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 26 - (VERSO)

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Geraldine?” asked Diana, who was of beginning to feel rather interested in their fate.

“They grew in beauty side by side until they were sixteen. Then Bertram De Vere came to their native village and fell in love with (begin subscript)^(end subscript)(begin superscript)the fair(end superscript) Geraldine. He saved her life when her horse ran away with her in a carriage and she fainted in his arms and he carried her home three miles h; I found because, you understand, the carriage was all smashed up. I found it rather hard to imagine the proposal (begin subscript)^(end subscript)(begin superscript)because I had no experience to go by.(end superscript) I asked Ruby Gillis if she knew anything about how men proposed because I thought she’d likely be an authority on the subject, having so many sisters married. Ruby told me she was hid in the hall pantry when Malcolm



PHOTO ANNOTATION

two black and white illustrations of couples on yellowed paper

"imagine a proposal": An illustration from Montgomery's Blue Scrapbook (p. 58) shows two humorous proposals under the title "Behold What Changes Time Can Bring!" The left illustration is labeled 1795 with a long speech: "Be assured, Madame, that did language afford words to express my happiness, this poor English of ours would glow for a moment with the fires of ancient Greece. But I can only thank you for your favorable reply, and kissing your hand, remain your most obedient servant!" The image on the right, labeled 1895, is captioned: "Stuyvy (who understands more English than Greek): —You will? O Emily darling!" No doubt Anne was hoping for a proposal a bit closer to the example from 1795 (Imagining Anne, p. 73).
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