How sweet and woodsey the ferns smelled! How softly the great feathery
boughs of the firs waved and murmured over her! How elfinly rang the
bells of the "Tree Lovers"--just a tinkle now and then as the breeze
swept by! How purple and elusive the haze where incense was being
offered on many an altar of the hills! How the maple leaves whitened in
the wind until the grove seemed covered with pale silvery blossoms!
Everything was just the same as she had seen it hundreds of times; and
yet the whole face of the world seemed changed.
"How wicked I was to wish that something dramatic would happen!" she
thought. "Oh, if we could only have those dear, monotonous, pleasant
days back again! I would never, never grumble about them again."
Rilla's world had tumbled to pieces the very day after the party. As
they lingered around the dinner table at Ingleside, talking of the war,
the telephone had rung. It was a long-distance call from Charlottetown
for Jem. When he had finished talking he hung up the receiver and turned
around, with a flushed face and glowing eyes. Before he had said a word
his mother and Nan and Di had turned pale. As for Rilla, for the first
time in her life she felt that every one must hear her heart beating and
that something had clutched at her throat.
"They are calling for volunteers in town, father," said Jem. "Scores
have joined up already.
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