Chapter 1

9

a thing for a world which was meant to be taken seriously; and her[e] she sat now, knitting, and the table behind her was laid for supper.

Mrs. Rachel, before she had fairly closed the door, had taken mental note of everything that was on the table. There were three plates laid, so that Marilla must be expecting someone home (begin subscript)^(end subscript)(begin superscript)with Matthew(end superscript) to tea; but the dishes were every-day dishes (begin subscript)^(end subscript)(begin superscript)Note M(end superscript) so that the expected company could not be any particular company. Yet what of Matthew’s white collar and the sorrel mare? Note N.

“Good evening, Rachel,” Marilla said briskly. “This is a real fine evening, isn’t it? Won’t you sit down? How are all your folks”

Note O.

Marilla was a tall thin woman, with angles and without curves; her dark hair showed some gray streaks and was always twisted

LMM Note M:
and there was only crab-apple preserve and one kind of cake

LMM Note N:
Mrs. Rachel was getting fairly dizzy with this unusual mystery about quiet, (begin subscript)^(end subscript)(begin superscript)unmysterious(end superscript) Green Gables.

LMM Note O:
Something that for lack of any other name might be called friendship existed and always had existed between Marilla Cuthbert and Mrs. Rachel in spite of (begin subscript)^(end subscript)(begin superscript) — or perhaps because of —(end superscript) their dissimilarity.