Chapter Eleven:

          May of 1915 was an important month in the town of Avonlea. It was especially important to the King family. To a slightly greater degree, it was an important month in the history of the world. On the seventh, the Lusitania was sunk by German submarines and many American lives were lost. In Canada, people wondered if President Wilson would finally pull himself together and do something. Everyone was waiting for the United States to enter the war, but it didn't seem that much was happening. One week later, Cecily received word that Thomas MacDonald was reported "missing in action". She didn't cry or lock herself in her room. She simply looked at her mother and said, "He's still alive somewhere and he will come back. No one said that he was dead. He's not dead." With that, she put on her wide-brimmed hat, walked out the door, and proceeded to tear viciously at the weeds in the garden.

          Much had happened in the past nine months since the marriage of Izzy Pettibone and the departure of the soldiers. The Red Cross had become active in town and the King women had become quite involved in it. Felicity was expecting her second child by the end of the month, but she still managed to spend time at the headquarters. Rachel Lynde had died in February and Anne and Gilbert Blythe had come to Avonlea for the funeral. Mr. Harrison had also passed away during the winter and had left Green Gables to them. Although they had a beautiful home in Four Winds, their twin daughters had decided to undertake the project of restoring the house and staying there for the summer. Anne and Diana Blythe were both very eager to learn about their mother's past and stay in her home. They were also both attending college in the fall, so they were considered somewhat unusual by the Avonlea crowd. They finally arrived in June and everyone was curious about them. Hetty King decided to welcome the girls to the village on the day of their arrival and Janet and Cecily came along. Felicity would have come, but her new daughter Elizabeth had decided to make her appearance the week before, so things were a bit hectic in the Pike household.

          As the three ladies made their way up the steps, Hetty wistfully gazed at the farm that had been the home of two of her friends for so many years. She stepped up and rapped briskly with the knocker. Diana opened the door. She was a friendly-faced girl with red hair and gray-green eyes just like her mother's. Her eyes sparkled and a wide grin came over her face as they introduced themselves. "I'm Miss Hetty King," Hetty began, "and this is my sister-in-law, Janet King, and her daughter, Cecily. We hoped that we might welcome you to our little village. I was a friend to Marilla and Rachel, and now I run the Avonlea Foundling Home."

          "Oh, yes! Hello!" Diana smiled. "I'm Diana Blythe, but everyone calls me Di. My sister Nan should be back soon. She went out to look at the barn and the well and everything. It's so kind of you to visit us. Come in!" She held the door open and thanked Janet for the pie that she had brought as a gift. They walked into the parlor which was quite dusty and in need of repair. "We just can't wait to start working on this old house," Di explained, "but as you can see, we haven't gotten very far!" She indicated the packing crates strewn about the entry and front rooms.

          "I'm know it will be lovely, once you're finished," Janet assured her. "My, it's been a long time since we all saw your parents. How are things in Four Winds?"

          "Well," Di rolled her eyes as if she were preparing to tell a long story, "Mother is just beside herself with worry right now. My older brothers, Jem and Walter, have both joined the army and my younger brother, John, is about ready to run away, as well. He's only sixteen, but you know how boys can be."

          "My son is in the British Navy, but he joined before the war started," Janet told her. "I can understand why you're mother is so troubled!"

          "How old is your son?"

          "Felix is twenty. He'll be twenty-one in September."

          "Just like Jem! That's interesting. Walter is nineteen and we also have a little sister named Rilla. She's thirteen." As she was saying this, the back door opened and Nan Blythe came walking into the room. "Oh, this is my sister. Nan, this is Miss Hetty King, Miss Janet King, and Miss Cecily King."

          "I'm very pleased to meet you," Nan said softly. She was very slender and very beautiful. Her dark brown hair was twisted loosely at the back of her head and stylish waves framed her face. Her large brown eyes regarded them all seriously and her black lashes brushed her cheeks when she blinked. Next to Nan, Di looked plain and childish. Cecily wasn't sure that she liked Nan, though. She seemed to know how well she looked. "Miss Hetty King, don't you run the orphanage in town? Mrs. Lynde spoke of you in her letters to Mother, I think."

          "Yes, I do. Mrs. Lynde was a great help to me and I have found it hard to do without her. Davy and Dora miss her terribly, I'm afraid."

          "Oh, Miss King!" Di jumped in. "I thought that once we got things fixed up, Davy and Dora might come back here and stay with us for a little while. This was their home, too, and I'm sure they would enjoy it."

          "Why, that's a wonderful idea, Hetty!" Janet exclaimed. "I think it would be good for the children to come back home to Green Gables for a visit."

          "Well, I suppose so," Hetty agreed. Diana smiled cheerfully at the answer.

          "Were you going to say something else, dear?" Janet looked at Nan, who was now perched on a small chair.

          "Well...I thought I would ask if there had been any talk of turning the orphanage into a hospital. Many public buildings have been converted for that use. They're always looking for places for the wounded soldiers who manage to get back to Canada."

          "No, there hasn't. That is a good point though," Hetty conceded. The room was silent for a moment.

          "We had better be going, soon. My daughter just had a baby last week and I promised to come back quickly to help her out." Janet King looked at Cecily and rose from her seat. "It was nice getting to know you girls. Will we be seeing you at the Red Cross?"

          "Of course!" Di answered. "We're glad to do out part, especially with Jem and Walter in the trenches. I like to think that I'm doing at least a little something to help them! Well, I guess I'd better show you to the door...I hope I'll be able to meet your sister sometime!" she said to Cecily. Cecily smiled, but Di could see that even her smile was a little sad. She knew something must be going on. Miss Cecily King probably had a handsome, young sweetheart in Europe. That had to be it.

          As Hetty, Janet, and Cecily were walking over to Lissie's Landing, they discussed the visit. "That Diana Blythe is certainly a talkative creature!" Hetty remarked.

          "I thought she was just a lovely young lady...and Nan Blythe is a real beauty," Janet returned. "What did you think, Cecily?"

          "I thought they were very nice."

          "And Nan seems to be much too aware of her prettiness," Hetty continued. "I think someone needs to knock her down a peg or two." Janet looked at Hetty and thought of something she could say, but didn't dare to.

          When they arrived at the house, Gus and Emily greeted them. "The baby is sleepin' and I hope Lissie is, too," Gus told them. "Why don't you stay out here with Emmy and me?"

          "Hallo, Gram'or!" Emily giggled and toddled up to her grandmother.

          "What a smart little girl you are!" Janet exclaimed as she scooped her up. "Where's Auntie Cecily?" Emily looked at her aunt.

          "Celly?"

          "And where's Aunt Hetty?" Emily wrinkled her brow.

          "No..." she said. Hetty tried to ignore this.

          "How is Felicity?" Cecily asked.

          "As far as I can tell, just tired. You can go on in, if you want. I just thought she might be asleep."

          "I'll go see," Janet offered. She put Emily in Cecily's arms and disappeared into the house.

          "We've just been to see the Blythe twins," Hetty told Gus. "Sort of a curious pair, if you ask me."

          "Did you have a nice visit?"

          "It was fine. Oh, Emily, don't you want to say hello to your favorite auntie?"

          "Mama!" Emily suddenly called. Janet stuck her head out the door.

          "Are you going to come in? She's awake."

          "I don't know..." Gus thought out loud, "I don't want Emmy to wake the baby."

          "Mama!" Emily insisted.

          "I think you'd better come inside," Janet suggested. The rest of the afternoon was spent talking to Felicity and Gus and exclaiming over Elizabeth. She actually looked very much like her sister. She had the same dark hair and blue eyes, and similar facial characteristics. As Felicity watched Gus cradling their new daughter, she couldn't help wondering if he had hoped for a son. She knew she shouldn't feel sorry, but the feeling was there. After everyone had left that evening and the two girls were asleep, Felicity and Gus were talking quietly and she asked him about it.

          "Of course I'm not sorry. I love my little daughters!" he protested.

          "But didn't you ever hope for a boy?" Gus looked around the room.

          "I don't know. Maybe. But we have lots of time for boys."

          "So you aren't happy?"

          "I never said that, Lissie. I never said anything like that. What's gotten into you?"

          "Oh...I don't know." Felicity sighed and leaned back against the headboard of the bed where she was sitting. "What if we don't have anymore children?"

          "Of course we will!" Gus assured her. She looked at him.

          "What if we choose not to have more children?"

          "What do you mean?"

          "I...I don't know that I want to have more children. It is a very trying experience, you know." Gus just stared at her blankly. "Never mind. I know we talked about this before and I told you I wanted a house full of children, so would you please forget about what I just said?"

          "Oh...Lissie..." He leaned over and kissed her as he turned out the light.

Chapter Twelve:

          In the midst of that beautiful summer, a wintry shadow fell on Cecily King. Thomas MacDonald's death was confirmed and his younger brother came to tell her about it. The fifteen-year-old boy, the one MacDonald son too young to join the army, only had to look at her with that melancholy gaze as she opened the front door and she knew. After he had gone, Cecily closed the door and leaned against it for a moment. She bit her lip and stared heavenward as if to ask why this should happen to her beloved. Janet King stepped out of the kitchen then and saw her daughter standing there. One tear rolled down the sweet maiden cheek and dropped like a pearl. "Cecily, darling, what is it?" her mother questioned softly. The girl's blue eyes turned to stare at her.

          "He's gone...I knew all along that he was. When Felicity heard that Gus was dead...she couldn't believe it. She knew he was alive. When I just heard that Thomas was missing...I knew he was gone. I...I just couldn't bring myself to say it or to even think it, but now...Oh, Mother!" She began to sob as Janet took her into her arms.

          "Cecily...my sweet girl. I never wanted this to happen to you, but I knew it might. I'd rehearsed what I'd say to you...what consoling words I'd use. Now...I can't remember any of them."

          "It's all right, Mother." She pulled away and went upstairs to her room.

    *          *           *          *             

          "I won't be going to college in September," Diana Blythe told her sister one evening as they were sitting in the finished Green Gables. Nan's serious eyes widened.

          "What do you mean? Don't be silly, Di."

          "I mean what I said. I can't stand it any longer. I've been reading about those Belgian babies and our poor boys out there fighting. Think of it-Jem and Walter in the mud! In those horrid trenches! The Red Cross isn't enough. I'm going to Charlottetown-to be a nurse in the naval hospital down there."

          "Diana Blythe, you cannot be serious."

          "Well...I'm going to do it and I don't care what you say, Anne. It's not stopping you from getting your education."

          "But you can't! Who knows how long this war is going to last-"

          "Don't you think our brothers have to make sacrifices? We aren't any more important than anybody else. Lots of girls are helping and lots of girls never go to college." Nan didn't say anything else, but Di knew that she was thinking.

          Davy and Dora Keith came to Green Gables the following week. Nan and Di had everything in order, even though they had been warned that Davy would be likely to destroy their work in a short amount of time. Di met them at the door and she was delighted by what she saw. The twin boy and girl stood solemnly on the step...so serious for a pair of thirteen-year-olds! Davy looked like a gentleman in his nicest suit and tie. His hair had been cut recently and wasn't hanging in his eyes like it usually was. Dora looked like a china doll in her pale blue dress, her golden hair meticulously curled and hanging down her back.

          "Hello! Come in, come in! I hope you like it here. I'm Diana, but you can call me Di. I'm not much older than you are, so it's all right."

          "Hullo," they greeted her in unison. Secretly, Davy was glad to be staying with a young lady rather than one of the stuffy old ones that he had known for almost his entire life. Well, except for Marilla. She had been older, but she was different. She was Marilla and he wasn't sure how to explain what made her different. On the outside, her life might have seemed extremely dull, but she was kind and she knew more about what children liked than Mrs. Lynde did. And Mrs. Lynde had had eight children of her own! Both of them were gone now and he felt a little guilty about thinking less of Mrs. Lynde. She had been responsible and he had grown to love her. Dora liked Diana at once. She was so frank and friendly and Dora didn't feel shy around her, although she was usually somewhat timid. Then they met Nan.

          "Hello, Davy. Hello, Dora," she greeted them demurely. Her dark hair was beautifully swirled around her face as usual and her navy dress was impeccable. Dora felt shy all over again and Davy just stared at her thinking about what high standards of cleanliness she must have. There was a brief, awkward silence. Diana handled things nicely, though, by asking questions and making conversation. She explained to them that they would be staying at Green Gables for a month, as long as they liked it, but that she was leaving in August to work in the hospital and that her sister was going away to college soon after she departed.

          The two children loved being back in their old home and spending time with the Blythe twins. Although the new residents of Green Gables had the appearance of young ladies, both of them were really children themselves and they had a marvelous time walking on the beach, picking berries, and playing various games which were mainly devised by Di. Davy was sure that he still liked her the best, even after he had gotten to know Nan better. Dora, on the other hand, had more in common with quiet Nan and the two of them had long conversations about serious topics. Diana's tomboyish attitude irritated both of them sometimes, but that was the very reason that Davy enjoyed her company so much. Even with these personality conflicts, the month was still beautiful and unforgetable and they all agreed that it went by much too quickly. Soon, there was only one week left and it seemed like such a short time in which so much had to be done. They would be so busy with packing and shutting up the house that there would be little time left for fun and games.

          By Friday evening, everything was in order. Diana would be leaving in the morning. The four of them sat watching the sun set from the porch and they marvelled at the sheer beauty of the view. The dark green of the trees mingled with the shining blue of the sea that could just be seen through the patches of sunlight in the forest. Diana liked to talk about the people back home in Four Winds and she often regaled them with humorous tales of the townsfolk that she had known since childhood. That night was no different. As she was finishing her story and the four of them burst into laughter, Davy suddenly stopped and looked up at her seriously. "I'll miss you," he said.

          Dora stopped laughing. "Me, too," she added softly.

          "Oh, I'll come back to visit!" Di assured them. "I will, really. Charlottetown is not so far away...and remember, my own family hasn't seen me all summer. I expect they've managed well enough."

          "What about you?" Dora turned to Nan questioningly.

          "Of course, I'll come back, too!"

          "When?" Davy demanded. Nan looked at Di with her eyebrows slightly raised.

          "I'll come back as soon as I can get a weekend off," Diana began, "and Nan will come at Christmastime, won't you?"

          "Yes, I will. I'll go back to Four Winds to see my mother and father, and then I'll come here to see you. Maybe we'll both be able to come together then."

          "Well...all right," the boy conceded.

          The sun was up early the next morning and they all went down to the whistle stop to see Diana off. Nan would be going back to Four Winds the next day and then to school in Redmond, so Davy and Dora were returning to the foundling home after Diana left. As her red-haired sister stood looking down the track, Nan stood looking at her. She was a little surprised that their parents had consented to this, but then she wasn't sure if Di had told her the whole story about her discussion with them.

          Davy stood stiffly and looked as if he might cry if her weren't thirteen years old. A tear trickled slowly down Dora's cheek. The summer was ending now and she was sorry to see all the happiness fade away. Even with a war on, they had had fun...she would miss that almost as much as she would miss Nan and Diana. That evening, she and her brother would be back with Miss King. At least she would have something interesting to tell her friends about. Her thoughts were broken by the piercing scream of the train whistle and the harsh mechanical chugging as the engine slowed to a stop. Di hugged them each in turn and kissed her sister on the cheek. A few minutes later, as the train pulled away, she stood leaning precariously over the rail and shouting her last farewells. "Good-bye!" Davy called one last time and waved furiously as Diana became almost a speck and turned to go inside.

Index