“Oh, Susan!”

“Calm yourself, Mrs. Dr. dear.  She did not succeed.  But I really do not blame her for trying, for her husband is a terrible man.  But she was very foolish to think of hanging herself and leaving the way clear for him to marry some other woman.  If I had been in her shoes, Mrs. Dr. dear, I would have gone to work to worry him so that he would try to hang himself instead of me.  Not that I hold with people hanging themselves under any circumstances, Mrs. Dr. dear.”

“What is the matter with Harrison Miller, anyway?” said Anne impatiently.  “He is always driving some one to extremes.”

“Well, some people call it religion and some call it cussedness, begging your pardon, Mrs. Dr. dear, for using such a word.  It seems they cannot make out which it is in Harrison’s case.  There are days when he growls at everybody because he thinks he is fore-ordained to eternal punishment.  And then there are days when he says he does not care and goes and gets drunk.  My own opinion is that he is not sound in his intellect, for none of that branch of the Millers were.  His grandfather went out of his mind.  He thought he was surrounded by big black spiders.  They crawled over him and floated in the air about him.  I hope I shall never go insane, Mrs. Dr. dear, and I do not think I will, because it is not a habit of the Bakers.  But, if an all-wise Providence should decree it, I hope it will not take the form of big black spiders, for I loathe the animals.  As for Mrs. Miller, I do not know whether she really deserves pity or not.  There are some who say she just married Harrison to spite Richard Taylor, which seems to me a very peculiar reason for getting married.  But then, of course, I am no judge of things matrimonial, Mrs. Dr. dear.  And there is Cornelia Bryant at the gate, so I will put this blessed brown baby on his bed and get my knitting.”

CHAPTER II.  SHEER GOSSIP

“Where are the other children?” asked Miss Cornelia, when the first greetings—­cordial on her side, rapturous on Anne’s, and dignified on Susan’s—­were over.

“Shirley is in bed and Jem and Walter and the twins are down in their beloved Rainbow Valley,” said Anne.  “They just came home this afternoon, you know, and they could hardly wait until supper was over before rushing down to the valley.  They love it above every spot on earth.  Even the maple grove doesn’t rival it in their affections.”

“I am afraid they love it too well,” said Susan gloomily.  “Little Jem said once he would rather go to Rainbow Valley than to heaven when he died, and that was not a proper remark.”

“I suppose they had a great time in Avonlea?” said Miss Cornelia.

“Enormous.  Marilla does spoil them terribly.  Jem, in particular, can do no wrong in her eyes.”

“Miss Cuthbert must be an old lady now,” said Miss Cornelia, getting out her knitting, so that she could hold her own with Susan.  Miss Cornelia held that the woman whose hands were employed always had the advantage over the woman whose hands were not.