Her eyes dwelt affectionately on Green Gables, peering through its network of trees and reflecting the sunlight back from its windows in several little coruscations of glory. Marilla, as she picked her steps along the damp lane, thought that it was really a satisfaction to know that she was going home to a briskly snapping wood fire and a table nicely spread for tea, instead of to the cold comfort of old Aid meeting evenings before Anne had come to Green Gables.
Consequently, when Marilla entered her kitchen and found the fire black out, with no sign of Anne anywhere, she felt justly disappointed and irritated. She had told Anne to be sure and have tea ready at five o’clock, but now she must hurry to take off her second-best dress and prepare the meal herself against Matthew’s return from plowing9.
“I’ll settle Miss Anne when she comes home,” said Marilla grimly, as she shaved up kindlings with a carving10 knife and with more vim11 than was strictly12 necessary. Matthew had come in and was waiting patiently for his tea in his corner. “She’s gadding13 off somewhere with Diana, writing stories or practicing dialogues or some such tomfoolery, and never thinking once about the time or her duties. She’s just got to be pulled up short and sudden on this sort of thing. I don’t care if Mrs. Allan does say she’s the brightest and sweetest child she ever knew. She may be bright and sweet enough, but her head is full of nonsense and there’s never any knowing what shape it’ll break out in next. Just as soon as she grows out of one freak she takes up with another. But there! Here I am saying the very thing I was so riled with Rachel Lynde for saying at the Aid today. I was real glad when Mrs. Allan spoke14 up for Anne, for if she hadn’t I know I’d have said something too sharp to Rachel before everybody. Anne’s got plenty of faults, goodness knows, and far be it from me to deny it. But I’m bringing her up and not Rachel Lynde, who’d pick faults in the Angel Gabriel himself if he lived in Avonlea. Just the same, Anne has no business to leave the house like this when I told her she was to stay home this afternoon and look after things. I must say, with all her faults, I never found her disobedient or untrustworthy before and I’m real sorry to find her so now.”
“Well now, I dunno,” said Matthew, who, being patient and wise and, above all, hungry, had deemed it best to let Marilla talk her wrath16 out unhindered, having learned by experience that she got through with whatever work was on hand much quicker if not delayed by untimely argument. “Perhaps you’re judging her too hasty, Marilla. Don’t call her untrustworthy until you’re sure she has disobeyed you. Mebbe it can all be explained—Anne’s a great hand at explaining.”
“She’s not here when I told her to stay,” retorted Marilla. “I reckon she’ll find it hard to explain that to my satisfaction. Of course I knew you’d take her part, Matthew. But I’m bringing her up, not you.”
It was dark when supper was ready, and still no sign of Anne, coming hurriedly over the log bridge or up Lover’s Lane, breathless and repentant18 with a sense of neglected duties. Marilla washed and put away the dishes grimly. Then, wanting a candle to light her way down the cellar, she went up to the east gable for the one that generally stood on Anne’s table. Lighting19 it, she turned around to see Anne herself lying on the bed, face downward among the pillows.
“Mercy on us,” said astonished Marilla, “have you been asleep, Anne?”
“Are you sick then?” demanded Marilla anxiously, going over to the bed.
“No. But please, Marilla, go away and don’t look at me. I’m in the depths of despair and I don’t care who gets head in class or writes the best composition or sings in the Sunday-school choir22 any more. Little things like that are of no importance now because I don’t suppose I’ll ever be able to go anywhere again. My career is closed. Please, Marilla, go away and don’t look at me.”
“Did anyone ever hear the like?” the mystified Marilla wanted to know. “Anne Shirley, whatever is the matter with you? What have you done? Get right up this minute and tell me. This minute, I say. There now, what is it?”
“Look at my hair, Marilla,” she whispered.
Accordingly, Marilla lifted her candle and looked scrutinizingly at Anne’s hair, flowing in heavy masses down her back. It certainly had a very strange appearance.
“Anne Shirley, what have you done to your hair? Why, it’s green!”
Green it might be called, if it were any earthly color—a queer, dull, bronzy green, with streaks24 here and there of the original red to heighten the ghastly effect. Never in all her life had Marilla seen anything so grotesque25 as Anne’s hair at that moment.
“Yes, it’s green,” moaned Anne. “I thought nothing could be as bad as red hair. But now I know it’s ten times worse to have green hair. Oh, Marilla, you little know how utterly26 wretched I am.”
“I little know how you got into this fix, but I mean to find out,” said Marilla. “Come right down to the kitchen—it’s too cold up here—and tell me just what you’ve done. I’ve been expecting something queer for some time. You haven’t got into any scrape for over two months, and I was sure another one was due. Now, then, what did you do to your hair?”
“I dyed it.”
“Dyed it! Dyed your hair! Anne Shirley, didn’t you know it was a wicked thing to do?”
“Yes, I knew it was a little wicked,” admitted Anne. “But I thought it was worth while to be a little wicked to get rid of red hair. I counted the cost, Marilla. Besides, I meant to be extra good in other ways to make up for it.”
“Well,” said Marilla sarcastically27, “if I’d decided28 it was worth while to dye my hair I’d have dyed it a decent color at least. I wouldn’t have dyed it green.”
“But I didn’t mean to dye it green, Marilla,” protested Anne dejectedly. “If I was wicked I meant to be wicked to some purpose. He said it would turn my hair a beautiful raven29 black—he positively30 assured me that it would. How could I doubt his word, Marilla? I know what it feels like to have your word doubted. And Mrs. Allan says we should never suspect anyone of not telling us the truth unless we have proof that they’re not. I have proof now—green hair is proof enough for anybody. But I hadn’t then and I believed every word he said implicitly31.”
“Who said? Who are you talking about?”
“The peddler that was here this afternoon. I bought the dye from him.”
“Anne Shirley, how often have I told you never to let one of those Italians in the house! I don’t believe in encouraging them to come around at all.”
“Oh, I didn’t let him in the house. I remembered what you told me, and I went out, carefully shut the door, and looked at his things on the step. Besides, he wasn’t an Italian—he was a German Jew. He had a big box full of very interesting things and he told me he was working hard to make enough money to bring his wife and children out from Germany. He spoke so feelingly about them that it touched my heart. I wanted to buy something from him to help him in such a worthy15 object. Then all at once I saw the bottle of hair dye. The peddler said it was warranted to dye any hair a beautiful raven black and wouldn’t wash off. In a trice I saw myself with beautiful raven-black hair and the temptation was irresistible32. But the price of the bottle was seventy-five cents and I had only fifty cents left out of my chicken money. I think the peddler had a very kind heart, for he said that, seeing it was me, he’d sell it for fifty cents and that was just giving it away. So I bought it, and as soon as he had gone I came up here and applied33 it with an old hairbrush as the directions said. I used up the whole bottle, and oh, Marilla, when I saw the dreadful color it turned my hair I repented34 of being wicked, I can tell you. And I’ve been repenting35 ever since.”
“Well, I hope you’ll repent17 to good purpose,” said Marilla severely36, “and that you’ve got your eyes opened to where your vanity has led you, Anne. Goodness knows what’s to be done. I suppose the first thing is to give your hair a good washing and see if that will do any good.”
Accordingly, Anne washed her hair, scrubbing it vigorously with soap and water, but for all the difference it made she might as well have been scouring37 its original red. The peddler had certainly spoken the truth when he declared that the dye wouldn’t wash off, however his veracity38 might be impeached39 in other respects.
“Oh, Marilla, what shall I do?” questioned Anne in tears. “I can never live this down. People have pretty well forgotten my other mistakes—the liniment cake and setting Diana drunk and flying into a temper with Mrs. Lynde. But they’ll never forget this. They will think I am not respectable. Oh, Marilla, ‘what a tangled40 web we weave when first we practice to deceive.’ That is poetry, but it is true. And oh, how Josie Pye will laugh! Marilla, I cannot face Josie Pye. I am the unhappiest girl in Prince Edward Island.”
Anne’s unhappiness continued for a week. During that time she went nowhere and shampooed her hair every day. Diana alone of outsiders knew the fatal secret, but she promised solemnly never to tell, and it may be stated here and now that she kept her word. At the end of the week Marilla said decidedly:
“It’s no use, Anne. That is fast dye if ever there was any. Your hair must be cut off; there is no other way. You can’t go out with it looking like that.”
Anne’s lips quivered, but she realized the bitter truth of Marilla’s remarks. With a dismal41 sigh she went for the scissors.
“Please cut it off at once, Marilla, and have it over. Oh, I feel that my heart is broken. This is such an unromantic affliction. The girls in books lose their hair in fevers or sell it to get money for some good deed, and I’m sure I wouldn’t mind losing my hair in some such fashion half so much. But there is nothing comforting in having your hair cut off because you’ve dyed it a dreadful color, is there? I’m going to weep all the time you’re cutting it off, if it won’t interfere42. It seems such a tragic43 thing.”
Anne wept then, but later on, when she went upstairs and looked in the glass, she was calm with despair. Marilla had done her work thoroughly44 and it had been necessary to shingle45 the hair as closely as possible. The result was not becoming, to state the case as mildly as may be. Anne promptly46 turned her glass to the wall.
“I’ll never, never look at myself again until my hair grows,” she exclaimed passionately47.
Then she suddenly righted the glass.
“Yes, I will, too. I’d do penance48 for being wicked that way. I’ll look at myself every time I come to my room and see how ugly I am. And I won’t try to imagine it away, either. I never thought I was vain about my hair, of all things, but now I know I was, in spite of its being red, because it was so long and thick and curly. I expect something will happen to my nose next.”
Anne’s clipped head made a sensation in school on the following Monday, but to her relief nobody guessed the real reason for it, not even Josie Pye, who, however, did not fail to inform Anne that she looked like a perfect scarecrow.
“I didn’t say anything when Josie said that to me,” Anne confided49 that evening to Marilla, who was lying on the sofa after one of her headaches, “because I thought it was part of my punishment and I ought to bear it patiently. It’s hard to be told you look like a scarecrow and I wanted to say something back. But I didn’t. I just swept her one scornful look and then I forgave her. It makes you feel very virtuous50 when you forgive people, doesn’t it? I mean to devote all my energies to being good after this and I shall never try to be beautiful again. Of course it’s better to be good. I know it is, but it’s sometimes so hard to believe a thing even when you know it. I do really want to be good, Marilla, like you and Mrs. Allan and Miss Stacy, and grow up to be a credit to you. Diana says when my hair begins to grow to tie a black velvet51 ribbon around my head with a bow at one side. She says she thinks it will be very becoming. I will call it a snood—that sounds so romantic. But am I talking too much, Marilla? Does it hurt your head?”
“My head is better now. It was terrible bad this afternoon, though. These headaches of mine are getting worse and worse. I’ll have to see a doctor about them. As for your chatter52, I don’t know that I mind it—I’ve got so used to it.”
Which was Marilla’s way of saying that she liked to hear it.
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1
subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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harmonious
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| adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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maples
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| 槭树，枫树( maple的名词复数 )； 槭木 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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primal
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| adj.原始的；最重要的 | |
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plowing
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| v.耕( plow的现在分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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carving
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| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
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vim
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| n.精力，活力 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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13
gadding
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| n.叮搔症adj.蔓生的v.闲逛( gad的现在分词 )；游荡；找乐子；用铁棒刺 | |
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14
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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repentant
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| adj.对…感到悔恨的 | |
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lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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cowered
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的过去式 ) | |
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choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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sarcastically
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| adv.挖苦地，讽刺地 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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implicitly
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| adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
repenting
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的现在分词 ) | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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scouring
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| 擦[洗]净，冲刷，洗涤 | |
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veracity
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| n.诚实 | |
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impeached
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| v.控告（某人）犯罪( impeach的过去式和过去分词 )；弹劾；对（某事物）怀疑；提出异议 | |
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tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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42
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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43
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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44
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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45
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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46
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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48
penance
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| n.（赎罪的）惩罪 | |
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49
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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50
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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51
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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52
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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