section 41 of uncollected short stories by Lucy Maud Montgomery this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Wesley Dimary from Houston Texas. Uncollected short stories of Lucy Maud Montgomery by Lucy Maud Montgomery chapter 41 what happened at Bricksley's it's a downright shame the way Alf Logan and all those corner town roadboys persecute Lig Vondie said Frank Sheraton dropping down on the porch steps what do they do asked his cousin Fred looking up from his book everything I was down at the blacksmith's fords this evening and Alf was there with a crowd of his satellites bullying and bragging as usual Lig came along and they guide him in every way they could he feels so badly over it too he almost cried today Alf jeered at him and the other boys laughed and applauded I told Alf it was a shame but I was only one against them all Lig was on his way to the brook for a pail of water and when he was coming back Tom Clark pretended to run into him and tripped him up the water was all spilled and it's no easy job for Lig with his weak back to carry a bucket up that hill I went and carried the second one for him and those corner town bullies didn't meddle with us they played every kind of mean trick on Lig but he doesn't mind that as much as the fun they make of him it makes him wild to be laughed at and they know it the rest of the boys wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for Alf Logan he has a kind of chieftain ship over them some way what with his bluster and his boasting they think him a regular hero and they follow his example in everything I believe Alf Logan is a coward at heart said friend of course he is do you suppose a boy who wasn't a coward could take pleasure in persecuting a poor simple chaff like Lig Alf likes to bully boys that can't defend themselves but he's mighty careful to keep clear of all those who can I'd like to give him a settling down but I don't want to get into a scrap with corner town rowdies even for legs say of course not agreed Fred but perhaps we'll get a chance to take Alf Logan down a little yet if we could only make him ridiculous in the eyes of his admirers it might destroy his influence maybe they would leave Lig in peace about a week later Frank came home with another story I tell you Fred there was some fun on foot at the Forge today Alf Logan was there and was giving the details of some wonderful adventures of his down at the harbor and the crowd was drinking it all in when leg came ambling along and began to tell his story you know that old tumble down shanty in the hollow of the Jersey Road that the bricks leaves used to live in folks say it's haunted goodness knows why it should be and I'm sure the poor bricks leaves were nearly as silly and quite as harmless as Lig himself but that's the report and scary people give that house a wide birth after night well it appears that Lig was coming past there about nine o'clock last night and just as he got opposite the door you know it's right close to the road a great tall white figure popped out and fluid him Lig is a truthful fellow so he must have seen something a white cow or horse or perhaps a windblown paper he took to his heels and ran for dear life with that ghost chasing him as far as Stanley's Hill and it suddenly disappeared well Lig reeled all this rigmarole off it in his own peculiar fashion and dilated on the scare he had got quite proudly the boys pretended they didn't believe a word of his yarn and badgered him until he got mad as hops alphalogen had the most to say of course he didn't believe in ghosts not he and if he was to meet one he wouldn't be scared of it not much he'd ask no better fun he'd march right up to and ask what it wanted you want to catch him running away like a scared baby Lig may be simple wedded but he has his cute moments too he spoke right up and told Alph that he wouldn't go past the old Bricksley house himself after dark Alph said he'd just as leave go past it and threw it on the darkest night that ever was as not and then Lig up and dared him to do it of course I couldn't help chuckling Alph looked so flat but he couldn't back out after all his bragging course I'll go he said loftily don't some of you fellows want to come along too for the fun of it I thought that was a pretty bare-faced dodge to get company for the escapade but it seemed to pass Tom Clark and Chad Morrow Ned and Jim Bally said they'd go Chad is a bit jealous of Al so he'll see there's no shirking there to go tomorrow night and look here Fred Alph Logan is going to see a ghost then if he never saw one before and never will again and I want you to help me a bit the next night was just such a one as a ghost if at all particular in his choice of scenic effects would have chosen to walk abroad in it it was cloudy but a full moon behind the clouds gave a dim weird light and a chill east wind moaned and shivered among the trees Alph Logan and his cronies walking by no means briskly up the Jersey Road shivered too just at that moment Alph would have given a good deal to be well out of the adventure there ain't no such thing as ghosts anyhow said Tom Clark breaking a disagreeable silence of course there ain't said Alph loftily nobody believes in them nowadays except fools and what was it that legs all whispered Ned Bally nervously shut up growled out leg beats scared of his own shadow I don't believe he saw anything he was just yarning suppose and we do see something suggested Chad Morrison what will you do Al you heard me say what I do didn't you retorted Alph angrily shut up your talk about ghosts you'll scare yourselves and be running off and leaving me first thing the other boys resented this slur on their courage and relapsed into a sulky silence as they neared the dreaded hollow dark and mysterious in the shadow of the furs that surrounded it they drew closer together and glanced nervously from side to side the old bricksley house was indeed a tumbledown place it almost fallen into ruins doors and windows were gone and the framework was decayed and rotten with hesitating steps Alph and his comrades shuffled through the weeds of the old yard and stood at the entrance of the kitchen well ain't you going in as Chad rather tauntingly as Alph peered doubtfully into the darkness yes I am said out desperately come on you fellows what's here to be scared of in another moment they had crossed the threshold and were in a small square room that had once served the bricksley's is a kitchen and parlor and dining room all was quiet and dark something scurried overhead a rat or a squirrel the sound made Alph break out into a cold perspiration he laughed nervously well there ain't no ghosts yet boys you got to go through every room in the house you know said Chad there's a bedroom at the other side of this and two more up in the loft that was the bargain Alph with a forlorn attempt at a whistle started across the creaking floor they had almost reached the door of the inner room when a dreadful thing happened and the doorway appeared a tall white figure whose head reached quite to the ceiling huge shadowy wings flapped and waved about it and apparently in the middle of this horrible apparition was a flaming face with hollow cavernous eyes the same time a whale of most discordant agony that ever fell on human ears resounded through the house the yell of terror Alph Logan wheeled about and made a blind dash to the door followed by his tears stricken comrades crossed the yard over the hollow and up the hill they flew with frantic speed never daring to glance behind although the dismal whale still followed them on the wind when the last echo of their flying feet had died away the ghost burst into a shadow very human laughter and proceeded to take off the pillow slips stuffed with shavings that was on his head come here Fred and unpin a fellow he called I'll never get these sheets off alone Fred Sheraton popped out of the inner room laying on an old fiddle on the window ledge do you ever see anything so funny he laughed how those fellows did run they're running yet I bet said Frank the fearful noise you made on the fiddle scared them worse than I did I believe Alph will never hear the last of this if Alph Logan cherished any hope that his ghostly adventure might remain a secret that hope vanished when he got to the forage the next day he was greeted with derision by all the men and boys assembled there leg Vondie had at last turned the tables on his old tour mentor Chad morrow who had not made any pretensions to valor in the manner of ghosts and so did not mind owning to a scare had told the whole story of Alph's panic and flight to make manners worse the truth of story soon leaked out and Alph had not even the consolation of thinking it was a real ghost he had run from Alph Logan's homemade ghost passed into a byword along the corner town road and Al's chieftainship among the boys was gone forever he had showed himself both a braggart and a coward there after leg Vondie was left in peace as Frank said to Fred our grand ghost act was a decided success old fellow and of section 41 section 42 of uncollected short stories of LM Montgomery this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by April 6 0 9 0 California United States of America uncollected short stories of LM Montgomery by Lucy Maud Montgomery how shanky saved the day the story of a strange boy and a ball game Ted said Aunt Lucretia I want you to go back to the swamp and get me some Kalamaz route Ted glanced at the clock with a colonist born of despair he had been doing things for Aunt Lucretia all day at least ever since 10 o'clock that morning when his father and mother and Edgar had gone to town leaving 10 and Aunt Lucretia to keep house Aunt Lucretia was a rather fussy old lady of 60 and Ted was a favorite with her because he always ran her many errands without grumbling but even Ted felt that his patience had reached its limit there is plenty of dried Kalamaz route in the Garrett Aunt Lucretia he protested it's one o'clock now and the match is on at 2 30 our nine want to have a practice before it begins goodness knows we need it bad enough Ted groaned dramatically but Aunt Lucretia was unimpressed that Kalamaz route is dry she complained I want it fresh I think you might go for it Ted I sat up with you five whole nights last fall when you had the measles that clinched the argument Ted put on his cap and departed for the swamp with his spade over his shoulder and a reflective scowl on his brow not because of having to go for the Kalamaz route but because of the dark outlook of things generally it really didn't matter a great deal about the baseball practice the big rock nine were bound to lose all the practice in the world couldn't make Bob Baxter's broken legs sound and well by 2 30 that afternoon and without Bob Baxter they could never hoped to beat the mill Dale nine Ted felt gloomily that the life of a schoolboy belonging to a nine that got beaten in three matches running and was going to be beaten in a fourth was not worth living the swamp was at the rear end of the farm Ted dug up Kalamaz route with vicious energy the boys would be practicing by now and wondering why he had not come the captain would be down on him Aunt Lucretia always had some whim or other and what are you looking for sonny hidden treasure Ted swung around inside queer undersized sort of boy sitting on the fence behind him he had long wiry arms crossed over his breast bright red hair and green eyes Ted was sure he had never seen him before yet there was something oddly familiar about him he was about the size of 13 with the face of 30 I'm digging for Kalamaz route Ted said shortly he felt that something was going to give way in his temper very soon this mysterious youngster looked as if he were making game of him where on earth had he come from anyway can I help you dig inquired the redheaded one gravely if it is an all day job I might spell you I'm done said Ted more shortly still picking up his basket then sit up here on the fence and talk to me said the other boy plaintively I feel lost and lonesome do be sociable sunny Ted didn't know whether to laugh or get mad he concluded to laugh I'm sorry I can't he said I'm overdue now at a baseball practice and we have a match with the Mildale nine this afternoon that sounds interesting said the stranger baseball I'm rather fond of baseball myself tell me about this match what about your nine are you going to win no we're going to get beaten until we're sick retorted Ted oh we're well used to it our nine is the big rock nine we've never won a match in our lives the Mildale boys have beaten us in three games most times we make them work for it though but it'll be a walkover for them today how's that Bob Baxter broke his leg day before yesterday he was our pitcher and a dandy one I tell you his curves bothered folks the Mildale boys were scared of him now he's out of it haven't you anyone to put in his place only Morley Whitson he's not much good and nobody likes him he's not to be depended on and he gets mad and sulks if you can't have his own way about everything the captain wouldn't put him on if he could get anyone else what about the Mildale nine inquired the stranger leaning forward with a peculiar gleam in his queer green eyes are they strong do they put up a good game bolly said tad leconically besides they're in luck just now gem crafter's son from Quebec is staying with him this summer he's playing on their nine in will howards place will has got the whooping cough and him 15 years old Ted's voice expressed scorn and contempt for the unfortunate Mildellian who had not acquired whooping cough at a proper age do your nines let anybody play in their matches after that fashion oh yes our rules aren't very strict it's an understood thing that any boy can put in as a substitute we wouldn't be able to play much if it wasn't for some of the boys are always sure to be sick or away or picking potato bugs is this Quebec chap a good player tip top his batting would make your eyes stick out gee if we get licked again today the big rock nine will bust up nobody will believe that there ever was such a nine in existence the redheaded boy got down from the fence and drew a long breath come along sonny big rock is going to give a good account of itself yet i'll go and pitch for you since your constitution is so elastic can you play baseball demanded ted a little said the other meekly well you can't be worse than morally anyhow said ted reflectively i'll see what the captain says what's your name in general i'm called shanky said the stranger haven't you any other demanded tits especially oh yes long long shanky ted looked very hard at the stranger but that inscrutable face betrayed nothing it's a queer name he said doubtfully but if you can play baseball your name doesn't matter let's go they went shanky talked and questioned and by the time they reached the big rock school grounds ted had a somewhat uncomfortable feeling that he had been metaphorically turned inside out he knows as much now about the big rock nine as i do he thought he can ask a pretty decent lot of questions and bluff you off when you ask him any i haven't even found out where he belongs but i believe he's a town boy nevertheless ted found himself liking his odd new acquaintance he felt a mysterious confidence in him too despite his ignorance concerning him the captain oliver bronson looked shanky over keenly and somewhat condescendingly have you played much he asked considerable draub's shanky well said oliver with a shrug it's obstinous choice with us we'll have to take you on for moorly sulking already our chances are bluer than smoke the milldale nine are over there as fit as fiddles with that quebec chap huffing himself out he thinks he's the whole nine here's something of a picture ted tells me something agreed shanky the laconic well that is what we want since that ninny of a bob had to go and smash his leg you'll find a rig out in the school porch i guess bob's sweater'll do for you baseball matches between milldale and big rock were always played at the big rock school grounds the playground at milldale being unsuitable there were not many spectators of the match the farming communities of milldale and big rock did not take the school games very seriously but all the boys of both schools were present to watch and criticize cheer and hoot and call advice to the players with a cheerful disregard of etiquette the milldale nine had the first inning the players on both sides took their places the quebec chap a tall lad of 16 whose name was sydney garland was at the bat with a rather superior smile on his face as if he meant to show these country kids a thing or two shanky stood with the ball in his hand his thin wiry body was half lost in the folds of big bob baxter's sweater and his non-committal face was quite vacant of expression ted watching him felt blue he was responsible for this substitute what if he didn't do as well as marley after all then the captain would be furious and marley would be triumphant and whiz shanky with a sudden light of battle in his eye had bent forward and delivered a ball two seconds later the quebec boy was out with the days to look on his face that day and its doings are still green and fresh in the memories of the big rock nine the milltails have not forgotten it either but they do not speak of it even among themselves their defeat was too complete and bitter one after another they succumbed to shanky's curves when the big rocks went in shanky did equally wonderful things with the bat the other big rocks inspired by the knowledge that they were doing well and thrilled with the spirit of contest as they had never been before rose to the occasion and played their best it was the most exciting game that had ever been played in big rock and when the time was up and the big rocks were the winners by a huge score such a yell of triumph went up that farmer reed in his turnip field two miles away heard it and wondered whose chimney was on fire over at big rock shanky was the hero of the day the big rocks carried him on their shoulders around the grounds and fiercely envied ted the privilege of walking home with him ted felt at least three inches taller when he left the playground than he had when he entered it the big rocks had beaten the milltails and he ted gordon had been the indirect means thereof by reason of having discovered shanky he took the latter home and aunt lucrecia in great good humor over her fine supper of callumous root gave them a tip top supper she seemed to like shanky who in spite of his odd appearance certainly had the lack of winning confidence in favor aunt lucrecia told him all about her rheumatism and her dread of rats and shanky detailed a remedy for the former and promised to send her a new kind of rat trap which he had invented himself if you can in vingle the rats into it he assured her they can't get out of it well i must be off there's a train i want to catch say said ted over mastered by his curiosity is shanky your real name all the fellows will be asking me about you what shall i tell them shanky grand ask your brother edgar who shanky is he said he'll tell you tell him i'll come again sorry to have missed him today but glad i was in time to help you wipe up those milldales becomingly when edgar came home he listened to ted's story in silence then gave a whistle and a shout of laughter if that isn't like shanky he said he's always doing odd things pitched for you did he well you've heard me speak of longworth stanton i suppose longworth stanton edgar's chum at the rocky wold high school the son of the richest man in the province that star player of the rocky wold nine whose pitching was something that would carry him into the university team the next year you don't mean to say that shanky is longworth stanton gasped ted overcome why why i asked him if he could play baseball he'll forgive you for the joke of it grand edgar i'm sorry i wasn't home it was like him to come unannounced by cross cuts through swamps your little baby game with the milldales would delight him don't look so downcast bub you're a decent little chap if you are my brother and shanky won't mind your patronizing him anyhow i wasn't any worse than all of our said ted stowley he asked him if he understood anything about pitching hold on till i tell him and wasn't it precious lucky that i went for that calamus root end of section forty two section forty three of uncollected short stories of lm montgomery this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox dot org recording by sierra uncollected short stories of lm montgomery by lucy mod a christmas of long ago hurrah cried ted jubilantly christmas will be here in a week i wish it came every month christmas will be extra nice this year because grandma is with us said alice with a loving glance at the old lady with the silver hair and bright brown eyes who was knitting by the fire grandma smiled this will only be the second christmas of my life that i have spent away from my own home she said the first one was 60 years ago children when i was a little girl of 10 and went with my three brothers to spend christmas with our grandfather and grandmother we had a delightful drive but it was a very different christmas from your christmas of today we did not have your dozens of beautiful and expensive presents nor your wonderful trees and decorations still we thought our christmas at grandfather's just about right tell us about it pleaded the children who loved to hear their grandma talk of those far away years when she was a little girl when i came here last week i came on the train said grandma but in those days there were no railroads near where we lived and we drove the 30 miles to grandfather's the day before christmas it was cold and frosty and there was plenty of snow mother wrapped us all warmly in shawls and homespun caps and mufflers and we did not mind the cold we went on what was called a wood slay just boards on runners father had put some straw on it and mother had spread a big rug over it we all sat close together on this and when the slews or the pitches were very bad we clung to the upright stakes in the corners or the jingling iron chains that connected them when we got to grandfather's at twilight and trooped into the kitchen such a fire as they had for us you never see such fires nowadays there was a big open fireplace taking up most of one end of the room with just snug corners on each side of it grandfather had heaped it with great hickory logs and they were blazing with delightful fierceness sending a rosy glow out on our faces and lighting up the whole of the old fashioned room with its low ceiling and long black rafters from which hung festoons of dried apples and grandmother's assortment of herbs grandfather had tacked green boughs all around the room in honor of the season at home we thought ourselves very modern because we had stoves but we loved that splendid fireplace at grandfathers such a pleasant evening as we had all sitting about it uncles aunts and cousins not needing even candlelight the older folks told stories and we children listened open to eye while we munched apples and cracked beech nuts our dreams that night were haunted by indians and bears galore we did not have christmas trees then we had not even heard of them before we went to bed grandmother took our stockings and hung them along the chimney piece in a dangling row we had never hung up our stockings at home for how could santa claus come down a stove pipe and throw a stove but we were sure he could come down that splendid big chimney easy enough in the morning our stockings were full when we all came trooping into the kitchen i don't know what you would have thought of our presence but we were delighted with them there was not a bot present among them all were homemade i got a pair of red mittens knitted in a fancy pattern such as aunt emi could knit a scarf of shaded woollen blues knitted in grandmother's famous checkerboard pattern a big rag doll dressed in a piece of aunt aida's wedding dress a white muslin apron with six bows on the shoulders and a bag of homemade candy i remember there was a sled for each of the boys and one of the elderwood whistles for the making of which grandfather was celebrated i believed in santa claus wholeheartedly and i begged grandfather to tell me if he had shown santa how to make the whistles i thought mrs claus must have known the fancy stripe and checkerboard pattern the other children went to church with the grown-ups for there was always service on christmas morning then i stayed home to help grandmother with the dinner for i was the oldest girl i have never forgotten that big pantry with the stores of good things she had prepared in the plum pudding cooked a fortnight beforehand and bigger than i had ever thought a plum pudding could be we set the table in the kitchen and as a special privilege i was allowed to place there on the dishes of the set that had been part of grandmother's wedding punishings they were a handsome dark blue and not a piece had been broken in 40 years we did not have any elaborate decorations none at all indeed except the two big dishes full of red apples polished until they shone but there was really no room for decorations the good things to eat occupied all the available space what delectable odors filled that big kitchen when the hungry guests came home from church my brother tom declared he smelt the roast goose four miles down the road everybody had good appetites and did full justice to grandmother's christmas cheer we all sat around the table until late in the afternoon talking laughing and telling stories finally we girls helped grandmother wash the dishes and then it was time to go home through the crisp waning december afternoon and christmas at grandfather's was over to be talked of and remembered vividly all through the winter that was the nicest christmas i ever spent dearie it sounds jolly said ted i wish we could have christmas is like that now grandma smiled you have just as good christmas is although in a different way you would have thought that celebration very simple and quiet i'm afraid but remember dearie it's the spirit of christmas that counts it must be a spirit of goodwill and kindness and joy and love we must never forget the real meaning of christmas never let it be dimmed by any false meanings and then our christmas's will always be happy and blessed and long to be remembered no matter where or how they are celebrated that is true said alice soberly we'll all try to make our christmas the right kind grandma but i do wish we had a big fireplace said ted end of a christmas long ago recording by sierra section 44 of uncollected short stories of lucy mod montgomery this is a liber vox recording all liber vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liber vox.org uncollected short stories of lucy mod montgomery by lucy mod montgomery paul shy man first published in the housekeeper march 1907 adapted with considerable changes into chapter 25 of the golden road under the title the love story of the awkward man paul marshal lived alone at his old homestead beyond the brook he had lived there alone since his mother died he had been 20 then and he was close upon 40 now although he did not look it so unwrinkled was his high white forehead so clear and lustrous was his large dark blue eyes free from silver threads his thick long brown hair but neither could it be said that he looked young he had never at any time looked young with common youth there had always been something in his appearance that stamped him as different from the ordinary run of men and apart from his shyness built up an intangible invisible barrier between him and his kind he had lived all his life in netherby and all the netherby people really knew about or of him although they thought they knew everything was that he was painfully abnormally shy he never went anywhere except a church he never took part in netherby's simple social life even with men he was distant and comfortable as for women he never spoke to or looked at them if one spoke to him even if she were a matronally old mother in israel he was at once in agony of painful blushes he had no friends in the sense of companions to all outward appearances his life was solitary and devoid of any human interest he had no housekeeper but his old house furnished as it had been in his mother's lifetime was cleanly and daintily kept the queen's rooms were as free from dust and disorder as a woman could have had them this was known because paul occasionally had told mrs quigley to come in and scrub for him he always sent his hired man who lived in his own house down the road for her and on the morning she was expected he betook himself to the woods and fields returning only at nightfall during his absence mrs quigley was frankly want to explore the house from cellar to attic and her report of its condition was always the same need his wax to be sure there was one room which was always locked against her the west gable looking out on the garden and the hill of pointed furs beyond but mrs quigley knew that in the lifetime of paul's mother the room had been unfurnished she supposed it still remained so and felt no special curiosity concerning it although she always tried the door paul marshal had a small farm well cultivated he had a large garden where he worked most of his leisure moments in summer it was supposed that he read a great deal since the postmistress declared that he was always getting books and magazines by mail he seemed well contented with his existence and people let him alone since that was the greatest kindness they could do him it was unsupposable that he would ever marry nobody ever had supposed it paul marshal never so much as thought about a woman netherby oracles declared oracles however are not always to be trusted one day it was in the spring before alice reed came to netherby mrs quigley went away from the marshal place with a very curious story which she diligently spread far and wide wherever her labors took her it made a good deal of talk but people although they listened eagerly enough and wondered and questioned were rather incredulous about it they thought mrs quigley must be drawing considerably upon her imagination there were not lacking those who declared that she had invented the whole account since her reputation for strict veracity was not wholly unquestioned mrs quigley's story was this she had gone to the marshal place to scrub the kitchen and cut potato sets for the spring planting before going home in the evening she had made her usual peregrination of the house as usual had tried the door of the west gable expecting to find it locked likewise as usual it was not locked the door yielded to her hand and opening it mrs quigley stepped into the west gable room if she had found herself in a veritable bluebeard's chamber with beautiful wives hanging by their hair of their heads all around the walls she could hardly have felt more astonished instead of the bare walls and collection of odds and ends she expected to see she found herself in a finely furnished room mrs quigley had never seen its like in a country farmhouse it seemed to be a combination of bedroom and sitting room the floor was covered with a velvety moss green carpet and several fine rugs delicate lace curtains hung before the small square broad-sealed windows the walls were adorned with pictures in much finer taste than mrs quigley was fitted to appreciate in one corner was a little white bed in another a white dressing table with an oval swinging mirror there was a low bookcase between the windows filled with choicelessly bound books beside it stood a little table with a very dainty feminine work basket on it by the basket mrs quigley's all-seeing eye took instant note of a pair of tiny scissors and a silver thimble a wicker rocker comfortable with silk cushions was neared above the bookcase the woman's picture hung a watercolor if mrs quigley had but known it representing a pale very sweet face with large dark eyes and a wistful expression under loose masses of black lustrous hair just beneath the picture on the top shelf of the bookcase was a vase full of fresh white and yellow daffodils another vase full stood on the table beside the basket all this was amazing enough but what completely puzzled mrs quigley was the fact that a woman's dress was hanging over a chair before the mirror a pale blue silken affair such as paul marshall's hard-working economical mother had certainly never possessed and on the floor beside it were two little high-heeled white satin slippers good mrs quigley did not leave the room until she had thoroughly explored it even to shaking out the blue dress and discovering it to be a t-gown rapper she called it but she found nothing to throw any light on the mystery the fact that the simple name alice was written on the flyleys of all the books only deepened it for it was a name unknown in the marshall family in this puzzled state she was obliged to depart nor did she ever find the door unlocked again and discovering that people thought she was romancing when she talked about the mysterious west gable at the marshall place she indignantly held her peace concerning the whole affair but mrs quigley had told no more than the simple truth paul marshall under all his shyness and aloofness possessed a nature full of delicate romance and posy which denied expression in the common ways of life bloomed out in the realm of fancy and imagination left alone just when the boy's nature was deepening into the man's he turned to this ideal kingdom for all the real world could never give him love a strange almost mystical love played its part here for him he shadowed forth to himself the vision of a woman loving and beloved he cherished it until it became as real to him as his own personality he gave this dream woman the name he liked best alice in fancy he walked and talked with her spoke words of love to her and heard words of love in return when he came from work at the close of the day she met him at his threshold in the twilight a strange fair starry shape with welcome on her lips and in her eyes one day when he was in a nearby town on business he had been struck by a picture in the window of an art store it was strangely like the woman of his dream love he went in awkward and embarrassed and bought it when he took it home he did not know where to put it it was out of place among the dim old engravings of the wigged portraits and conventional landscapes on the walls of his homestead as he pondered the matter in his garden that evening he had an inspiration the sunset flaming on the windows of the west gable kindled them into burning rose amid the splendor he fancied Alice's fair face peeping archly down at him from the room the inspiration came then it should be her room he would fit it up for her as became her and her picture should hang there he was all summer carrying out his plan nobody must know or suspect so he must go slowly and secretly one by one the furnishings were purchased and brought home under cover of darkness he arranged them with his own hands he bought the books he thought she would like best and wrote her name in them he got the little feminine knickknacks of basket and thimble finally he saw at a big department store a pale blue tea gown and the white slippers he always fancied her as dressed in blue he bought them and took them home to her room there after it was sacred to her he always knocked on its door before he entered he kept it sweet with fresh flowers he sat there in the purple summer twilight and talked aloud to her or read his favorite books to her in his fancy she sat opposite him in her rocker clad in the trailing blue gown with her head leaning on one slender white hand but netherby people knew nothing of this would have thought him tinged with mild lunacy if they had known to them he was just the shy simple farmer he appeared they never knew or guessed at the real paul in the july after miss quigley's discoveries in the west gable alice reid came to teach in the netherby school she was a stranger at netherby gossip soon found out that she was alone in the world the children worshipped her but the grown people thought she was a little too distant and reserved for a schoolteacher they had been used to marry jolly girls who had joined eagerly in the social life of the district alice reid held herself somewhat aloof from it not disdainfully nor offensively but rather is one to whom these things were of little importance she was very fond of books and solitary rambles she was not at all shy but she was as sensitive as a flower and after time netherby people were content to live their own life and no longer resented her unlikeness to themselves previously the netherby teachers had bordered with robert cambell's near the school mrs. cambell having died he changed became necessary so it chanced that alice reid went to board with the armstrongs who lived beyond the marshall farm around the hill of the pointed furs by the main road it was a mile to the school but down the fur hill across the bridge over the brook formed a single mossy log by paul marshall's garden and out through his lane was only half a mile this was the way alice reid took and the first day she went by paul marshall was working in his garden he was on his knees before a bush gloried over with pale pink roses he had knelt to stir the mellow earth about its roots but he remained to worship the beauty of the opening buds it was a still summer morning the world was rosy with young bloom a little wind blew down from the furs and lost itself willingly among the delights of the garden the sky was high in blue and cloudless the clover fields below were still wet with dew birds were singing along the valley of the brook paul marshall's heart was filled to overflowing with a realization of the wonderful loveliness all around him the feeling of his soul had the sacredness of a prayer at this moment he looked up and saw alice reid she was standing outside of the garden fence under the tremulous shade of a silver maple looking not at him for she was unaware of his presence but at the flowers in the garden with all her delight in them out blossoming freely in her face for a moment paul marshall believed that his dream love had taken visible shape and incarnation she was like so like not in feature perhaps but in coloring and grace the grace of a slender listen form in the coloring of cloudy hair and wistful dark eyes curving red mouth and more than all in expression in the subtle revelation of personality exhaling from her like an atmosphere it was as if his own had come to him at last and his whole soul suddenly leaped out to meet and welcome her then her eyes fell upon him and the spell was broken paul remained kneeling mutely there shy man once more crimson with blushes a strange almost pitiful creature in his abject confusion a little smile flickered about the delicate corners of her mouth but she turned and walked swiftly away down the lane paul looked after her with a new painful sense of loss and loneliness it had been agony to feel her conscious eyes upon him but he remembered now that there had been a strange sweetness in it too it was still greater pain to watch her going from him he knew she must be the new teacher but he did not even know her name she had been dressed in blue too a pale dainty blue but that was of course he had known she must wear it and he was sure her name must be alice when later on he discovered that it was he felt no surprise he carried some roses up to the west gable and put them under the picture but the charm had gone out of the tribute and looking at the picture he thought how scant was the justice it did her her face was so much sweeter her eyes so much softer her hair so much more lustrous the soul of his love had gone from the picture and from the room and from his dress when he tried to think of the alice he had loved he saw not the shadowy spirit occupant of the west gable but the young girl who had stood under the silver maple he did not then realize what this meant had he realized it he would have suffered bitterly as it was he felt only a vague discomfort a curious sense of loss and gain commingled he saw her again that afternoon on her way home from school she did not pause by the garden but walked swiftly past thereafter every morning and evening for a week he watched unseen to see her pass his home once a little child was with her clinging to her hand the armstrong baby who had gone to school for a day out of love for the teacher no child had ever before had any part in the shy man's dream life but that night in the twilight the vision of the rocking chair was a little girl in a blueprint dress with a little golden-haired shape at her knee a shape that lisped and prattled and called her mother and both of them were his it was the next day that he failed for the first time to put flowers in the west gable instead he cut white roses lavishly and added to them a spray of yellow honeysuckle then looking furtively about him as if he were committing a crime he crept down to the brook and lay the flowers at the root of a beach which sprang up at the end of a fallen log she must pass that way her feet would crush them if she failed to see them then he hurried back half repenting half exultant in the evening when he stole down again to the bridge the flowers were gone thereafter he put some in the same place every day when alice reed had seen the roses on the bridge she had known at once who had put them there and she divined that they were for her she lifted them tenderly in much surprise and pleasure she had heard all about paul marshal and his shyness but before she had heard about him she had seen him among his flowers for a fleeting moment unconscious and unafraid and had liked him she thought his face and his dark blue eyes beautiful she even liked the long brown hair that netherby people laughed at that he was quite different from other people she understood at once but she thought the difference was in his favor perhaps her sensitive nature at once divined and responded to the beauty in his at least in her eyes paul marshal was never a ridiculous figure when she heard the story of the west gable which most people disbelieved she believed it although she did not understand it it invested the shy man with interest and romance she felt that there was a mystery which she would have liked out of no important curiosity to solve she believed that it contained the key to his character she carried his roses home and put them in her room the honeysuckle she fastened on her breast and its elusive perfume attended her wherever she went thereafter every day she found flowers on the bridge roses or lilies clove pinks or pansies carnations or geraniums the flowers were always sweet and fragrant never anything senseless or flaunting she wished to see paul to thank him unaware that he watched her daily from the screen of shrubbery in his garden but it was six weeks before she found the opportunity one saturday afternoon she passed when he not expecting her was leaning on his garden fence with a book in his hand she stopped under the maple mr. marshal she said softly i want to thank you for your flowers paul startled wished that he might sink through the ground his anguish of embarrassment made her smile a little he could not speak so she went on gently it has been so good of you they have given me so much pleasure i wish you could know how much it was nothing nothing stammered paul his book had fallen to the ground at her feet and she picked it up and held it out to him so you like ruskin she said i do too but i haven't read this if you would care to read it you may have it paul contrived to say she carried the book away with her he did not again he did not again hide when she passed and when she brought the book back they talked about it a little over the fence he lent her others and received some from her in return they fell into the habit of discussing them paul did not find it hard to talk to her now it seemed as if he were talking to his dream alice and it came strangely natural to him he did not talk voluble but alice thought what he did say was worthwhile his words lingered in her memory and made music she always found his flowers at the bridge and she always wore some of them but she did not know if he noticed this or not the summer waned and the autumn flamed itself out in gold and crimson when the winter came there were no more flowers and it was too cold to linger under the leafless maple but one afternoon paul walked shyly with her from his gate to the bridge after that he always walked down with her she would have missed him much if he had failed yet it did not occur to her that she was learning to love him she would have laughed with girlish scorn at the idea she liked him very much she thought his nature beautiful in its simplicity and transparency in spite of his shyness she felt more delightfully at home in his society than at that of any other person she had ever met but she never thought of love like other girls she had her dreams of a possible prince charming young handsome and debonair it never occurred to her that he might be found in the shy dreamy recluse of the garden below the hill of the pointed furs when spring came there was a fresh day of breeze and blue when the world awakened and laughed in the sunshine alice reed coming down through the furs with the wind blowing her dark love locks tricksily about under her wide blue hat found the first May flowers of the year pink and white stars of sweetness amid their russet leaves laid for her in a fragrant heap at the root of the old beach she lifted them and buried her face in them draining their perfume as from a cup brimmed over with incense she hoped Paul would be in his garden since she wished to ask him for a book necessary in her schoolwork that day when she reached it she saw him sitting on an old stone bench at the further side his back was towards her and she was partially screened by a cops of budding lilac trees alice blushing slightly unlatched the garden gate went down the path she had never been in the garden before and she found her heart beating in a strange fashion he did not hear her footsteps and she was close behind him when she heard his voice and realized that he was talking aloud to himself in a low dreamy tone as the meaning of his words fell on her ear she started and grew crimson she could not move or speak as one in a dream she stood and listened to the shy man's reverie guiltless of any thought of eavesdropping how much i love you alice paul marshal was saying unafraid with no shyness in his tone or manner i wonder what you would say if you knew you would laugh at me sweet as you are you would laugh and mockery i can never tell you i can only dream of telling you in my dream you are standing here by me dear i can see you very plainly my sweet lady so tall and gracious with your dark hair and your drooping eyes i can dream that i tell you my love that sweetest maddest dream of all you love me in return everything is possible in dreams you know dear my dreams are all i have so i go far with them even to thinking you are my wife i dream how i shall fix up my dull old home for you one room will need nothing more it is your room dear and has been ready for you a long time long before that day i saw you under the maple your books and your flowers and your picture are there dear only the picture is not half lovely enough but the other rooms of the house must be made to bloom out freshly for you what a delighted is thus to dream of what i should do for you then i would bring you home dear and lead you through my garden and into my house as its mistress i would see you standing beside me in the old mirror at the end of the hall a bride in your pale blue dress with a blush on your face i would lead you through all the rooms made ready for your coming and then to your room i would see you sitting in your own chair all my dreams would find rich fulfillment in that royal moment oh alice you would have a beautiful life together it's so sweet to make believe about you you will sing to me in the twilight and we will gather flowers together in spring days when i come home from work tired you will put your arms about me and lay your head on my shoulder i will stroke it so that bonnie glossy head of yours alice my alice all mine and my dreams never to be mine in real life how i love you the alice behind him could hear no more she gave a little choking cry that betrayed her presence paul marshall sprang up and gazed upon her he saw her standing there under the fine misty shadows of spring pale with feeling wide eyed trembling for a moment shyness rung him then a sudden strange fierce anger surged over him and banished every trace of it he felt outraged and hurt to the death he felt as if he had been cheated out of something incalculably precious as if sacrilege had been done to his most holy sanctuary of emotion white tense with anger he looked at her and spoke how dare you you have spied on me you have crept in and listened how dare you do you know what you have done girl you have destroyed all that made life worthwhile to me my dream is dead it could not live when it was betrayed it was all i had oh laugh at me mock me i know that i am ridiculous what of it it never could have hurt you why must you creep in like this to hear me and put me to shame oh i love you i will say it laugh as you will is it such a strange thing that i should have a heart like other men this will make sport for you i who love you better than my life better than any other man in the world can love you will be a jest to you all your life and yet i think i could hate you you have destroyed my dream you have done me deadly wrong paul paul cried alice finding her voice his anger hurt her with the pain she could not endure it was unbearable that paul should be angry with her in that moment she realized that she loved him that the words he had spoken when unconscious of her presence were the sweetest she had ever heard or ever could hear nothing mattered at all saved that he loved her and was angry with her don't say such dreadful things she stammered i did not mean to listen i could not help it i shall never laugh at you oh paul i'm glad you love me i'm glad i chanced to overhear you since you would never had had the courage to tell me otherwise glad glad do you understand paul is it possible he said wonderingly alice i'm so much older than you and they call me strange and unlike other people you are unlike other people she said looking at him finally and bravely and that is why i love you i know now that i must have loved you ever since i saw you i loved you long before i saw you said paul you came to me as the fulfillment of my dream he came close to her and drew her into his arms tenderly and reverently all his shyness and awkwardness swallowed up in the grace of his great happiness in the old garden he kissed her lips and alice entered into her own end of section 44 section 45 of uncollected short stories of l.m montgomery this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Raymond Cockle uncollected short stories of l.m montgomery by lucy moored montgomery the lost knife did any of you fellows see my knife asked persimason coming up to the group of boys assembled on the belmont school playground one fine june day at noon hour recess i left it lying on my desk when i left the school room half an hour ago but it is not there now the boys all declared they had not seen or touched the knife persie frowned well it's gone anyway somebody must have taken it where is wilfred brett he was in the school room studying his lad when i left it wilfred went home soon after you went over to the woods said charlie gardener i believe he has taken my knife then said persie angrily he is the only boy in school who hasn't got a knife and i know he envied me mine by the way i've seen him looking at it better not make such accusations before you are sure persie said jack green you haven't any proof that wilfred took your knife somebody has taken it retorted persie you fellows i'll say you didn't so who is left but wilfred he was in the school alone with the knife of course he took it i never trusted him he always looked too quiet and sneaky for my taste none of the other boys spoke up in wilfred's defense they did not believe that he would steal a schoolmate's knife but neither could they affirm that they were sure he wouldn't none of them knew much about wilfred brett he was a newcomer in belmont and had been attending the school only a month his people were poor and wilfred's clothes were shabby he was quiet reserved and studious and did not make friends easily his classmates did not dislike him but as yet he was looked upon as a stranger here he comes now said charlie looking down the road he can answer for himself wilfred soon reached the group but evidently he did not intend to join them he was passing on with a merely friendly greeting when persie called to him sharply hello wilfred i was just asking where you were did you see anything of my knife i left it on my desk just beside yours when i went down to the brook and it's gone now there was an offensive something in persie's tone that brought a flush of anger to wilfred's face unfortunately there is no way of distinguishing between flushes of anger and flushes of guilt as far as appearances go wilfred also thought the other boys were looking at him curiously but he answered quietly no i saw nothing of your knife persie and i do not think you left it in the school room at all i tell you i did said persie angrily i am sure i left it on my desk somebody has taken it and you are the only fellow who has been in the room since i left do you mean to insinuate that i took your knife said wilfred still quietly but with a dangerous sparkle in his eyes i insinuate nothing retorted persie i only state plain facts people can draw their own inferences from them i suppose persie turned on his heel and marched off wilfred clenched his hands but jack green said never mind wilfred we none of us believe you took the knife of course it's just persie's headlong way of jumping at conclusions and he is so careless it is just as likely he left the knife somewhere else i assure you i never saw or touched his knife said wilfred looking steadily into their eyes that settles it said charlie gardener of course we believe you it did settle it as far as the boys were concerned but wilfred continued to feel angry and sore he could not be sure that all suspicion was really banished from the minds of his classmates by his simple asservation and he knew that persie mason believed that he had stolen his knife it was a humiliating position never before had he been suspected of such a thing and he felt it keenly three days passed during which persie continued to search ostentatiously for his knife bewailing its loss and throwing out covert hints at wilfred as these were not openly directed at him wilfred could not resent them but he chafed under them not a little i hate persie mason he exclaimed angrily to his sister isabel he is a regular snob and i've disliked him ever since i came to belmont all the boys do but he has some influence for all that and if he keeps on insinuating that i stole his knife stole it just fancy isabel i dare say some of the fellows will come to believe i did if he would say anything openly to me i could show him i resented it but he never has since that first time don't mind persie mason said isabel gently she was a pale sweet-faced girl and she spent most of her time lying on a sofa with a sadly suggestive crutch close at hand but she and wilfred were great chums and he told her everything it's easy to say don't mind said wilfred bitterly but i can't help minding it isn't very pleasant to have anyone trying to make you out of thief my good name is about all the capital i've got and if it is to be spoiled i'll have a poor show i'm afraid this will come to mr philips ears amy philips goes to school you know and if it does i'll have no chance at all to get the position at the mill not that i have much chance anyhow i suppose there are nine applicants already and all with more influence than i have don't get blue brother mine said isabel cheerly it will all come out right yet if you keep your conscience clear it's only real evil that lasts and does harm and don't let persie mason aggravate you into doing anything you will repent i think he'd like to do that and you know that quick temper of yours is very apt to flare up i do know it only too well said wilfred with a rueful smile i do my best to keep it under control and you've helped me more than words can say isabel you're the best sister a boy ever had and i guess i'll never go very far astray if i always take your advice well i won't vex myself thinking of persie but i do wish i could get that position it would make it so much easier for mother and you if i could two days later wilfred taking a shortcut to school through the woods found persie mason's knife sticking in a tree down by the brook he recognized it instantly with a sparkle in his eyes he pulled it out and hurried up to the playground where the boys were assembled here is your knife persie i found it stuck in the old poplar tree down by the brook just where you left it that day you missed it persie took the knife with a disagreeable sneer that story is a little too thin he said mockingly wilfred's face whitened with anger the next moment he struck straight out from the shoulder and persie went down he was on his feet again in a moment and would have rushed furiously at wilfred had not the other boys intervened come now persie no fighting said charlie gardener authoritatively you know mr wilson doesn't stand for it you'd know business to say what you did to wilfred we believe his story so you'd just better take your knife and keep quiet about it persie took this salutary advice and marched contemptuously away wilfred also turned and walked into the school room his anger had spent itself in the blow and he felt thoroughly ashamed of himself nothing could justify the way he had acted not even persie's sneer i've made a nice spectacle of myself he thought miserably will i ever learn to control this wretched temper of mine i've been flattering myself that i had succeeded in winning the mastery over it and now i go and break out like this oh what will isabel think wilfred found out what isabel thought in their customary twilight talk that night oh wilfred you didn't knock persie down exclaimed isabel yes i did i tell you isabel he as good as told me he didn't believe what i said oh but two rungs never make a right wilfred persie didn't deserve to be knocked down badly as he has behaved to you you've lowered yourself brother mine by giving weight your temper so and there's only one way you can make it right you must apologize to persie oh i say isabel protested wilfred in amazement you can't be an earnest i'm sorry i struck persie but i'm not going to stoop to apologize to him i don't think it would be stooping said isabel steadily i think it would be rising back to the heights of your self-respect again i think it's the right thing to do and i'm not going to say another word about it you've said as much as if you'd preach the sermon said wilfred roofly i dare say you're right isabel you're always right but you don't know what a bitter pill you want me to swallow i can't apologize to persie mason and i won't isabel sighed patted his hand and said no more she was a very wise little isabel and she understood wilfred thoroughly the latter went off to his books but he could not put his mind on his lessons it was in vain that he decided that it was out of the question to think of apologizing the question kept coming up again and again long after he went to bed that night he wrestled with it finally he sat straight up in bed and spoke out his mind to the darkness i'll do it i've got to do it before i can get back my self-respect it doesn't make any difference what persie did or said it is what i did i have to reckon with it wasn't right and i've got to own up to it like a man and a gentleman when wilfred reached the school playground the next morning he realized that the task would be harder than he had expected not only were all the boys present in full force but the girls were there too but he did not hesitate he walked straight up to the group of which persie mason with a black eye was the center persie he said clearly and distinctly i am sorry i struck you yesterday and i ask your pardon for it persie turned red looked the fool to perfection and muttered something half inaudible about it being no matter wilfred walked into the schoolroom with his head erect i'm my own man again he thought isobo was right it was a pity he could not have heard the comment charlie gardener was making on the playground that moment wilfred brett is the right sort he said emphatically he is one of us from his out i rather think he has proved his medal a week later wilfred was considerably surprised to receive a note from mr philips the proprietor of the lumber mill asking him to come to his office he found mr philips alone and that gentleman came straight to the point as was his custom you applied for the vacancy here at wilfred yes sir well i have decided to accept you you can begin your duties next week wilfred stared at mr philips as if doubting his ears it was too good to be true you seem surprised that mr philips allowing himself to smile you didn't expect to get the place say no sir i didn't said wilfred frankly i knew there were several other applicants but since you have been so kind as to accept me i'll do my best to satisfy you sir i don't doubt that you will and it isn't any kindness on my part said mr philips grimly it is pure self-interest i want a boy that i can trust for there are certain responsibilities attached to the position my daughter amie told me all about your trouble in school with that mason boy and your manly apology under circumstances that might have excused the lack of an apology i liked it i thought it showed that there was good stuff in you i i mightn't have done it though sir stammered wilfred desiring to be honest if it hadn't been for my sister isabel i didn't want to apologize but she said i ought to mr philips laughed the boy who takes such advice from his sister is the boy i'm looking for that's all good day report on monday end of section 45 section 46 of uncollected short stories of lm montgomery this is a libervax recording all libervax recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libervax.org recording by jamie church uncollected short stories of lm montgomery by lucy mod montgomery in the suite of the year it is dear mid spring and one must just be glad to be alive in such a fresh tremulous young world i feel exactly as eve must have felt in the garden of eden before all the trouble began i know just how new and wonderful everything must have seemed to her and how she must have thought that life could never be long enough to drain all the sweetness that was waiting for her on every side i wonder if the early mornings were as delightful and eden as they are here in our garden at mount holly or as they are in that other garden over at golden milestone just separated from ours by a demure little box hedge i do not really believe that they could have been or eve poor thing would never have even felt tempted to talk with serpents and go looking for forbidden knowledge it would have been enough simply to have been alive on such mornings such crisp pale purpley mornings that creep up so whitely and freshly over the long shore fields and tiptoe into our gardens as it were with their fingers on their lips bidding us be silent and enjoy while the little milky white blossoms come out on the cheery trees and all the birches and poplars wrestle and quiver with brand new golden green baby leaves to see the long shafts of sunrise sunshine striking down through the dark fur boughs and lying on the old stone bench where steven and i like best to sit or on the little mossy mound where the tiniest of tiny ferns are enrolling themselves like little curly-headed green pixie folk waking up from a nap is just to give you a feeling that is like a prayer springs are always so new too no spring is ever exactly like any other spring it is always something of its own to be its own peculiar loveliness and then to watch the life coming back into the world and all the green things that you've loved all your life poking their heads up as soon as the snow is gone every one of them in the very spot you know where to look for it why it's just to stand by and watch a bit of creation you feel like one of the morning stars of old that sing for joy i am sure i must be the happiest girl in the world at anytime even when the snow drifts are big and glistening around mount holly and the birds have gone and the flowers are asleep away down under the whiteness and all the trees are bare except the staunch old furs and spruces that never lose their greenness just like good true friends that are the same under all conditions but i'm happier than ever in this the sweet of the year i know when i am dead i shall sleep peaceably enough under the grasses through the summer and autumn and winter but when the spring comes my heart will throb and stir in my sleep and call wistfully out to all the voices calling far and wide in the world above me i said so to steven this very afternoon as we sat on the old bench in his garden i had gone over to show him my new dress i always like to have steven see me in a new dress before anyone else he can always tell me whether it's right or not and if it pleases him i feel that i can defy criticism there is nobody else here to tell me dear old dad with his nose buried all the time in a book doesn't study fashion plates if he knows that girls wear dresses at all it's as much as he does and old martha our housekeeper who never wears anything but rusty black and thinks i'm a brand not yet plucked from the burning isn't much better so there's only steven whenever i get a new dress i put it on and fly over to him i can tell the minute he sees me by the look in his eyes whether he likes a dress or not before he says a word and if he doesn't i simply go back to the house take off that dress and hand it to martha to put in the next box her lady's aid sends out west to the mission station martha thinks i'm wildly extravagant but it all works together for good to the missionaries wives who haven't to live up to steven's taste and who poor souls must often be glad to get some frilly and fanciful and all together unlike the sensible ugly things the lady's aid sends them i was very anxious about this particular dress it was so pretty that i felt that it would break my heart if i had to send it away to the mission field so i fairly prayed that steven would like it as soon as i came home this afternoon i put it on it was a pale green thing to suit the spring you understand i knew steven believed in a woman's dressing in harmony with the seasons and it had such lovely clinging lines and the dearest lacy frilly sleeves just to the elbows i did my hair in the way steven likes best parted plainly and knotted low on the neck with just a bit of a curl on my forehead and i put a wee pink house rose over my left ear i thought i looked rather nice although my mirror always turns me green so i slipped over to the golden milestone garden and gave the call steven top me 10 years ago when he first came to live at golden milestone and i was a little girl of 10 we were chums from the very first and whenever i went into either of the gardens and gave that call steven would come out to me the very best playmate that ever was even if he were a grown-up man it's a funny little call like three clear bird notes the first just a medium pitch the second higher the third droning away into lowness and sweetness long drawn out i could see steven through the low open window of his library he was sitting by his table writing furiously at his new novel and he was all snowed around with scribbled pages it's always very hard for me to realize that steven is a famous author he's so nice and chummy and approachable to read his books you would think he was somebody far too deep and clever for everyday people to know at all and as for girls dresses you'd never dream he thought of anything but their souls and minds the minute he heard my call he dropped his pen and came running out when he came to where the little red paths make a cross he stopped and looked at me i knew at that moment that no missionary's wife was ever going to forfall it in my green dress he liked it liked it immensely but i wanted to hear him say so so i picked up my train and made a curtsy and said have i found favor in the king's sight steven drew a long breath you are spring itself sylvia he said it's very incarnation i thought when i saw you standing there by that bench as i came across the garden that all the shimmer of young leaves and clothe of young mornings and evanescent sweetness of young blossoms in a thousand springs had embodied themselves in you tell me what is it like to be the soul of all the springs that ever were i laughed because i was so happy what steven said didn't make me vain i knew it was all the green dress but men even clever men can never understand this and it is just as well that they don't if i had worn a red dress had it been ever so pretty steven would never have thought of comparing me to the soul of spring i'm so glad you like my dress i said of course he didn't really expect me to answer his question i'm a very stupid little thing and can't talk up to clever speeches and i won't keep you from your work any longer i'm sorry i had to interrupt you but i had to you see it was an important question much more important than any work could possibly be agreed steven smiling with his eyes steven always smiles so his lips are mostly a little sorrowful and firmly set but his deep gray eyes are always kindly and merry steven is a very handsome man i never tell him so of course but i think it every time i see him today i noticed a gray hair in the dark curl over his temple i'm afraid steven is working too hard over those books of his what earthly use is fame and money if a man is going to turn gray at thirty five the trouble is that steven has nobody to look after him and make him rest and coax him away from work every once and so often and costed him generally all men need to be costed and clever ones most of all or else their brains will run away with their comfort when this book of his is finished i'm simply going to make him take a good long rest and let his gray man or lie fellow somebody has got to look after him and there is nobody but me i wish i were older because then i should probably have more influence with him he looks upon me merely as a little girl i know so he won't want to take my advice dear old steven if you were my own brother i couldn't be fonder of him i don't know what has come over me i don't feel a bit like myself i never felt so before there's a queer horrid little ache in my heart and i'd rather cry than not only crying won't do any good i have nothing to cry for i know that and i don't see why i should want to i don't even care about it's being spring why spring just seems common place i must have caught a cold in the garden tonight i suppose i shall have to get martha to make me a hot current drink before i go to bed and i do so hate hot current drinks but i just feel that i'd like to do something i hate to do i oughtn't to feel so i ought to feel proud and happy since steven has honored me with his confidence i try to feel so but there's nothing except that horrid funny ache that persists in aching i want to tell somebody about it and be comforted and padded but there's nothing to tell and nobody to do the padding this evening i was sitting at my window that looks out over the cherry cops down into the garden it was such a pearl of an evening and there was such a dear little silvery moon the merest baby moon shining over the golden milestone birches i was just wondering if steven were looking at that moon too from his thin window when i heard his call from the garden so i flung a white shawl over my shoulders and ran down and out martha called after me to put on my rubbers i wish now that i had i dare say i shouldn't feel as i do if i had taken her advice but at the time it seemed perfectly impossible to fuss about rubbers with spring and a new moon and steven all waiting for me martha is such a sensible old soul i wish i were sensible i'm sure sensible people never have senseless aches like this steven was sitting on the stone bench in his corner of it and i sat down in mine there is a great bed of daffodils in front of us gleaming out in the pale silvery twilight like golden stars behind us was a cops of dark fur and white cherry and robins were whistling in it as they never whistled anytime saved just in the sweet of the year steven didn't speak for a long while and neither did i steven isn't one of those terrible people to whom you feel bound to talk all the time we were such good friends we can be silent just as much and as long as we like at least it has always been so but i believe that after this i shall want to talk madly the whole time when i'm with steven it is dreadful to feel so finally steven said may i tell you something sylvia of course i said is it a secret i liked the notion of steven telling me secrets then yes a very great and sweet and wonderful secret he said looking at a daffodil spike he held in his hand his profile came out dimly against the white of the cherries and i love to watch it with such a good clean cup profile with a lovely chin and nose it is about the lady i love sylvia may i tell you about my love for her if you believe me the ache came then and there everything seems spoiled moon and daffodils and spring evening i suppose it was the cold striking in i remember that i shivered that is always the way with the cold and it makes you feel so stupid and listless as for steven's secret i must say it surprised me i had never thought about his being in love with anybody there is nobody around here but then of course steven goes to the city every winter for a visit and he must meet dozens of lovely clever women the only wonder when i come to think of it is that he hasn't fallen in love with somebody long ago but i had simply never thought of it then i realized that steven was waiting for an answer to his question it surprised me that i wanted to say no i didn't want to hear about her i felt as if i were going to be horribly hurt some way or another i ought to have felt proud and flattered to think that steven had chosen me for a confidant but oh how i wished he hadn't so i said yes dully and stupidly and shivered again steven drew my shawl closer around me the tenderness of his motion went through me like a knife i thought of him gathering that other girl's shawl around her of her sitting on that bench beside him in my corner thank you he said did you ever suspect that i loved her silvia i shook my head i loved her for years he went on that seems worse than ever if it had only just happened recently it really wouldn't seem so bad but to think he had been caring for her all through these springs every spring seems spoiled now i suppose she is very beautiful i said because i had to say something she is as beautiful as the spring said steven softly her eyes are like that star just over the tip of the fur silvia her hair has the gloss of ripe nuts nothing was ever seen so white and curved as her throat there is a spot just under her chin that i must kiss someday and she is as good and sweet and true womanly as she is beautiful that ache of mine kept getting worse and worse as he talked i had to stop him so i asked the first question that came into my head does she does she love you steven i don't know he answered i haven't told her yet of my love for her i've i've been afraid to she is such a child still in many respects sometimes i think her heart is sleeping yet and i've been afraid to frighten her sweet friendship out of my life if i should speak to her of love what do you advise silvia shall i tell her that i love her yes i think you should i said weirdly i felt oh so tired and old and experienced do you think she could ever care for me asked even bending forward i stood up i had to get away i i think she must i said i'm sure she must and now i think i will go in steven it seems so cold and chilly out here forgive me he said springing up i should have remembered that these spring evenings are rather damp yet i'm afraid i'm a selfish creature come i'll take you to your door so you advise me to tell my dear lady everything i nodded because i knew it was the right advice to give him he slipped his arm through mine and we walked across his garden and ours when we came to our door he stuck the daffodil he carried in my hair and said good night i shall never care for daffodils again i hate that other girl it's dreadful of me i've been such a good friend of steven that i ought to be as fond of her as of him but she will spoil everything when she comes to golden milestone she will walk in the garden with steven and he will read his books to her before they are published and pick the first flowers for her and teach her the call our call and he will praise her dresses as for me the missionaries will get my green dress after all i shall never wear it again oh i wish my mother were alive i shouldn't feel so lonely and lost then to be sure there's daddy but what would daddy know about an ache like this he knew all about it he is such a wise old dad i never knew how wise before i went to him last night i had to go to somebody he was in the library pouring over a book but he looked up when i went in dear me how much you are like your mother sylvia why my little girl what is the matter i hadn't said anything but i suppose my face looked funny oh daddy i'm so so unhappy i said and i don't know why only i wish it wasn't spring daddy simply pulled me down on his knee and cuddled me he knew just what i needed i suppose mother must have taught him long ago for how could he have learned it out of his musty old classics there there little girl now tell father all about it all at once i knew that i could tell him and i did i told him everything about the dress in the new moon and steven's being in love and oh daddy everything is spoiled i sobbed so you love steven said daddy musingly i sprang right up on my feet love steven i cried why daddy i don't i don't yes i do i knew it at last i knew why my heart ached so and why i hated that other girl i knew why all the promise and beauty had gone out of the spring out of all springs oh it was so terrible why hadn't i found it out before it was so plain now that i saw it at last i crept back into daddy's arms and buried my head on his shoulder daddy talked to me i shall never forget what he said how wise and tender it was he helped me to live through that terrible last night he's going to keep on helping me i've lost steven but i found father and we're never going to lose each other again i shall always live here with him and be his comfort and stay i mean to be very careful and proud and never never let steven know i shall try to like his wife when he brings her to golden milestone but i shall not go there very much ever again i think this will be easier to bear when spring is over no no it won't it never will i shall just have this terrible ache all my life this terrible emptiness nothing can fill it not even daddy's love nothing but steven's love and that belongs to another woman i shall see her at his side and her love for him in her eyes how can i bear that how could any woman bear it how could i ever have thought that this was the sweet of the year it's the heartbreak of the year and all the pale purpley mornings and stars of daffodil and songs of wind in the furs are just so many separate pangs of the heartbreak i cannot bear these things because steven and i have loved them together and i cannot love them apart but i shall not have to love them apart after all we shall go on loving them together and loving each other just as long as there are fair mornings and fair springs and sweet wind songs in this or any other world oh it's no use to say i'm glad that word is too paltry i feel humble and grateful and reverent and so happy that i can hardly dare to believe it last night i was sitting at my window again wondering if it could only be 24 hours since i had sat there and been happy it seemed years and oh so lonely as that spring twilight was then all at once i heard steven's call from his garden i knew he was standing by the stone bench waiting for me but for the first time i didn't answer the call i didn't go out to him i couldn't it hurt me terribly not to go but it would hurt worse to go steven waited a little while and then came to the hedge gate and called again still i didn't go although i had to grip my window still tight and hard to keep from going i hoped he would go away then but instead he came into our garden stood just by my white tulip bed and called for the third time i went out to him then i knew i had to and i knew that i would have to go to him whenever he called me to my life's end no matter how much it hurt he whistled some gay little tune when he saw me coming but when i was near enough he just put out his hands and took mine and looked down at me in silence i knew he was looking so at me although i didn't look up i couldn't i knew i could never let steven look into my eyes again suddenly he drew me close to him and i felt his arms around me it was only a second before i sprang back but in that second i knew just what heaven must be like you you mustn't i said jokingly why not as steven simply don't you love me silvia i had never thought that steven could have been so cruel as to ask such a question but the pain gave me a little courage or desperation or something and i threw up my head and looked at him indignantly you have no right to ask me such a question i said you who love another woman steven laughed who told you that i left another woman sweetheart he said you yourself i cried no not i i told you i loved a woman the dearest sweetest truest little lady that air the sun shone on but i left it to your woman's wit to guess whom i meant there's only one woman in the world i could mean didn't you know silvia that i meant yourself no no i said feeling almost frightened at the joy that came surging into my heart like a great flood i i didn't know but oh i'm so glad steven and i love the spring again it was so terrible to hate the spring steven gathered me into his arms again and tilted up my face and kissed me first right on the lips and then on my throat just under my chin now tell me that you love me he said i love you with all my heart i said meekly but i didn't know it before daddy told me steven fancy daddy knowing that all i knew was just that something was hurting me terribly and that the spring was spoiled oh steven i don't see how you can possibly love me me you're so famous and clever and i'm such a stupid insignificant little thing come over to our bench said steven and i'll tell you what you are so he told me or what he thinks i am sitting there in the suite of the year but what he said i shall not write down there are some things that mustn't ever be written down only just in one's heart what steven said is written on mine and i shall read it there in the years of eternity end of section 46 recording by jamie church section number 47 of uncollected short stories of l.m. Montgomery this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Lola Janie uncollected short stories of l.m. Montgomery by Lucy Maud Montgomery Janie's bouquet Janie was down in the garden behind the sweepy trellis crying it was not often Janie cried but when she did if it was summertime she always hid behind the sweepy trellis and had it out nobody could see her there until it was all over and the sweepies were usually splendid comforters they were always so bright and light-hearted that they simply cheered small girls up in spite of themselves but even the sweepies could not come for Janie this time she didn't even want to see them they looked so provokingly happy they had never been disappointed in the dearest wish of their hearts why sweepies simply did not know what trouble was dear knows how long Janie would have sat there and cried if aunt Margaret had not found her out perhaps aunt Margaret from an upstairs window of her house next door had seen a small disconsolate figure behind the sweepies but that is neither here nor there Janie thought that aunt Margaret had just happened along why what is the matter Janie girl asked aunt Margaret oh aunt Magsy I'm so so disappointed sob Janie oh I'm sure she'll never get over it tell me all about it dearie said aunt Margaret sympathetically papa was going to Raleigh tomorrow with aunt Ethel and they were going to take me I've never been to town aunt Magsy but that isn't what I'm crying about it's because I wanted to see miss Edna so much you don't know miss Edna auntie because you didn't live in Hexham last summer but she is the teacher in the city and she boarded in Hexham last summer in her vacation right across there at old miss Frazier's she was just lovely aunt Magsy we were the most intimate friends she was going to come again this summer but she can't because she's sick in the hospital and that is why I wanted to go to Raleigh because papa said he would take me to see her and now papa can't go and of course I can't either because aunt Ethel isn't coming back oh I'm so disappointed that I just can't feel cheered up aunt Margaret smiled as she patted the curly head of her little nine-year-old niece it's too bad sweetness but never mind I'll tell you something to do pick a nice sweet bouquet of your very nicest sweetest flowers and send it to miss Edna aunt Ethel will take it she has to spend four hours in Raleigh perhaps you might write a little note to go with it too Janie jumped up smiling through tear stains oh aunt Magsy you're a splendid hand to think of things oh I hope I'll be as clever as you when I grow up that is just what I'll do I'll send miss Edna the loveliest bouquet I can pick and I'll write the note too I can't write very well and my spelling isn't very good but I know miss Edna won't mind that she's as good at understanding as you are aunt Magsy on the afternoon of the next day two of the hospital doctors were anxiously discussing the case of a patient in ward three I'm not satisfied one of them was saying she isn't making the progress she should the operation was successful and there's no reason why she shouldn't recover rapidly but there seems to be a lack of vitality I should say the girl doesn't want to live doesn't seem to have any interest in living in fact if she can't be around soon there's no hope for her such a case is the hardest we have to deal with when nature refuses to aid us we can do very little the girl is dying simply because she isn't trying to live meanwhile Edna Bruce was lying on her cot with closed eyes and a listless white face she felt oh so tired she didn't care whether she got better or not there was nothing to get better for there was nobody who cared whether she lived or died she was quite alone in the big city where she had not lived long enough to have made any friends no she didn't care she was too tired and lonely to want to live it wasn't worthwhile presently one of the nurses came to her Miss Bruce here is a bouquet for you it was left by a lady a few moments ago Miss Bruce opened her eyes to see a lovely bouquet of pink and white sweet peas a bouquet that suddenly recalled to her mind a big old-fashioned garden in which she had spent many happy hours in the summer of a year ago and a little blue-eyed curly haired maiden with whom she had many an interesting chat a new light replaced the languid wistfulness of her eyes as she opened and read the little note that came with it my dearest miss Edna it ran in Janie's rather uncertain handwriting i wanted so much to go in and see you but i couldn't because papa had so much business you know business is very important things and has to be attended to i went out and cried behind the sweet peas when i couldn't go but aunt magazine said to send you some flowers and i thought it would be nice too i picked them all off my own sweet peas mother has lots more and hers are bigger but i wanted to give you some of my very own because i love you so much miss Edna i'm so sorry you're sick and i want you to get better right away i pray for you every night and lots of times through the day when i think of it you promised to come and see me this summer and you must get well and keep your promise because you told me that people ought to always keep a promise and aunt magazine says so too goodbye with ever so much love yours respectfully miss janie miller miss edna wiped the tears from her eyes with her thin white fingers but she was smiling something glad and happy stirred in her heart somebody did care somebody loved her somebody thought of her she must get well she wanted to get well and go back and work and visit that dear old garden again after all life was worth living worth striving for the hopeless indifferent look was quite gone from her face a few days afterwards the same doctor was talking of the same patient she's coming on all right will be as well as ever shortly she seemed to rouse herself all at once and take an interest in life again and that was all that was necessary it was one of those cases where everything depends on the patients themselves before the summer ended miss edna harry deemed her promise but she spent a fortnight in hexham before going back to work she and janey had delightful times together and janey learned to her delight and astonishment the part her flowers had played in this edna's recovery oh she said happily i'm so glad that i have an aunt magazine she suggested it you know it's a splendid thing to have an aunt magazine in a family yes and it's a splendid thing to have a little girl with a warm loving heart in a family to send miss edna with a kiss end of section 47 section 48 of uncollected short stories of l m Montgomery this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Gwen Kiefer Reid uncollected short stories of l m Montgomery by Lucy Maud Montgomery section 48 Jean's birthday party it was the afternoon recess at Burnley school and all the third-class girls were sitting in a circle under the clump of spruce trees in the corner of mr. Strong's field just behind the schoolhouse this clump of trees was the third class's own private and particular resort the fourth and fifth classes respected their claim and the primary grades would never have dared to go there generally the third class played games and were jolly just now they all sat still and looked at each other in perplexity all no not all Jean Watson wasn't there Jean had been there at first and Jean had looked very sober but nobody had noticed this and Carrie Dean had asked Gailey your birthday party is next week isn't it Jean to the surprise of everybody Jean's eyes suddenly brimmed up with tears no she said miserably it isn't I'm not going to have a birthday party at all why Jean Watson said all the class together they couldn't believe their ears everybody in the class had had a birthday party that summer and they knew that Jean's mother had promised her one to be sure the Watsons were poor and Jean never had very nice clothes and always brought very plain lunches but then her mother had promised no I can't have it said Jean mother told me so last night we we can't afford it Bob has been sick so long and there's such a big doctor's bill mother is awful sorry but I can't have the party at this point Jean broke down all together and ran away to the school house and the rest of the girls sat down to talk the matter over it's just too mean said Georgia Smith Jean is awfully disappointed she never had a birthday party and she'll feel so bad to be the only girl in the class who didn't have one ma says she doesn't understand how the Watsons managed to get on at all said Emily Sharp Jean's father drinks everybody knows that and he doesn't get much work to do and they have so much sickness and there is such a lot of them ma says she doesn't know how Mrs Watson could ever have dreamed of giving Jean a birthday party anyhow nothing more was said about the birthday party by either Jean or the other girls but the next Monday morning Jenny White came to school with news girls what do you think Jean has sprained her ankle and she has to lie on the sofa for a whole week I was in to see her on the way to school this morning and she is feeling dreadfully lonesome we must all go and see her often and keep her cheered up and Thursday is her birthday said Georgia it is too bad to have to spend one's birthday lying on a sofa it's worse even than not having a birthday party Jean is feeling bad about that party yet said Jenny I know she is although she never speaks of it she was dreadfully disappointed girls said Carrie Dean I have a plan oh it's a real nice plan it just came to me this minute when Jean's birthday arrived it was a lovely day all breeze and sunshine and blue but to Jean lying on her sofa there really didn't seem much beauty about it there wasn't a great deal of fun in a birthday when you had a sprained ankle and didn't have the party to which you have been looking forward so long Jean felt that she could never get over the disgrace of not having a birthday party when all the other girls in her class had had one Jean did not mind having poor lunches and shabbier dresses than her classmates but at nine years Jean thought that her whole life was darkened because she couldn't have a birthday party somehow the morning dragged by Jean thought she had never spent such a long morning I wish the day was over she thought a birthday like this seems as if it would never end maybe when it is yesterday I won't mind not having a party anymore but Jean's birthday surprise was already on its way to her early in the afternoon and knock came at the door and when mrs. Watson opened it Jean looking past her gave a little cry of astonishment there on the platform stood all the girls of the third class every girl was dressed in her very finest dress and every girl carried a big bunch of flowers in one hand and a covered basket in the other many happy returns of the day Jean cried Carrie we've brought your birthday party to you oh girls said Jean wondering whether she meant to laugh or cry and doing a little of both finally oh this is just lovely of you they had a splendid time that afternoon and every girl there thought it was the very nicest birthday party she had ever been at they played games galore such games as Jean could join in lying on the sofa and then they had lunch out in under the apple trees in the little orchard mrs. Watson and Jean's big brother carried Jean and her sofa right out to it it was a lovely lunch for every girl had coaxed her mother to make the nicest things possible and the result was that there hadn't been a spread at any of the parties equal to the one at Jean's when evening came and the little girls went home Jean said to her mother happily oh mother wasn't it all splendid and so sweet of the girls I'm perfectly happy for I've had a birthday party after all that night Carrie Dean said to her mother what do you suppose made Jean's party so much nicer than all the others mother we had a lovely time and nobody got cross or offended or sulky as somebody mostly did at all the other parties I think said mrs. Dean with a kiss that it was because you were all thinking of Jean and trying to give her a good time and not of yourselves unselfishness is the secret of it all little daughter end of section 48 recording by Gwen Keeper-Reed