Chapter 1
10
up in a hard little knot behind with two wire hairpins stuck aggressively through it. She looked like a woman of narrow experience and rigid conscience (begin subscript)^(end subscript)(begin superscript)which she was;(end superscript) but there was a saving something about her mouth which, if it had been ever so slightly developed, might have been considered indicative of a sense of humour.
“We’re all pretty well,” said Mrs. Rachel. “I was kind of afraid you weren’t, though, when I saw Matthew starting off to-day. I thought maybe he was going to the doctors.”
Marilla’s lips twitched understandingly. She had expected Mrs. Rachel up; she had known that the sight of Matthew jaunting off so unaccountably would be too much for her neighbors curiosity.
PHOTO ANNOTATION
Illustration of Marilla from the earliest editions of the novel. Published by L.C. Page & Co. in Boston, Massachusetts, 1908. Art by W.A.J. and M.A. Claus.