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Friday, January 16, 2009

Rilla of Ingleside...

L.M. Montgomery was one of my first favorite authors. The long row of her books that line the shelves of my overflowing bookcase are a testament to that fact. Each spine is well-creased and the pages of each novel are worn and mellowed from use.

This excerpt from Rilla of Ingleside--the eighth from the beloved "Anne" series--has always been a favorite of mine.

* * * * *

For the first time in her life Rilla Blythe touched a baby--lifted it--rolled it in a blanket, trembling with nervousness lest she drop it or--or--break it. Then she put it in the soup tureen.

"Is there any fear of it smothering?" she asked anxiously.

"Not much odds if it do," said Mrs. Conover.

Horrified Rilla loosened the blanket round the baby's face a little. The mite had stopped crying and was blinking up at her. It had big dark eyes in its ugly little face.

"Better not let the wind blow on it," admonished Mrs. Conover. "Take its breath if it do."

And so it was that Rilla Blythe, who had driven to the Anderson house a self-confessed hater of babies, drove away from it carrying one in a soup tureen on her lap!

Rilla thought she would never get to Ingleside. In the soup tureen there was an uncanny silence. In one way she was thankful the baby did not cry but she wished it would give an occasional squeak to prove that it was alive. Suppose it were smothered! Rilla dared not unwrap it to see, lest the wind, which was now blowing a hurricane, should "take its breath," whatever dreadful thing that might be. She was a thankful girl when at last she reached harbour at Ingleside.

Rilla carried the soup tureen to the kitchen, and set it on the table under Susan's eyes. Susan looked into the tureen and for once in her life was so completely floored that she had not a word to say...

~excerpt from Rilla of Ingleside
By L.M. Montgomery

8 comments:

The Editrix said...

Oh yes!! Isn't L.M. Montgomery's sense of humour wonderful! :D

I love all of the Anne books, but I think this one is possibly my favourite. I always cry so much whenever I read it!

Melissa said...

I need to read further into the series. :)

Julia Marie said...

I love those books!! I haven't read them in a while, though....once I read the first one I can't stop until I've read them all :)

Elisabeth Grace Foley said...

Rilla is one of my favorites out of that series too! It has some of the funniest and the saddest moments of all of them. I never read it until a few years ago when I got the whole series for Christmas - the set my mom had before had only the first six books.

Polly said...

Thanks for quoting this! Anne of Green Gables is my favourite book ever and I keep going back to it. I haven't reread Rilla for a while now but I will definitely go back to it now. Great post :-)

Mandy said...

I LOVE the Anne series. It's been too long since I've read them through. Maybe I should do that this year.

elventryst said...

I LOVE every book LM Montgomery wrote. I remember praying to God as a child that Lucy Maud was up in heaven writing more books so that there would be more waiting for me when I die. Those books are the best!

Char said...

I JUST read this book, and really enjoyed it! I loved the part with the baby.