Phillips went away and she declared sheād never shed a tear. Well, she was worse than any of us and had to borrow a handkerchief from her brotherā āof course the boys didnāt cryā ābecause she hadnāt brought one of her own, not expecting to need it. Oh, Marilla, it was heartrending. Mr. Phillips made such a beautiful farewell speech beginning, āThe time has come for us to part.ā It was very affecting. And he had tears in his eyes too, Marilla. Oh, I felt dreadfully sorry and remorseful for all the times Iād talked in school and drawn pictures of him on my slate and made fun of him and Prissy. I can tell you I wished Iād been a model pupil like Minnie Andrews. She hadnāt anything on her conscience. The girls cried all the way home from school. Carrie Sloane kept saying every few minutes, āThe time has come for us to part,ā and that would start us off again whenever we were in any danger of cheering up. I do feel dreadfully sad, Marilla. But one canāt feel quite in the depths of despair with two months vacation before them, can they, Marilla? And besides, we met the new minister and his wife coming from the station. For all I was feeling so bad about
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