It was fine the
next day, and Ingleside and Rainbow Valley were wonderful, with the
trees all covered with snow, and big drifts everywhere, carved into the
most fantastic shapes by the chisel of the northeast wind. Father and
mother went up to Avonlea. Father thought the change would do mother
good, and they wanted to see poor Aunt Diana, whose son Jock had been
seriously wounded a short time before. They left Susan and me to keep
house, and father expected to be back the next day. But he never got
back for a week. That night it began to storm again, and it stormed
unbrokenly for four days. It was the worst and longest storm that Prince
Edward Island has known for years. Everything was disorganized--the
roads were completely choked up, the trains blockaded, and the telephone
wires put entirely out of commission.
"And then Jims took ill.
"He had a little cold when father and mother went away, and he kept
getting worse for a couple of days, but it didn't occur to me that there
was danger of anything serious. I never even took his temperature, and I
can't forgive myself, because it was sheer carelessness. The truth is I
had slumped just then. Mother was away, so I let myself go. All at once
I was tired of keeping up and pretending to be brave and cheerful, and I
just gave up for a few days and spent most of the time lying on my face
on my bed, crying. I neglected Jims--that is the hateful truth--I was
cowardly and false to what I promised Walter--and if Jims had died I
could never have forgiven myself.
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