Warning: If you have a visual impairment, use the manuscript transcript version including the Lucy Maud Montgomery’s foot notes and contextual annotation references.

Chapter 13

204

sigh. “I’m afraid there’ll be a great many disappointments in store for you through life.”

“Oh, Marilla, looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them,” exclaimed Anne. F7

Marilla wore her amethyst brooch to church that day as usual. Marilla always wore her amethyst brooch to church. G7 It was her (begin superscript)Marilla’s (end superscript)most treasured possession. A sea-faring uncle had given it to her mother who in turn had bequeathed it to Marilla. H7 Marilla knew too little about precious stones to realize how fine the amethysts actually were; but she thought them very beautiful and was always pleasantly conscious of their sh violet shimmer at her throat, above her good brown satin dress, even although she could not see it.

 

LMM Notes

LMM Note F7
You mayn't get the things themselves; but nothing can prevent you from having the fun of looking forward to them. Mrs. Lynde says, 'Blessed are they who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed.' But I think it would be worse to expect nothing than to be disappointed."

LMM Note G7
She would have thought it rather sacrilegious to leave it off – as bad as forgetting her Bible or her collection dime. That amethyst brooch

LMM Note H7
It was an old-fashioned oval, containing a braid of her mother's hair surrounded by a border of very fine amethysts.



TEXT ANNOTATION

"a braid of her mother's hair" [in H7]: Locks of hair were used in many kinds of memento mori (literally, "remember death"; figuratively, mementos of people who have died) in the 19(begin superscript)th(end superscript)-century. The colour amethyst, too, was a mourning colour. These details reinforce how important the brooch is to Marilla.