Page:Anne's house of dreams (1920 Canada).djvu/19



HERE was more excitement in the air of Green Gables than there had ever been before in all its history. Even Marilla was so excited that she couldn’t help showing it—which was little short of being phenomenal.

“There’s never been a wedding in this house,” she said, half apologetically, to Mrs. Rachel Lynde. “When I was a child I heard an old minister say that a house was not a real home until it had been consecrated by a birth, a wedding and a death. We’ve had deaths here—my father and mother died here as well as Matthew; and we’ve even had a birth here. Long ago, just after we moved into this house, we had a married hired man for a little while, and his wife had a baby here. But there’s never been a wedding before. It does seem so strange to think of Anne being married. In a way she just seems to me the little girl Matthew brought home here fourteen years ago. I can’t realize that she’s grown up. I shall never forget what I felt when I saw Matthew bring-