' I tickled him a little bit tonight when I undressed
him--I wouldn't bounce him but Morgan doesn't mention tickling--just
to see if he would smile for me as well as Irene. And he did--and out
popped the dimples. What a pity his mother couldn't have seen them!
"I finished my sixth pair of socks today. With the first three I got
Susan to set the heel for me. Then I thought that was a bit of shirking,
so I learned to do it myself. I hate it--but I have done so many things
I hate since 4th of August that one more or less doesn't matter. I just
think of Jem joking about the mud on Salisbury Plain and I go at them."
CHAPTER XI
DARK AND BRIGHT
At Christmas the college boys and girls came home and for a little while
Ingleside was gay again. But all were not there--for the first time one
was missing from the circle round the Christmas table. Jem, of the
steady lips and fearless eyes, was far away, and Rilla felt that the
sight of his vacant chair was more than she could endure. Susan had
taken a stubborn freak and insisted on setting out Jem's place for him
as usual, with the twisted little napkin ring he had always had since a
boy, and the odd, high Green Gables goblet that Aunt Marilla had once
given him and from which he always insisted on drinking.
"That blessed boy shall have his place, Mrs. Dr. dear," said Susan
firmly, "and do not you feel over it, for you may be sure he is here in
spirit and next Christmas he will be here in the body.
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