treated as if we were begging for ourselves. It's the very worst road of
all."

"That is why I chose it. Of course Gilbert and Fred would have taken
this road if we had asked them. But you see, Diana, I feel myself
responsible for the A.V.I.S., since I was the first to suggest it, and
it seems to me that I ought to do the most disagreeable things. I'm
sorry on your account; but you needn't say a word at the cranky places.
I'll do all the talking . . . Mrs. Lynde would say I was well able to.
Mrs. Lynde doesn't know whether to approve of our enterprise or not. She
inclines to, when she remembers that Mr. and Mrs. Allan are in favor of
it; but the fact that village improvement societies first originated in
the States is a count against it. So she is halting between two opinions
and only success will justify us in Mrs. Lynde's eyes. Priscilla is
going to write a paper for our next Improvement meeting, and I expect it
will be good, for her aunt is such a clever writer and no doubt it runs
in the family. I shall never forget the thrill it gave me when I found
out that Mrs. Charlotte E. Morgan was Priscilla's aunt. It seemed so
wonderful that I was a friend of the girl whose aunt wrote 'Edgewood
Days' and 'The Rosebud Garden.'"

"Where does Mrs. Morgan live?"

"In Toronto. And Priscilla says she is coming to the Island for a visit
next summer, and if it is possible Priscilla is going to arrange to have
us meet her. That seems almost too good to be true--but it's something
pleasant to imagine after you go to bed."

The Avonlea Village Improvement Society was an organized fact.
Gilbert Blythe was president, Fred Wright vice-president, Anne Shirley