Anne, who was perched on the edge of the veranda4, enjoying the charm of a mild west wind blowing across a newly ploughed field on a gray November twilight5 and piping a quaint6 little melody among the twisted firs below the garden, turned her dreamy face over her shoulder.
“The trouble is, you and Mrs. Lynde don’t understand one another,” she explained. “That is always what is wrong when people don’t like each other. I didn’t like Mrs. Lynde at first either; but as soon as I came to understand her I learned to.”
“Mrs. Lynde may be an acquired taste with some folks; but I didn’t keep on eating bananas because I was told I’d learn to like them if I did,” growled7 Mr. Harrison. “And as for understanding her, I understand that she is a confirmed busybody and I told her so.”
“Oh, that must have hurt her feelings very much,” said Anne reproachfully. “How could you say such a thing? I said some dreadful things to Mrs. Lynde long ago but it was when I had lost my temper. I couldn’t say them DELIBERATELY8.”
“It was the truth and I believe in telling the truth to everybody.”
“But you don’t tell the whole truth,” objected Anne. “You only tell the disagreeable part of the truth. Now, you’ve told me a dozen times that my hair was red, but you’ve never once told me that I had a nice nose.”
“I know I have red hair too . . . although it’s MUCH darker than it used to be . . . so there’s no need of telling me that either.”
“Well, well, I’ll try and not mention it again since you’re so sensitive. You must excuse me, Anne. I’ve got a habit of being outspoken10 and folks mustn’t mind it.”
“But they can’t help minding it. And I don’t think it’s any help that it’s your habit. What would you think of a person who went about sticking pins and needles into people and saying, ‘Excuse me, you mustn’t mind it . . . it’s just a habit I’ve got.’ You’d think he was crazy, wouldn’t you? And as for Mrs. Lynde being a busybody, perhaps she is. But did you tell her she had a very kind heart and always helped the poor, and never said a word when Timothy Cotton stole a crock of butter out of her dairy and told his wife he’d bought it from her? Mrs. Cotton cast it up to her the next time they met that it tasted of turnips11 and Mrs. Lynde just said she was sorry it had turned out so poorly.”
“I suppose she has some good qualities,” conceded Mr. Harrison grudgingly12. “Most folks have. I have some myself, though you might never suspect it. But anyhow I ain’t going to give anything to that carpet. Folks are everlasting13 begging for money here, it seems to me. How’s your project of painting the hall coming on?”
“Splendidly. We had a meeting of the A.V.I.S. last Friday night and found that we had plenty of money subscribed14 to paint the hall and shingle15 the roof too. MOST people gave very liberally, Mr. Harrison.”
Anne was a sweet-souled lass, but she could instill some venom16 into innocent italics when occasion required.
“What color are you going to have it?”
“We have decided17 on a very pretty green. The roof will be dark red, of course. Mr. Roger Pye is going to get the paint in town today.”
“Who’s got the job?”
“Mr. Joshua Pye of Carmody. He has nearly finished the shingling18. We had to give him the contract, for every one of the Pyes . . . and there are four families, you know . . . said they wouldn’t give a cent unless Joshua got it. They had subscribed twelve dollars between them and we thought that was too much to lose, although some people think we shouldn’t have given in to the Pyes. Mrs. Lynde says they try to run everything.”
“The main question is will this Joshua do his work well. If he does I don’t see that it matters whether his name is Pye or Pudding.”
“He has the reputation of being a good workman, though they say he’s a very peculiar19 man. He hardly ever talks.”
“He’s peculiar enough all right then,” said Mr. Harrison drily. “Or at least, folks here will call him so. I never was much of a talker till I came to Avonlea and then I had to begin in self-defense or Mrs. Lynde would have said I was dumb and started a subscription to have me taught sign language. You’re not going yet, Anne?”
“I must. I have some sewing to do for Dora this evening. Besides, Davy is probably breaking Marilla’s heart with some new mischief20 by this time. This morning the first thing he said was, ‘Where does the dark go, Anne? I want to know.’ I told him it went around to the other side of the world but after breakfast he declared it didn’t . . . that it went down the well. Marilla says she caught him hanging over the well-box four times today, trying to reach down to the dark.”
“He’s a limb,” declared Mr. Harrison. “He came over here yesterday and pulled six feathers out of Ginger21’s tail before I could get in from the barn. The poor bird has been moping ever since. Those children must be a sight of trouble to you folks.”
“Everything that’s worth having is some trouble,” said Anne, secretly resolving to forgive Davy’s next offence, whatever it might be, since he had avenged22 her on Ginger.
Mr. Roger Pye brought the hall paint home that night and Mr. Joshua Pye, a surly, taciturn man, began painting the next day. He was not disturbed in his task. The hall was situated23 on what was called “the lower road.” In late autumn this road was always muddy and wet, and people going to Carmody traveled by the longer “upper” road. The hall was so closely surrounded by fir woods that it was invisible unless you were near it. Mr. Joshua Pye painted away in the solitude24 and independence that were so dear to his unsociable heart.
Friday afternoon he finished his job and went home to Carmody. Soon after his departure Mrs. Rachel Lynde drove by, having braved the mud of the lower road out of curiosity to see what the hall looked like in its new coat of paint. When she rounded the spruce curve she saw.
The sight affected25 Mrs. Lynde oddly. She dropped the reins26, held up her hands, and said “Gracious Providence27!” She stared as if she could not believe her eyes. Then she laughed almost hysterically28.
“There must be some mistake . . . there must. I knew those Pyes would make a mess of things.”
Mrs. Lynde drove home, meeting several people on the road and stopping to tell them about the hall. The news flew like wildfire. Gilbert Blythe, poring over a text book at home, heard it from his father’s hired boy at sunset, and rushed breathlessly to Green Gables, joined on the way by Fred Wright. They found Diana Barry, Jane Andrews, and Anne Shirley, despair personified, at the yard gate of Green Gables, under the big leafless willows29.
“It isn’t true surely, Anne?” exclaimed Gilbert.
“It is true,” answered Anne, looking like the muse30 of tragedy. “Mrs. Lynde called on her way from Carmody to tell me. Oh, it is simply dreadful! What is the use of trying to improve anything?”
“What is dreadful?” asked Oliver Sloane, arriving at this moment with a bandbox he had brought from town for Marilla.
“Haven’t you heard?” said Jane wrathfully. “Well, its simply this. . . Joshua Pye has gone and painted the hall blue instead of green. . . a deep, brilliant blue, the shade they use for painting carts and wheelbarrows. And Mrs. Lynde says it is the most hideous31 color for a building, especially when combined with a red roof, that she ever saw or imagined. You could simply have knocked me down with a feather when I heard it. It’s heartbreaking, after all the trouble we’ve had.”
The blame of this unmerciful disaster was eventually narrowed down to the Pyes. The Improvers had decided to use Morton-Harris paints and the Morton-Harris paint cans were numbered according to a color card. A purchaser chose his shade on the card and ordered by the accompanying number. Number 147 was the shade of green desired and when Mr. Roger Pye sent word to the Improvers by his son, John Andrew, that he was going to town and would get their paint for them, the Improvers told John Andrew to tell his father to get 147. John Andrew always averred33 that he did so, but Mr. Roger Pye as stanchly declared that John Andrew told him 157; and there the matter stands to this day.
That night there was blank dismay in every Avonlea house where an Improver lived. The gloom at Green Gables was so intense that it quenched34 even Davy. Anne wept and would not be comforted.
“I must cry, even if I am almost seventeen, Marilla,” she sobbed35. “It is so mortifying36. And it sounds the death knell37 of our society. We’ll simply be laughed out of existence.”
In life, as in dreams, however, things often go by contraries. The Avonlea people did not laugh; they were too angry. Their money had gone to paint the hall and consequently they felt themselves bitterly aggrieved38 by the mistake. Public indignation centered on the Pyes. Roger Pye and John Andrew had bungled39 the matter between them; and as for Joshua Pye, he must be a born fool not to suspect there was something wrong when he opened the cans and saw the color of the paint. Joshua Pye, when thus animadverted upon, retorted that the Avonlea taste in colors was no business of his, whatever his private opinion might be; he had been hired to paint the hall, not to talk about it; and he meant to have his money for it.
The Improvers paid him his money in bitterness of spirit, after consulting Mr. Peter Sloane, who was a magistrate40.
“You’ll have to pay it,” Peter told him. “You can’t hold him responsible for the mistake, since he claims he was never told what the color was supposed to be but just given the cans and told to go ahead. But it’s a burning shame and that hall certainly does look awful.”
The luckless Improvers expected that Avonlea would be more prejudiced than ever against them; but instead, public sympathy veered41 around in their favor. People thought the eager, enthusiastic little band who had worked so hard for their object had been badly used. Mrs. Lynde told them to keep on and show the Pyes that there really were people in the world who could do things without making a muddle42 of them. Mr. Major Spencer sent them word that he would clean out all the stumps43 along the road front of his farm and seed it down with grass at his own expense; and Mrs. Hiram Sloane called at the school one day and beckoned44 Anne mysteriously out into the porch to tell her that if the “Sassiety” wanted to make a geranium bed at the crossroads in the spring they needn’t be afraid of her cow, for she would see that the marauding animal was kept within safe bounds. Even Mr. Harrison chuckled, if he chuckled at all, in private, and was all sympathy outwardly.
“Never mind, Anne. Most paints fade uglier every year but that blue is as ugly as it can be to begin with, so it’s bound to fade prettier. And the roof is shingled45 and painted all right. Folks will be able to sit in the hall after this without being leaked on. You’ve accomplished46 so much anyhow.”
“But Avonlea’s blue hall will be a byword in all the neighboring settlements from this time out,” said Anne bitterly.
And it must be confessed that it was.
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1
pestering
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| 使烦恼，纠缠( pester的现在分词 ) | |
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subscription
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| n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方） | |
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detest
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| vt.痛恨，憎恶 | |
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veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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8
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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outspoken
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| adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的 | |
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turnips
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| 芜青( turnip的名词复数 )； 芜菁块根； 芜菁甘蓝块根； 怀表 | |
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grudgingly
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everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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14
subscribed
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| v.捐助( subscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意 | |
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15
shingle
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| n.木瓦板；小招牌(尤指医生或律师挂的营业招牌)；v.用木瓦板盖（屋顶）；把（女子头发）剪短 | |
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16
venom
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| n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨 | |
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17
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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shingling
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| 压挤熟铁块，叠瓦作用 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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21
ginger
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| n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气 | |
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22
avenged
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| v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 )；为…报复 | |
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23
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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27
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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hysterically
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| ad. 歇斯底里地 | |
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willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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muse
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| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
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31
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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32
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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averred
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| v.断言( aver的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
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34
quenched
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| 解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却 | |
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35
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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36
mortifying
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| adj.抑制的，苦修的v.使受辱( mortify的现在分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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37
knell
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| n.丧钟声；v.敲丧钟 | |
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38
aggrieved
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| adj.愤愤不平的，受委屈的；悲痛的；（在合法权利方面）受侵害的v.令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式)；令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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39
bungled
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| v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的过去式和过去分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成 | |
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40
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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41
veered
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| v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转 | |
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42
muddle
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| n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱 | |
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43
stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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44
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
shingled
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| adj.盖木瓦的；贴有墙面板的v.用木瓦盖(shingle的过去式和过去分词形式) | |
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46
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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