CHAPTER XXXV. "LET THE PIPER COME"
"And so," said Miss Cornelia, "the double wedding is to be sometimeabout the middle of this month."
There was a faint chill in the air of the early September evening, soAnne had lighted her ever ready fire of driftwood in the big livingroom, and she and Miss Cornelia basked in its fairy flicker.
"It is so delightful--especially in regard to Mr. Meredith andRosemary," said Anne. "I'm as happy in the thought of it, as I was whenI was getting married myself. I felt exactly like a bride again lastevening when I was up on the hill seeing Rosemary's trousseau."
"They tell me her things are fine enough for a princess," said Susanfrom a shadowy corner where she was cuddling her brown boy. "I havebeen invited up to see them also and I intend to go some evening. Iunderstand that Rosemary is to wear white silk and a veil, but Ellen isto be married in navy blue. I have no doubt, Mrs. Dr. dear, that that isvery sensible of her, but for my own part I have always felt that if Iwere ever married _I_ would prefer the white and the veil, as being morebride-like."
A vision of Susan in "white and a veil" presented itself before Anne'sinner vision and was almost too much for her.
"As for Mr. Meredith," said Miss Cornelia, "even his engagement hasmade a different man of him. He isn't half so dreamy and absent-minded,believe me. I was so relieved when I heard that he had decided to closethe manse and let the children visit round while he was away on hishoneymoon. If he had left them and old Aunt Martha there alone for amonth I should have expected to wake every morning and see the placeburned down."
"Aunt Martha and Jerry are coming here," said Anne. "Carl is going toElder Clow's. I haven't heard where the girls are going."
"Oh, I'm going to take them," said Miss Cornelia. "Of course, I was gladto, but Mary would have given me no peace till I asked them any way. TheLadies' Aid is going to clean the manse from top to bottom before thebride and groom come back, and Norman Douglas has arranged to fill thecellar with vegetables. Nobody ever saw or heard anything quite likeNorman Douglas these days, believe ME. He's so tickled that he'sgoing to marry Ellen West after wanting her all his life. If _I_ wasEllen--but then, I'm not, and if she is satisfied I can very well be. Iheard her say years ago when she was a schoolgirl that she didn't wanta tame puppy for a husband. There's nothing tame about Norman, believeME."
The sun was setting over Rainbow Valley. The pond was wearing awonderful tissue of purple and gold and green and crimson. A faint bluehaze rested on the eastern hill, over which a great, pale, round moonwas just floating up like a silver bubble.
They were all there, squatted in the little open glade--Faith and Una,Jerry and Carl, Jem and Walter, Nan and Di, and Mary Vance. They hadbeen having a special celebration, for it would be Jem's last evening inRainbow Valley. On the morrow he would leave for Charlottetown to attendQueen's Academy. Their charmed circle would be broken; and, in spiteof the jollity of their little festival, there was a hint of sorrow inevery gay young heart.
"See--there is a great golden palace over there in the sunset," saidWalter, pointing. "Look at the shining tower--and the crimson bannersstreaming from them. Perhaps a conqueror is riding home from battle--andthey are hanging them out to do honour to him."
"Oh, I wish we had the old days back again," exclaimed Jem. "I'd love tobe a soldier--a great, triumphant general. I'd give EVERYTHING to see abig battle."
Well, Jem was to be a soldier and see a greater battle than had everbeen fought in the world; but that was as yet far in the future; and themother, whose first-born son he was, was wont to look on her boys andthank God that the "brave days of old," which Jem longed for, were gonefor ever, and that never would it be necessary for the sons of Canada toride forth to battle "for the ashes of their fathers and the temples oftheir gods."
The shadow of the Great Conflict had not yet made felt any forerunner ofits chill. The lads who were to fight, and perhaps fall, on the fieldsof France and Flanders, Gallipoli and Palestine, were still roguishschoolboys with a fair life in prospect before them: the girls whosehearts were to be wrung were yet fair little maidens a-star with hopesand dreams.
Slowly the banners of the sunset city gave up their crimson and gold;slowly the conqueror's pageant faded out. Twilight crept over the valleyand the little group grew silent. Walter had been reading again that dayin his beloved book of myths and he remembered how he had once fanciedthe Pied Piper coming down the valley on an evening just like this.
He began to speak dreamily, partly because he wanted to thrill hiscompanions a little, partly because something apart from him seemed tobe speaking through his lips.
"The Piper is coming nearer," he said, "he is nearer than he was thatevening I saw him before. His long, shadowy cloak is blowing aroundhim. He pipes--he pipes--and we must follow--Jem and Carl and Jerry andI--round and round the world. Listen--listen--can't you hear his wildmusic?"
The girls shivered.
"You know you're only pretending," protested Mary Vance, "and I wish youwouldn't. You make it too real. I hate that old Piper of yours."
But Jem sprang up with a gay laugh. He stood up on a little hillock,tall and splendid, with his open brow and his fearless eyes. There werethousands like him all over the land of the maple.
"Let the Piper come and welcome," he cried, waving his hand. "I'LLfollow him gladly round and round the world."
THE END
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