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197 pages

English

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Rilla of Ingleside is the eighth and final entry in Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series, which has charmed audiences for nearly a century. This concluding volume focuses on Rilla, Anne Shirley's youngest daughter. Set in the midst of World War I, the novel intersperses the interludes of quaint village life that set the tone for most of the series with more serious passages detailing the battlefield exploits of several family members who are fighting in the Canadian military.

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Children's

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Publié par	The Floating Press
Date de parution	01 février 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781775456841
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0134€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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RILLA OF INGLESIDE
* * *
LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY

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Rilla of Ingleside First published in 1921 ISBN 978-1-77545-684-1 © 2012 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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Chapter I - Glen "Notes" and Other Matters Chapter II - Dew of Morning Chapter III - Moonlit Mirth Chapter IV - The Piper Pipes Chapter V - "The Sound of a Going" Chapter VI - Susan, Rilla, and Dog Monday Make a Resolution Chapter VII - A War-Baby and a Soup Tureen Chapter VIII - Rilla Decides Chapter IX - Doc Has a Misadventure Chapter X - The Troubles of Rilla Chapter XI - Dark and Bright Chapter XII - In the Days of Langemarck Chapter XIII - A Slice of Humble Pie Chapter XIV - The Valley of Decision Chapter XV - Until the Day Break Chapter XVI - Realism and Romance Chapter XVII - The Weeks Wear By Chapter XVIII - A War-Wedding Chapter XIX - "They Shall Not Pass" Chapter XX - Norman Douglas Speaks Out in Meeting Chapter XXI - "Love Affairs Are Horrible" Chapter XXII - Little Dog Monday Knows Chapter XXIII - "And so, Goodnight" Chapter XXIV - Mary is Just in Time Chapter XXV - Shirley Goes Chapter XXVI - Susan Has a Proposal of Marriage Chapter XXVII - Waiting Chapter XXVIII - Black Sunday Chapter XXIX - "Wounded and Missing" Chapter XXX - The Turning of the Tide Chapter XXXI - Mrs. Matilda Pittman Chapter XXXII - Word from Jem Chapter XXXIII - Victory! Chapter XXXIV - Mr. Hyde Goes to His Own Place and Susan Takes a Honeymoon Chapter XXXV - "Rilla-My-Rilla!"
Chapter I - Glen "Notes" and Other Matters
*
It was a warm, golden-cloudy, lovable afternoon. In the big living-roomat Ingleside Susan Baker sat down with a certain grim satisfactionhovering about her like an aura; it was four o'clock and Susan, who hadbeen working incessantly since six that morning, felt that she hadfairly earned an hour of repose and gossip. Susan just then wasperfectly happy; everything had gone almost uncannily well in thekitchen that day. Dr. Jekyll had not been Mr. Hyde and so had notgrated on her nerves; from where she sat she could see the pride of herheart—the bed of peonies of her own planting and culture, blooming asno other peony plot in Glen St. Mary ever did or could bloom, withpeonies crimson, peonies silvery pink, peonies white as drifts ofwinter snow.
Susan had on a new black silk blouse, quite as elaborate as anythingMrs. Marshall Elliott ever wore, and a white starched apron, trimmedwith complicated crocheted lace fully five inches wide, not to mentioninsertion to match. Therefore Susan had all the comfortableconsciousness of a well-dressed woman as she opened her copy of theDaily Enterprise and prepared to read the Glen "Notes" which, as MissCornelia had just informed her, filled half a column of it andmentioned almost everybody at Ingleside. There was a big, blackheadline on the front page of the Enterprise, stating that someArchduke Ferdinand or other had been assassinated at a place bearingthe weird name of Sarajevo, but Susan tarried not over uninteresting,immaterial stuff like that; she was in quest of something really vital.Oh, here it was—"Jottings from Glen St. Mary." Susan settled downkeenly, reading each one over aloud to extract all possiblegratification from it.
Mrs. Blythe and her visitor, Miss Cornelia—alias Mrs. MarshallElliott—were chatting together near the open door that led to theveranda, through which a cool, delicious breeze was blowing, bringingwhiffs of phantom perfume from the garden, and charming gay echoes fromthe vine-hung corner where Rilla and Miss Oliver and Walter werelaughing and talking. Wherever Rilla Blythe was, there was laughter.
There was another occupant of the living-room, curled up on a couch,who must not be overlooked, since he was a creature of markedindividuality, and, moreover, had the distinction of being the onlyliving thing whom Susan really hated.
All cats are mysterious but Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde—"Doc" forshort—was trebly so. He was a cat of double personality—or else, asSusan vowed, he was possessed by the devil. To begin with, there hadbeen something uncanny about the very dawn of his existence. Four yearspreviously Rilla Blythe had had a treasured darling of a kitten, whiteas snow, with a saucy black tip to its tail, which she called JackFrost. Susan disliked Jack Frost, though she could not or would notgive any valid reason therefor.
"Take my word for it, Mrs. Dr. dear," she was wont to say ominously,"that cat will come to no good."
"But why do you think so?" Mrs. Blythe would ask.
"I do not think—I know," was all the answer Susan would vouchsafe.
With the rest of the Ingleside folk Jack Frost was a favourite; he wasso very clean and well groomed, and never allowed a spot or stain to beseen on his beautiful white suit; he had endearing ways of purring andsnuggling; he was scrupulously honest.
And then a domestic tragedy took place at Ingleside. Jack Frost hadkittens!
It would be vain to try to picture Susan's triumph. Had she not alwaysinsisted that that cat would turn out to be a delusion and a snare? Nowthey could see for themselves!
Rilla kept one of the kittens, a very pretty one, with peculiarly sleekglossy fur of a dark yellow crossed by orange stripes, and large,satiny, golden ears. She called it Goldie and the name seemedappropriate enough to the little frolicsome creature which, during itskittenhood, gave no indication of the sinister nature it reallypossessed. Susan, of course, warned the family that no good could beexpected from any offspring of that diabolical Jack Frost; but Susan'sCassandra-like croakings were unheeded.
The Blythes had been so accustomed to regard Jack Frost as a member ofthe male sex that they could not get out of the habit. So theycontinually used the masculine pronoun, although the result wasludicrous. Visitors used to be quite electrified when Rilla referredcasually to "Jack and his kitten," or told Goldie sternly, "Go to yourmother and get him to wash your fur."
"It is not decent, Mrs. Dr. dear," poor Susan would say bitterly. Sheherself compromised by always referring to Jack as "it" or "the whitebeast," and one heart at least did not ache when "it" was accidentallypoisoned the following winter.
In a year's time "Goldie" became so manifestly an inadequate name forthe orange kitten that Walter, who was just then reading Stevenson'sstory, changed it to Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde. In his Dr. Jekyll moodthe cat was a drowsy, affectionate, domestic, cushion-loving puss, wholiked petting and gloried in being nursed and patted. Especially did helove to lie on his back and have his sleek, cream-coloured throatstroked gently while he purred in somnolent satisfaction. He was anotable purrer; never had there been an Ingleside cat who purred soconstantly and so ecstatically.
"The only thing I envy a cat is its purr," remarked Dr. Blythe once,listening to Doc's resonant melody. "It is the most contented sound inthe world."
Doc was very handsome; his every movement was grace; his posesmagnificent. When he folded his long, dusky-ringed tail about his feetand sat him down on the veranda to gaze steadily into space for longintervals the Blythes felt that an Egyptian sphinx could not have madea more fitting Deity of the Portal.
When the Mr. Hyde mood came upon him—which it invariably did beforerain, or wind—he was a wild thing with changed eyes. Thetransformation always came suddenly. He would spring fiercely from areverie with a savage snarl and bite at any restraining or caressinghand. His fur seemed to grow darker and his eyes gleamed with adiabolical light. There was really an unearthly beauty about him. Ifthe change happened in the twilight all the Ingleside folk felt acertain terror of him. At such times he was a fearsome beast and onlyRilla defended him, asserting that he was "such a nice prowly cat."Certainly he prowled.
Dr. Jekyll loved new milk; Mr. Hyde would not touch milk and growledover his meat. Dr. Jekyll came down the stairs so silently that no onecould hear him. Mr. Hyde made his tread as heavy as a man's. Severalevenings, when Susan was alone in the house, he "scared her stiff," asshe declared, by doing this. He would sit in the middle of the kitchenfloor, with his terrible eyes fixed unwinkingly upon hers for an hourat a time. This played havoc with her nerves, but poor Susan reallyheld him in too much awe to try to drive him out. Once she had dared tothrow a stick at him and he had promptly made a savage leap towardsher. Susan rushed out of doors and never attempted to meddle with Mr.Hyde again—though she visited his misdeeds upon the innocent Dr.Jekyll, chasing him ignominiously out of her domain whenever he daredto poke his nose in and denying him certain savoury tidbits for whichhe yearned.
"'The many friends of Miss Faith Meredith, Gerald Meredith and JamesBlythe,'" read Susan, rolling the names like sweet morsels under hertongue, "'were very much pleased to welcome them home a few weeks agofrom Redmond College. James Blythe, who was graduated in Arts in 1913,had just completed his first year in medicine.'"
"Faith Meredith has really got to be the most handsomest creature Iever saw," commented Miss Cornelia above her filet crochet. "It'samazing how those children came on after Rosemary West went to themanse. People have almost forgotten what imps of mischief they wereonce. Anne, dearie, will you ever forget the way they used to carry on?It's really surprising how well Rosemary got o