Rilla, who still buttoned up her eyes when she went to sleep so that she
always looked as if she were laughing in her slumber, yawned, stretched,
and smiled at Gertrude Oliver. The latter had come over from Lowbridge
the previous evening and had been prevailed upon to remain for the dance
at the Four Winds lighthouse the next night.

"The new day is knocking at the window. What will it bring us, I
wonder."

Miss Oliver shivered a little. She never greeted the days with Rilla's
enthusiasm. She had lived long enough to know that a day may bring a
terrible thing.

"I think the nicest thing about days is their unexpectedness," went on
Rilla. "It's jolly to wake up like this on a golden-fine morning and
wonder what surprise packet the day will hand you. I always day-dream
for ten minutes before I get up, imagining the heaps of splendid things
that may happen before night."

"I hope something very unexpected will happen today," said Gertrude. "I
hope the mail will bring us news that war has been averted between
Germany and France."

"Oh--yes," said Rilla vaguely. "It will be dreadful if it isn't, I
suppose. But it won't really matter much to us, will it? I think a war
would e so exciting. The Boer war was, they say, but I don't remember
anything about it, of course. Miss Oliver, shall I wear my white dress
tonight or my new green one? The green one is by far the prettier, of
course, but I'm almost afraid to wear it to a shore dance for fear