Anne of Green Gables
Vol.12 Anne's Confession
Anne did not confess,
Soon it's the morning of Wednesday
and it was now the morning of the picnic day.
Matthew and Jeth Buote had gone to buy hay,
while Marilla came to Anne's room with a heavy heart.
Marilla...
I'm ready to confess.
Finally ready?
Let me hear what you have to say then, Anne.
I took the amethyst brooch.
I took it just as you said. I didn't mean to take it when I went in.
But it did look so beautiful, Marilla, when I pinned it
on my breast that I was overcome by an irresistible temptation.
I imagined how perfectly thrilling it would be
to take it to Idlewild and
play I was the Lady Cordelia Fitzgerald.
It would be so much easier to imagine I was the Lady Cordelia
if I had a real amethyst brooch on.
Diana and I make necklaces of rose berries
but what are rose berries compared to amethysts?
So I took the brooch.
I thought I could put it back before you came home.
I went all the way around by the road to lengthen out the time.
When I was going over the bridge across the Lake of Shining Waters
I took the brooch off to have another look at it.
Oh, how it did shine in the sunlight!
When I was leaning over the bridge, it just slipped through my fingers
and went down, all purple and sparkling...
And it sank forevermore beneath the Lake of Shining Waters.
And that's the best I can do at confessing.
Anne, this is terrible.
You are the very wickedest girl I ever heard of.
Yes, I suppose I am.
And I know I'll have to be punished.
Won't you please get it over right off
because I'd like to go to the picnic with nothing on my mind.
Picnic, indeed! You'll go to no picnic today, Anne Shirley.
That shall be your punishment.
And it isn't half severe enough
either for what you've done!
Not go to the picnic!
But you PROMISED me! Marilla,
I must go to the picnic. That was why I confessed.
Punish me any way you like but that.
Oh, Marilla, please, please,
let me go to the picnic.
For anything you know I may never have a chance to taste ice cream again.
You needn't plead, Anne.
You are not going to the picnic and that's final. No, not a word.
I believe the child is crazy. No child in her senses would behave as she does.
If she isn't she's utterly bad.
Oh dear, I'm afraid Mrs. Lynde was right from the first.
But I've put my hand to the plow and I won't look back.
That was a dismal morning.
Marilla worked fiercely and
scrubbed the porch floor and the dairy shelves
when she could find nothing else to do.
Neither the shelves nor the porch needed it
It looks delicious~~
Diana, could you get me a basket?
Sleeves?
My material suits me~
Right~
Hurry~ Hurry~! Almost now~
Anne's never had ice cream
so she's really looking forward to today's picnic.
Oh?
Come down to your dinner, Anne.
I don't want any dinner, Marilla.
My heart is broken.
You'll feel remorse of conscience someday,
I expect, for breaking it, Marilla,
but I forgive you. Remember that.
But please don't ask me to eat anything,
especially boiled pork and greens.
Boiled pork and greens are so unromantic when one is in affliction.
Ice cream...
Well now, she shouldn't have taken the brooch, or told stories about it,
but she's such an interesting little thing.
Isn't it pretty rough not to let her go to the picnic when she's so set on it?
Matthew Cuthbert!
I'm amazed at you.
I've let her off entirely too easy.
And she doesn't appear to realize
how wicked she's been at all
that's what worries me most.
You don't know how serious this is,
and you're making excuses for her all the time.
Well~ that child...
She's such a little thing. And there should be allowances made.
You know she's never had any bringing up.
Well, she's having it now.
Hurry... hurry
What?
Right, I almost forgot this,
I don't like to go out all flustered.
What is this? Here's my brooch
safe and sound that I thought was at the bottom of Barry's pond.
Whatever did that girl mean by saying she took it and lost it?
I declare I believe Green Gables is bewitched.
Ouch~
I remember now that when I took off my shawl Monday afternoon
I laid it on the bureau for a minute.
Oh my, I have to hurry~~
Jerry Buote, prepare a carriage.
I have an emergency here~
Anne, I'm coming in~
Anne Shirley!
I've just found my brooch hanging to my black lace shawl.
Now I want to know what that rigmarole you told me this morning meant.
Why, you said you'd keep me here
until I confessed,
and so I decided to confess
because I was bound to get to the picnic.
I thought out a confession
for all night
and made it as interesting as I could. And I practiced it many times
But you wouldn't let me go to the picnic after all,
so all my trouble was wasted.
I was wrong - I see that now.
I shouldn't have doubted your word
when I'd never known you to tell a story.
Of course, it wasn't right for you
to confess to a thing you hadn't done.
But I drove you to it.
So if you'll forgive me,
Anne, I'll forgive you
and we'll start square again.
And now get yourself ready for the picnic.
Ice cream~~
Oh, Marilla, isn't it too late?
No, it's only two o'clock,
an hour before it starts.
Wash your face and comb your hair and put on your gingham.
I'll fill a basket for you. And I'll get Jerry to hitch up the sorrel
and drive you down to the picnic ground.
Marilla~~
Five minutes ago I was so miserable I was wishing I'd never been born
and now I wouldn't change places with an angel!
Go quickly if you want your ice cream~
So many?
These are the peaches Snow Queen bore.
There are some freshly baked things inside.
Go out quickly~
Marilla, thank you~
I'm going~
Be careful, don't play too hard!
Jerry, help me with speed~
I'm off~
Diana~
Diana~!
Anne~!
The ice cream is ready~
Ice cream~~
Oh, Marilla, I've had a perfectly scrumptious time.
Scrumptious is a new word I learned today.
Don't you think it's perfect?
Everything was lovely.
After a splendid tea and
Mr. Harmon took us all for a row on the Lake of Shining Waters.
And Jane Andrews nearly fell overboard.
She was leaning out to pick water lilies
and if Mr. Andrews hadn't caught her by her sash
just in the nick of time she'd fallen in.
If only it was me,
it would have been such a romantic experience~
And we had the ice cream.
Words fail me to describe that ice cream.
Marilla, I assure you it was sublime.
Indescribable!
I'm willing to own up my mistake,
but I've learned a lesson.
I have to laugh when I think of Anne's 'confession,'
although I suppose I shouldn't for it was a falsehood.
But it doesn't seem as bad as the other would have been,
and anyhow I'm responsible for it.
That child is hard to understand in some respects.
But I believe she'll turn out all right yet.
And there's one thing certain,
no house will ever be dull that she's in.
Right~~
Anne went to school with Diana with excitement.
Next: Anne goes to School
Please wait and see