IX

AT DR. LESLIE'S


That evening Dr. Leslie made signs that he was not to be interrupted,
and even shut the study doors, to which precaution he seldom resorted.
He was evidently disturbed when an hour later a vigorous knocking was
heard at the seldom-used front entrance, and Marilla ushered in with
anything but triumph an elderly gentleman who had been his college
classmate. Marilla's countenance wore a forbidding expression, and as
she withdrew she took pains to shut the door between the hall and
dining-room with considerable violence. It was almost never closed
under ordinary circumstances, but the faithful housekeeper was
impelled to express her wrath in some way, and this was the first
that offered itself. Nan was sitting peacefully in the kitchen playing
with her black cat and telling herself stories no doubt, and was quite
unprepared for Marilla's change of temper. The bell for the Friday
evening prayer-meeting was tolling its last strokes and it was
Marilla's habit to attend that service. She was apt to be kept closely
at home, it must be acknowledged, and this was one of her few social
indulgences. Since Nan had joined the family and proved that she could
be trusted with a message, she had been left in charge of the house
during this coveted hour on Friday evenings.

Marilla had descended from her room arrayed for church going, but now
her bonnet was pulled off as if that were the prime offender, and when
the child looked wonderingly around the kitchen, she saw the bread-box
brought out from the closet and put down very hard on a table, while
Marilla began directly afterward to rattle at the stove.