one. Please tell me, Anne, dearie, what youreally think. I'll go by your advice."
"I don't think veils are usually worn with any but white dresses,"admitted Anne, "but that is merely a convention; and I am like Mr.Elliott, Miss Cornelia. I don't see any good reason why you shouldn'thave a veil if you want one."
But Miss Cornelia, who made her calls in calico wrappers, shook herhead.
"If it isn't the proper thing I won't wear it," she said, with a sighof regret for a lost dream.
"Since you are determined to be married, Miss Cornelia," said Gilbertsolemnly, "I shall give you the excellent rules for the management of ahusband which my grandmother gave my mother when she married my father."
"Well, I reckon I can manage Marshall Elliott," said Miss Corneliaplacidly. "But let us hear your rules."
"The first one is, catch him."
"He's caught. Go on."
"The second one is, feed him well."
"With enough pie. What next?"
"The third and fourth are--keep your eye on him."
"I believe you," said Miss Cornelia emphatically.
Anne's House of Dreams Page 37
