Anne's House of Dreams by Lucy Maud Montgomery (free ebooks for android .txt) š
- Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery
- Performer: 0553213180
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āThese roses are very lateāthey bloom after all the others have goneāand they hold all the warmth and soul of the summer come to fruition,ā said Owen, plucking some of the glowing, half-opened buds.
āThe rose is the flower of loveāthe world has acclaimed it so for centuries. The pink roses are love hopeful and expectantāthe white roses are love dead or forsakenābut the red rosesāah, Leslie, what are the red roses?ā
āLove triumphant,ā said Leslie in a low voice.
āYesālove triumphant and perfect. Leslie, you knowāyou understand. I have loved you from the first. And I KNOW you love meāI donāt need to ask you. But I want to hear you say itāmy darlingā my darling!ā
Leslie said something in a very low and tremulous voice. Their hands and lips met; it was lifeās supreme moment for them and as they stood there in the old garden, with its many years of love and delight and sorrow and glory, he crowned her shining hair with the red, red rose of a love triumphant.
Anne and Gilbert returned presently, accompanied by Captain Jim. Anne lighted a few sticks of driftwood in the fireplace, for love of the pixy flames, and they sat around it for an hour of good fellowship.
āWhen I sit looking at a driftwood fire itās easy to believe Iām young again,ā said Captain Jim.
āCan you read futures in the fire, Captain Jim?ā asked Owen.
Captain Jim looked at them all affectionately and then back again at Leslieās vivid face and glowing eyes.
āI donāt need the fire to read your futures,ā he said. āI see happiness for all of youāall of youāfor Leslie and Mr. Fordāand the doctor here and Mistress Blytheāand Little Jemāand children that aināt born yet but will be. Happiness for you allāthough, mind you, I reckon youāll have your troubles and worries and sorrows, too. Theyāre bound to comeāand no house, whether itās a palace or a little house of dreams, can bar āem out. But they wonāt get the better of you if you face āem TOGETHER with love and trust. You can weather any storm with them two for compass and pilot.ā
The old man rose suddenly and placed one hand on Leslieās head and one on Anneās.
āTwo good, sweet women,ā he said. āTrue and faithful and to be depended on. Your husbands will have honor in the gates because of youāyour children will rise up and call you blessed in the years to come.ā
There was a strange solemnity about the little scene. Anne and Leslie bowed as those receiving a benediction. Gilbert suddenly brushed his hand over his eyes; Owen Ford was rapt as one who can see visions. All were silent for a space. The little house of dreams added another poignant and unforgettable moment to its store of memories.
āI must be going now,ā said Captain Jim slowly at last. He took up his hat and looked lingeringly about the room.
āGood night, all of you,ā he said, as he went out.
Anne, pierced by the unusual wistfulness of his farewell, ran to the door after him.
āCome back soon, Captain Jim,ā she called, as he passed through the little gate hung between the firs.
āAy, ay,ā he called cheerily back to her. But Captain Jim had sat by the old fireside of the house of dreams for the last time.
Anne went slowly back to the others.
āItās soāso pitiful to think of him going all alone down to that lonely Point,ā she said. āAnd there is no one to welcome him there.ā
āCaptain Jim is such good company for others that one canāt imagine him being anything but good company for himself,ā said Owen. āBut he must often be lonely. There was a touch of the seer about him tonightāhe spoke as one to whom it had been given to speak. Well, I must be going, too.ā
Anne and Gilbert discreetly melted away; but when Owen had gone Anne returned, to find Leslie standing by the hearth.
āOh, LeslieāI knowāand Iām so glad, dear,ā she said, putting her arms about her.
āAnne, my happiness frightens me,ā whispered Leslie. āIt seems too great to be realāIām afraid to speak of itāto think of it. It seems to me that it must just be another dream of this house of dreams and it will vanish when I leave here.ā
āWell, you are not going to leave hereāuntil Owen takes you. You are going to stay with me until that times comes. Do you think Iād let you go over to that lonely, sad place again?ā
āThank you, dear. I meant to ask you if I might stay with you. I didnāt want to go back thereāit would seem like going back into the chill and dreariness of the old life again. Anne, Anne, what a friend youāve been to meā`a good, sweet womanātrue and faithful and to be depended onāāCaptain Jim summed you up.ā
āHe said `women,ā not `woman,āā smiled Anne. āPerhaps Captain Jim sees us both through the rose-colored spectacles of his love for us. But we can try to live up to his belief in us, at least.ā
āDo you remember, Anne,ā said Leslie slowly, āthat I once saidāthat night we met on the shoreāthat I hated my good looks? I didāthen. It always seemed to me that if I had been homely Dick would never have thought of me. I hated my beauty because it had attracted him, but nowāoh, Iām glad that I have it. Itās all I have to offer Owen,āhis artist soul delights in it. I feel as if I do not come to him quite empty-handed.ā
āOwen loves your beauty, Leslie. Who would not? But itās foolish of you to say or think that that is all you bring him. HE will tell you thatāI neednāt. And now I must lock up. I expected Susan back tonight, but she has not come.ā
āOh, yes, here I am, Mrs. Doctor, dear,ā said Susan, entering unexpectedly from the kitchen, āand puffing like a hen drawing rails at that! Itās quite a walk from the Glen down here.ā
āIām glad to see you back, Susan. How is your sister?ā
āShe is able to sit up, but of course she cannot walk yet. However, she is very well able to get on without me now, for her daughter has come home for her vacation. And I am thankful to be back, Mrs. Doctor, dear. Matildaās leg was broken and no mistake, but her tongue was not. She would talk the legs off an iron pot, that she would, Mrs. Doctor, dear, though I grieve to say it of my own sister. She was always a great talker and yet she was the first of our family to get married. She really did not care much about marrying James Clow, but she could not bear to disoblige him. Not but what James is a good manāthe only fault I have to find with him is that he always starts in to say grace with such an unearthly groan, Mrs. Doctor, dear. It always frightens my appetite clear away. And speaking of getting married, Mrs. Doctor, dear, is it true that Cornelia Bryant is going to be married to Marshall Elliott?ā
āYes, quite true, Susan.ā
āWell, Mrs. Doctor, dear, it does NOT seem to me fair. Here is me, who never said a word against the men, and I cannot get married nohow. And there is Cornelia Bryant, who is never done abusing them, and all she has to do is to reach out her hand and pick one up, as it were. It is a very strange world, Mrs. Doctor, dear.ā
āThereās another world, you know, Susan.ā
āYes,ā said Susan with a heavy sigh, ābut, Mrs. Doctor, dear, there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage there.ā
One day in late September Owen Fordās book came at last. Captain Jim had gone faithfully to the Glen post office every day for a month, expecting it. This day he had not gone, and Leslie brought his copy home with hers and Anneās.
āWeāll take it down to him this evening,ā said Anne, excited as a schoolgirl.
The long walk to the Point on that clear, beguiling evening along the red harbor road was very pleasant. Then the sun dropped down behind the western hills into some valley that must have been full of lost sunsets, and at the same instant the big light flashed out on the white tower of the point.
āCaptain Jim is never late by the fraction of a second,ā said Leslie.
Neither Anne nor Leslie ever forgot Captain Jimās face when they gave him the bookāHIS book, transfigured and glorified. The cheeks that had been blanched of late suddenly flamed with the color of boyhood; his eyes glowed with all the fire of youth; but his hands trembled as he opened it.
It was called simply The Life-Book of Captain Jim, and on the title page the names of Owen Ford and James Boyd were printed as collaborators. The frontispiece was a photograph of Captain Jim himself, standing at the door of the lighthouse, looking across the gulf. Owen Ford had āsnappedā him one day while the book was being written. Captain Jim had known this, but he had not known that the picture was to be in the book.
āJust think of it,ā he said, āthe old sailor right there in a real printed book. This is the proudest day of my life. Iām like to bust, girls. Thereāll be no sleep for me tonight. Iāll read my book clean through before sun-up.ā
āWeāll go right away and leave you free to begin it,ā said Anne.
Captain Jim had been handling the book in a kind of reverent rapture. Now he decidedly closed it and laid it aside.
āNo, no, youāre not going away before you take a cup of tea with the old man,ā he protested. āI couldnāt hear to thatācould you, Matey? The life-book will keep, I reckon. Iāve waited for it this many a year. I can wait a little longer while Iām enjoying my friends.ā
Captain Jim moved about getting his kettle on to boil, and setting out his bread and butter. Despite his excitement he did not move with his old briskness. His movements were slow and halting. But the girls did not offer to help him. They knew it would hurt his feelings.
āYou just picked the right evening to visit me,ā he said, producing a cake from his cupboard. āLeetle Joeās mother sent me down a big basket full of cakes and pies today. A blessing on all good cooks, says I. Look at this purty cake, all frosting and nuts. āTaināt often I can entertain in such style. Set in, girls, set in! Weāll `tak a cup oā kindness yet for auld lang syne.āā
The girls āset inā right merrily. The tea was up to Captain Jimās best brewing. Little Joeās motherās cake was the last word in cakes; Captain Jim was the prince of gracious hosts, never even permitting his eyes to wander to the corner where the life-book lay, in all its bravery of green and gold. But when his door finally closed behind Anne and Leslie they knew that he went straight to it, and as they walked home they pictured the delight of the old man poring over the printed pages wherein his own life was portrayed with all the charm and color of reality itself.
āI wonder how he will like the endingāthe ending I suggested,ā said Leslie.
She was never to know. Early the next morning Anne awakened to find Gilbert
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