XXI Sweet Miss Lavendar XXI Doce Miss Lavendar XXI 甜美的薰衣草小姐

School opened and Anne returned to her work, with fewer theories but considerably more experience. 学校は開校し、アンは彼女の仕事に戻りました。 She had several new pupils, six- and seven-year-olds just venturing, round-eyed, into a world of wonder. Elle a plusieurs nouveaux élèves, des enfants de six et sept ans qui s'aventurent, les yeux ronds, dans un monde d'émerveillement. 彼女は数人の新しい生徒を持っていました。6歳と7歳の子供は、目を丸くして、驚きの世界へと向かっていました。 Among them were Davy and Dora. その中にはDavyとDoraがありました。 Davy sat with Milty Boulter, who had been going to school for a year and was therefore quite a man of the world. Davy était assis avec Milty Boulter, qui allait à l'école depuis un an et était donc tout à fait un homme du monde. デイビーはミルティボールターと一緒に座りました。 Dora had made a compact at Sunday School the previous Sunday to sit with Lily Sloane; but Lily Sloane not coming the first day, she was temporarily assigned to Mirabel Cotton, who was ten years old and therefore, in Dora's eyes, one of the "big girls." Le dimanche précédent, à l'école du dimanche, Dora s'était engagée à s'asseoir avec Lily Sloane ; mais Lily Sloane n'étant pas venue le premier jour, elle fut provisoirement affectée à Mirabel Cotton, qui avait dix ans et faisait donc partie, aux yeux de Dora, des "grandes filles". ドラはリリースローンと座るために前の日曜日に日曜学校でコンパクトを作りました。しかし、Lily Sloaneは初日に来ていないので、彼女は一時的にMirabel Cottonに割り当てられました。 "I think school is great fun," Davy told Marilla when he got home that night. 「私は学校はとても楽しいと思います」とDavyはMarillaにその夜帰宅したときに話しました。 "You said I'd find it hard to sit still and I did . "Vous aviez dit que j'aurais du mal à rester assise et c'est ce que j'ai fait. 「あなたは私がじっと座っているのが難しいと思うと言った、そして私はした。 you mostly do tell the truth, I notice . vous dites la plupart du temps la vérité, j'ai remarqué . あなたはほとんど真実を語っています、私は気づきます。 but you can wriggle your legs about under the desk and that helps a lot. しかし、あなたは机の下で足をくねらせることができ、それは大いに役立ちます。 It's splendid to have so many boys to play with. たくさんの男の子と遊ぶのは素晴らしいことです。 I sit with Milty Boulter and he's fine. He's longer than me but I'm wider. Il est plus long que moi, mais je suis plus large. It's nicer to sit in the back seats but you can't sit there till your legs grow long enough to touch the floor. 後部座席に座ったほうがいいですが、足が床に触れるほど長くなるまでそこに座ることはできません。 Milty drawed a picture of Anne on his slate and it was awful ugly and I told him if he made pictures of Anne like that I'd lick him at recess. Milty a fait un dessin d'Anne sur son ardoise et c'était horriblement moche et je lui ai dit que s'il faisait des photos d'Anne comme ça, je le lècherais à la récréation. ミルティは彼のスレートにアンの絵を描いた、そしてそれはひどく醜いので彼がアンの絵を作ったのなら私は彼に言った。 Милти нарисовал Анну на своей грифельной доске, и это было ужасно некрасиво, и я сказал ему, что если он будет так рисовать Анну, то я вылижу его на перемене. I thought first I'd draw one of him and put horns and a tail on it, but I was afraid it would hurt his feelings, and Anne says you should never hurt anyone's feelings. It seems it's dreadful to have your feelings hurt. It's better to knock a boy down than hurt his feelings if you MUST do something. Milty said he wasn't scared of me but he'd just as soon call it somebody else to 'blige me, so he rubbed out Anne's name and printed Barbara Shaw's under it. Milty doesn't like Barbara 'cause she calls him a sweet little boy and once she patted him on his head." Milty n'aime pas Barbara parce qu'elle l'appelle un gentil petit garçon et qu'une fois elle lui a tapoté la tête". Dora said primly that she liked school; but she was very quiet, even for her; and when at twilight Marilla bade her go upstairs to bed she hesitated and began to cry. Dora a dit d'un ton guindé qu'elle aimait l'école ; mais elle était très calme, même pour elle ; et quand, au crépuscule, Marilla lui ordonna de monter se coucher, elle hésita et se mit à pleurer.

"I'm . I'm frightened," she sobbed. "I . I don't want to go upstairs alone in the dark." Je ne veux pas monter seule dans le noir". "What notion have you got into your head now?" demanded Marilla. "I'm sure you've gone to bed alone all summer and never been frightened before." Dora still continued to cry, so Anne picked her up, cuddled her sympathetically, and whispered,

"Tell Anne all about it, sweetheart. What are you frightened of?" "Of . of Mirabel Cotton's uncle," sobbed Dora. "Mirabel Cotton told me all about her family today in school. Nearly everybody in her family has died . all her grandfathers and grandmothers and ever so many uncles and aunts. They have a habit of dying, Mirabel says. Mirabel's awful proud of having so many dead relations, and she told me what they all died of, and what they said, and how they looked in their coffins. Mirabel est terriblement fière d'avoir tant de parents morts, et elle m'a dit de quoi ils étaient tous morts, et ce qu'ils avaient dit, et à quoi ils ressemblaient dans leurs cercueils. And Mirabel says one of her uncles was seen walking around the house after he was buried. Her mother saw him. I don't mind the rest so much but I can't help thinking about that uncle." Le reste ne me dérange pas tellement, mais je ne peux pas m'empêcher de penser à cet oncle." Anne went upstairs with Dora and sat by her until she fell asleep. The next day Mirabel Cotton was kept in at recess and "gently but firmly" given to understand that when you were so unfortunate as to possess an uncle who persisted in walking about houses after he had been decently interred it was not in good taste to talk about that eccentric gentleman to your deskmate of tender years. Le lendemain, Mirabel Cotton fut gardé à la récréation et « gentiment mais fermement » fait comprendre que lorsqu'on avait le malheur de posséder un oncle qui s'obstinait à se promener dans les maisons après avoir été décemment enterré, il n'était pas de bon goût de parler. à propos de ce gentleman excentrique à votre collègue de service depuis ses tendres années. Mirabel thought this very harsh. Mirabel trouvait cela très dur. The Cottons had not much to boast of. Les Cottons n'avaient pas grand-chose à se vanter. How was she to keep up her prestige among her schoolmates if she were forbidden to make capital out of the family ghost?

September slipped by into a gold and crimson graciousness of October. One Friday evening Diana came over.

"I'd a letter from Ella Kimball today, Anne, and she wants us to go over to tea tomorrow afternoon to meet her cousin, Irene Trent, from town. "J'ai reçu une lettre d'Ella Kimball aujourd'hui, Anne, et elle veut que nous allions prendre le thé demain après-midi pour rencontrer sa cousine, Irene Trent, qui vient de la ville. But we can't get one of our horses to go, for they'll all be in use tomorrow, and your pony is lame . Mais nous ne pouvons pas faire partir l'un de nos chevaux, car ils seront tous utilisés demain, et ton poney est boiteux... so I suppose we can't go." "Why can't we walk?" suggested Anne. "If we go straight back through the woods we'll strike the West Grafton road not far from the Kimball place. I was through that way last winter and I know the road. Je suis passé par là l'hiver dernier et je connais la route. It's no more than four miles and we won't have to walk home, for Oliver Kimball will be sure to drive us. He'll be only too glad of the excuse, for he goes to see Carrie Sloane and they say his father will hardly ever let him have a horse." Il ne sera que trop heureux de cette excuse, car il va voir Carrie Sloane et on dit que son père ne le laissera presque jamais avoir un cheval". It was accordingly arranged that they should walk, and the following afternoon they set out, going by way of Lover's Lane to the back of the Cuthbert farm, where they found a road leading into the heart of acres of glimmering beech and maple woods, which were all in a wondrous glow of flame and gold, lying in a great purple stillness and peace. Il fut donc convenu qu'ils marcheraient, et l'après-midi suivant ils partirent, passant par Lover's Lane jusqu'à l'arrière de la ferme de Cuthbert, où ils trouvèrent un chemin menant au cœur d'hectares de bois de hêtres et d'érables chatoyants, qui étaient tous dans une merveilleuse lueur de flamme et d'or, reposant dans une grande tranquillité et une paix violette. "It's as if the year were kneeling to pray in a vast cathedral full of mellow stained light, isn't it?" "C'est comme si l'année s'agenouillait pour prier dans une vaste cathédrale pleine de lumière tamisée, n'est-ce pas ? said Anne dreamily. "It doesn't seem right to hurry through it, does it? « Il ne semble pas juste de se dépêcher, n'est-ce pas ? It seems irreverent, like running in a church." Cela semble irrévérencieux, comme courir dans une église." "We MUST hurry though," said Diana, glancing at her watch. "We've left ourselves little enough time as it is." "Well, I'll walk fast but don't ask me to talk," said Anne, quickening her pace. "Eh bien, je vais marcher vite mais ne me demande pas de parler," dit Anne, accélérant son pas. "I just want to drink the day's loveliness in . "Je veux juste boire la beauté du jour dans . I feel as if she were holding it out to my lips like a cup of airy wine and I'll take a sip at every step." J'ai l'impression qu'elle le tendait à mes lèvres comme une coupe de vin aérien et je boirai une gorgée à chaque pas." Perhaps it was because she was so absorbed in "drinking it in" that Anne took the left turning when they came to a fork in the road. Peut-être était-ce parce qu'elle était tellement absorbée par "l'alcool" qu'Anne a pris le virage à gauche lorsqu'ils sont arrivés à une bifurcation de la route. She should have taken the right, but ever afterward she counted it the most fortunate mistake of her life. Elle aurait dû prendre la droite, mais elle a toujours considéré que c'était l'erreur la plus heureuse de sa vie. They came out finally to a lonely, grassy road, with nothing in sight along it but ranks of spruce saplings.

"Why, where are we?" « Pourquoi, où sommes-nous ? exclaimed Diana in bewilderment. "This isn't the West Grafton road." "No, it's the base line road in Middle Grafton," said Anne, rather shamefacedly. "I must have taken the wrong turning at the fork. I don't know where we are exactly, but we must be all of three miles from Kimballs' still." "Then we can't get there by five, for it's half past four now," said Diana, with a despairing look at her watch. "Alors nous ne pourrons pas arriver avant cinq heures, car il est quatre heures et demie", dit Diana en regardant sa montre d'un air désespéré. "We'll arrive after they have had their tea, and they'll have all the bother of getting ours over again." "We'd better turn back and go home," suggested Anne humbly. But Diana, after consideration, vetoed this.

"No, we may as well go and spend the evening, since we have come this far." A few yards further on the girls came to a place where the road forked again.

"Which of these do we take?" asked Diana dubiously.

Anne shook her head.

"I don't know and we can't afford to make any more mistakes. Here is a gate and a lane leading right into the wood. Ici, il y a un portail et un chemin qui mène à droite dans le bois. There must be a house at the other side. Let us go down and inquire." "What a romantic old lane this it," said Diana, as they walked along its twists and turns. It ran under patriarchal old firs whose branches met above, creating a perpetual gloom in which nothing except moss could grow. Il passait sous de vieux sapins patriarcaux dont les branches se rejoignaient au-dessus, créant une pénombre perpétuelle dans laquelle ne pouvait pousser que de la mousse. On either hand were brown wood floors, crossed here and there by fallen lances of sunlight. De part et d'autre, il y avait des planchers de bois brun, traversés ici et là par des lances de soleil tombées. All was very still and remote, as if the world and the cares of the world were far away. Tout était très calme et lointain, comme si le monde et les soucis du monde étaient loin.

"I feel as if we were walking through an enchanted forest," said Anne in a hushed tone. "Do you suppose we'll ever find our way back to the real world again, Diana? We shall presently come to a palace with a spellbound princess in it, I think." Around the next turn they came in sight, not indeed of a palace, but of a little house almost as surprising as a palace would have been in this province of conventional wooden farmhouses, all as much alike in general characteristics as if they had grown from the same seed. Au tournant suivant, ils aperçurent, non pas un palais, mais une petite maison presque aussi surprenante qu'un palais l'aurait été dans cette province de fermes en bois conventionnelles, toutes aussi semblables dans leurs caractéristiques générales que si elles avaient poussé à partir de la même graine. Anne stopped short in rapture and Diana exclaimed, "Oh, I know where we are now. That is the little stone house where Miss Lavendar Lewis lives . Echo Lodge, she calls it, I think. Elle l'appelle Echo Lodge, je crois. I've often heard of it but I've never seen it before. Isn't it a romantic spot?" "It's the sweetest, prettiest place I ever saw or imagined," said Anne delightedly. "It looks like a bit out of a story book or a dream." The house was a low-eaved structure built of undressed blocks of red Island sandstone, with a little peaked roof out of which peered two dormer windows, with quaint wooden hoods over them, and two great chimneys. La maison était une structure basse construite en blocs de grès rouge de l'île, avec un petit toit en pointe d'où émergeaient deux lucarnes surmontées de pittoresques capuchons en bois et deux grandes cheminées. The whole house was covered with a luxuriant growth of ivy, finding easy foothold on the rough stonework and turned by autumn frosts to most beautiful bronze and wine-red tints. Toute la maison était recouverte d'une luxuriante végétation de lierre, qui prenait facilement pied sur les pierres brutes et que les gelées d'automne transformaient en de magnifiques teintes de bronze et de rouge vin.

Before the house was an oblong garden into which the lane gate where the girls were standing opened. Devant la maison se trouvait un jardin oblong dans lequel s'ouvrait la porte de l'allée où se tenaient les jeunes filles. The house bounded it on one side; on the three others it was enclosed by an old stone dyke, so overgrown with moss and grass and ferns that it looked like a high, green bank. La maison le délimitait d'un côté, les trois autres étant entourés d'une vieille digue de pierre, tellement envahie de mousse, d'herbe et de fougères qu'elle ressemblait à une haute berge verdoyante. On the right and left the tall, dark spruces spread their palm-like branches over it; but below it was a little meadow, green with clover aftermath, sloping down to the blue loop of the Grafton River. À droite et à gauche, les grands épicéas sombres étendent leurs branches en forme de palmiers, mais en dessous se trouve une petite prairie, verte avec des brins de trèfle, qui descend jusqu'à la boucle bleue de la rivière Grafton. No other house or clearing was in sight . nothing but hills and valleys covered with feathery young firs.

"I wonder what sort of a person Miss Lewis is," speculated Diana as they opened the gate into the garden. "They say she is very peculiar." "She'll be interesting then," said Anne decidedly. "Peculiar people are always that at least, whatever else they are or are not. Didn't I tell you we would come to an enchanted palace? I knew the elves hadn't woven magic over that lane for nothing." Je savais que les elfes n'avaient pas tissé des liens magiques sur ce chemin pour rien." "But Miss Lavendar Lewis is hardly a spellbound princess," laughed Diana. "She's an old maid . "C'est une vieille fille. she's forty-five and quite gray, I've heard." "Oh, that's only part of the spell," asserted Anne confidently. "Oh, ce n'est qu'une partie du sort", affirme Anne avec assurance. "At heart she's young and beautiful still . "Au fond, elle est encore jeune et belle. and if we only knew how to unloose the spell she would step forth radiant and fair again. But we don't know how . it's always and only the prince who knows that . and Miss Lavendar's prince hasn't come yet. Perhaps some fatal mischance has befallen him . though THAT'S against the law of all fairy tales." "I'm afraid he came long ago and went away again," said Diana. "Je crains qu'il ne soit venu il y a longtemps et qu'il ne soit reparti", dit Diana. "They say she used to be engaged to Stephan Irving . Paul's father . when they were young. But they quarreled and parted." "Hush," warned Anne. « Chut, » prévint Anne. "The door is open." The girls paused in the porch under the tendrils of ivy and knocked at the open door. There was a patter of steps inside and a rather odd little personage presented herself . Il y eut un bruit de pas à l'intérieur et un petit personnage assez étrange se présenta. a girl of about fourteen, with a freckled face, a snub nose, a mouth so wide that it did really seem as if it stretched "from ear to ear," and two long braids of fair hair tied with two enormous bows of blue ribbon. une jeune fille d'environ quatorze ans, au visage couvert de taches de rousseur, au nez retroussé, à la bouche si large qu'elle semblait vraiment s'étendre "d'une oreille à l'autre", avec deux longues tresses de cheveux clairs nouées par deux énormes nœuds de ruban bleu. "Is Miss Lewis at home?" asked Diana.

"Yes, ma'am. Come in, ma'am. I'll tell Miss Lavendar you're here, ma'am. She's upstairs, ma'am." With this the small handmaiden whisked out of sight and the girls, left alone, looked about them with delighted eyes. Sur ce, la petite servante s'éclipsa et les filles, restées seules, regardèrent autour d'elles avec des yeux ravis. The interior of this wonderful little house was quite as interesting as its exterior.

The room had a low ceiling and two square, small-paned windows, curtained with muslin frills. La pièce a un plafond bas et deux fenêtres carrées à petits carreaux, recouvertes de rideaux de mousseline. All the furnishings were old-fashioned, but so well and daintily kept that the effect was delicious. But it must be candidly admitted that the most attractive feature, to two healthy girls who had just tramped four miles through autumn air, was a table, set out with pale blue china and laden with delicacies, while little golden-hued ferns scattered over the cloth gave it what Anne would have termed "a festal air." Mais il faut admettre franchement que l'élément le plus attrayant, pour deux jeunes filles en bonne santé qui venaient de parcourir quatre miles dans l'air d'automne, était une table dressée avec de la porcelaine bleu pâle et chargée de mets délicats, tandis que de petites fougères dorées éparpillées sur la nappe lui donnaient ce qu'Anne aurait appelé "un air de fête". "Miss Lavendar must be expecting company to tea," she whispered. "There are six places set. But what a funny little girl she has. She looked like a messenger from pixy land. Elle ressemblait à une messagère du pays des lutins. I suppose she could have told us the road, but I was curious to see Miss Lavendar. S . s . sh, she's coming." And with that Miss Lavendar Lewis was standing in the doorway. The girls were so surprised that they forgot good manners and simply stared. They had unconsciously been expecting to see the usual type of elderly spinster as known to their experience . a rather angular personage, with prim gray hair and spectacles. Nothing more unlike Miss Lavendar could possibly be imagined. Rien de plus différent de Miss Lavendar ne pouvait être imaginé.

She was a little lady with snow-white hair beautifully wavy and thick, and carefully arranged in becoming puffs and coils. C'était une petite dame aux cheveux blancs comme neige, magnifiquement ondulés et épais, et soigneusement arrangés en bouffées et en rouleaux. Beneath it was an almost girlish face, pink cheeked and sweet lipped, with big soft brown eyes and dimples . actually dimples. She wore a very dainty gown of cream muslin with pale-hued roses on it . a gown which would have seemed ridiculously juvenile on most women of her age, but which suited Miss Lavendar so perfectly that you never thought about it at all.

"Charlotta the Fourth says that you wished to see me," she said, in a voice that matched her appearance. "Charlotta la quatrième dit que vous souhaitiez me voir", dit-elle d'une voix qui correspond à son apparence. "We wanted to ask the right road to West Grafton," said Diana. "We are invited to tea at Mr. Kimball's, but we took the wrong path coming through the woods and came out to the base line instead of the West Grafton road. Do we take the right or left turning at your gate?" "The left," said Miss Lavendar, with a hesitating glance at her tea table. Then she exclaimed, as if in a sudden little burst of resolution,

"But oh, won't you stay and have tea with me? Please, do. Mr. Kimball's will have tea over before you get there. And Charlotta the Fourth and I will be so glad to have you." Diana looked mute inquiry at Anne.

"We'd like to stay," said Anne promptly, for she had made up her mind that she wanted to know more of this surprising Miss Lavendar, "if it won't inconvenience you. But you are expecting other guests, aren't you?" Miss Lavendar looked at her tea table again, and blushed.

"I know you'll think me dreadfully foolish," she said. "I AM foolish . and I'm ashamed of it when I'm found out, but never unless I AM found out. et j'en ai honte quand on me découvre, mais jamais si on ne me découvre pas. I'm not expecting anybody . I was just pretending I was. You see, I was so lonely. I love company . that is, the right kind of company.. .but so few people ever come here because it is so far out of the way. c'est-à-dire le bon type d'entreprise... mais peu de gens viennent ici parce que c'est très éloigné. Charlotta the Fourth was lonely too. So I just pretended I was going to have a tea party. I cooked for it . and decorated the table for it.. . and set it with my mother's wedding china . and I dressed up for it." Diana secretly thought Miss Lavendar quite as peculiar as report had pictured her. The idea of a woman of forty-five playing at having a tea party, just as if she were a little girl! But Anne of the shining eyes exclaimed joyfuly, "Oh, do YOU imagine things too?" That "too" revealed a kindred spirit to Miss Lavendar. "Yes, I do," she confessed, boldly. "Oui, c'est vrai", avoue-t-elle avec audace. "Of course it's silly in anybody as old as I am. But what is the use of being an independent old maid if you can't be silly when you want to, and when it doesn't hurt anybody? A person must have some compensations. I don't believe I could live at times if I didn't pretend things. Je ne crois pas que je pourrais vivre à certains moments si je ne faisais pas semblant. I'm not often caught at it though, and Charlotta the Fourth never tells. Mais je ne suis pas souvent pris en flagrant délit, et Charlotta le quatrième ne le dit jamais. But I'm glad to be caught today, for you have really come and I have tea all ready for you. Mais je suis heureuse d'être prise aujourd'hui, car vous êtes vraiment venus et j'ai préparé du thé pour vous. Will you go up to the spare room and take off your hats? Voulez-vous monter dans la chambre d'amis et enlever vos chapeaux ? It's the white door at the head of the stairs. I must run out to the kitchen and see that Charlotta the Fourth isn't letting the tea boil. Charlotta the Fourth is a very good girl but she WILL let the tea boil." Charlotta la Quatrième est une très bonne fille mais elle laissera bouillir le thé." Miss Lavendar tripped off to the kitchen on hospitable thoughts intent and the girls found their way up to the spare room, an apartment as white as its door, lighted by the ivy-hung dormer window and looking, as Anne said, like the place where happy dreams grew. Miss Lavendar se dirigea vers la cuisine en pensant à l'hospitalité et les filles trouvèrent le chemin de la chambre d'amis, un appartement aussi blanc que sa porte, éclairé par la lucarne de lierre et ressemblant, comme le disait Anne, à l'endroit où les rêves heureux grandissaient.

"This is quite an adventure, isn't it?" said Diana. "And isn't Miss Lavendar sweet, if she IS a little odd? "Et Mlle Lavendar n'est-elle pas gentille, même si elle est un peu bizarre ? She doesn't look a bit like an old maid." "She looks just as music sounds, I think," answered Anne. "Elle a l'air d'être comme la musique, je pense", a répondu Anne. When they went down Miss Lavendar was carrying in the teapot, and behind her, looking vastly pleased, was Charlotta the Fourth, with a plate of hot biscuits. Lorsqu'elles descendirent, Miss Lavendar apportait la théière, et derrière elle, l'air très satisfait, se trouvait Charlotta the Fourth, avec une assiette de biscuits chauds.

"Now, you must tell me your names," said Miss Lavendar. "I'm so glad you are young girls. I love young girls. It's so easy to pretend I'm a girl myself when I'm with them. I do hate" . Je déteste" . with a little grimace . "to believe I'm old. Now, who are you . just for convenience' sake? pour des raisons de commodité ? Diana Barry? And Anne Shirley? May I pretend that I've known you for a hundred years and call you Anne and Diana right away?" "You, may" the girls said both together. "Then just let's sit comfily down and eat everything," said Miss Lavendar happily. "Charlotta, you sit at the foot and help with the chicken. "Charlotta, tu t'assois au pied et tu aides avec le poulet. It is so fortunate that I made the sponge cake and doughnuts. C'est tellement chanceux que j'ai fait la génoise et les beignets. Of course, it was foolish to do it for imaginary guests . I know Charlotta the Fourth thought so, didn't you, Charlotta? But you see how well it has turned out. Of course they wouldn't have been wasted, for Charlotta the Fourth and I could have eaten them through time. Bien sûr, ils n'auraient pas été gaspillés, car Charlotta la quatrième et moi aurions pu les manger à travers le temps. But sponge cake is not a thing that improves with time." That was a merry and memorable meal; and when it was over they all went out to the garden, lying in the glamor of sunset.

"I do think you have the loveliest place here," said Diana, looking round her admiringly. "Why do you call it Echo Lodge?" asked Anne.

"Charlotta," said Miss Lavendar, "go into the house and bring out the little tin horn that is hanging over the clock shelf." "Charlotta, dit Miss Lavendar, va dans la maison et sors la petite corne en fer-blanc qui est suspendue au-dessus de l'étagère de l'horloge. Charlotta the Fourth skipped off and returned with the horn.

"Blow it, Charlotta," commanded Miss Lavendar. « Soufflez-le, Charlotta, » ordonna Miss Lavendar. Charlotta accordingly blew, a rather raucous, strident blast. Charlotta a soufflé en conséquence, un souffle plutôt rauque et strident. There was moment's stillness . Il y eut un moment d'immobilité. and then from the woods over the river came a multitude of fairy echoes, sweet, elusive, silvery, as if all the "horns of elfland" were blowing against the sunset. puis, des bois au-dessus de la rivière, une multitude d'échos féeriques, doux, insaisissables, argentés, comme si toutes les "cornes de l'elfland" soufflaient contre le coucher du soleil. Anne and Diana exclaimed in delight.

"Now laugh, Charlotta . laugh loudly." Charlotta, who would probably have obeyed if Miss Lavendar had told her to stand on her head, climbed upon the stone bench and laughed loud and heartily. Charlotta, qui aurait probablement obéi si Mlle Lavendar lui avait dit de se mettre sur la tête, grimpa sur le banc de pierre et se mit à rire de bon cœur. Back came the echoes, as if a host of pixy people were mimicking her laughter in the purple woodlands and along the fir-fringed points.

"People always admire my echoes very much," said Miss Lavendar, as if the echoes were her personal property. "I love them myself. They are very good company . with a little pretending. On calm evenings Charlotta the Fourth and I often sit out here and amuse ourselves with them. Charlotta, take back the horn and hang it carefully in its place." "Why do you call her Charlotta the Fourth?" asked Diana, who was bursting with curiosity on this point.

"Just to keep her from getting mixed up with other Charlottas in my thoughts," said Miss Lavendar seriously. "Juste pour éviter qu'elle ne soit mélangée à d'autres Charlotte dans mes pensées", dit sérieusement Miss Lavendar. "They all look so much alike there's no telling them apart. "Ils se ressemblent tous tellement qu'il est impossible de les différencier. Her name isn't really Charlotta at all. It is . let me see . what is it? I THINK it's Leonora . yes, it IS Leonora. You see, it is this way. When mother died ten years ago I couldn't stay here alone . and I couldn't afford to pay the wages of a grown-up girl. So I got little Charlotta Bowman to come and stay with me for board and clothes. J'ai donc demandé à la petite Charlotta Bowman de venir s'installer chez moi et de m'offrir le gîte et le couvert. Her name really was Charlotta . she was Charlotta the First. She was just thirteen. She stayed with me till she was sixteen and then she went away to Boston, because she could do better there. Her sister came to stay with me then. Her name was Julietta . Mrs. Bowman had a weakness for fancy names I think . but she looked so like Charlotta that I kept calling her that all the time . .and she didn't mind. So I just gave up trying to remember her right name. She was Charlotta the Second, and when she went away Evelina came and she was Charlotta the Third. Now I have Charlotta the Fourth; but when she is sixteen . Maintenant j'ai Charlotta la Quatrième ; mais quand elle a seize ans. she's fourteen now . elle a quatorze ans maintenant. she will want to go to Boston too, and what I shall do then I really do not know. elle voudra aussi aller à Boston, et ce que je ferai alors, je ne sais vraiment pas. Charlotta the Fourth is the last of the Bowman girls, and the best. The other Charlottas always let me see that they thought it silly of me to pretend things but Charlotta the Fourth never does, no matter what she may really think. I don't care what people think about me if they don't let me see it." "Well," said Diana looking regretfully at the setting sun. "I suppose we must go if we want to get to Mr. Kimball's before dark. We've had a lovely time, Miss Lewis." "Won't you come again to see me?" pleaded Miss Lavendar.

Tall Anne put her arm about the little lady. La grande Anne passa son bras autour de la petite dame.

"Indeed we shall," she promised. "Now that we have discovered you we'll wear out our welcome coming to see you. "Maintenant que nous vous avons découvert, nous allons nous épuiser à venir vous voir. Yes, we must go . 'we must tear ourselves away,' as Paul Irving says every time he comes to Green Gables." Il faut s'arracher, comme le dit Paul Irving chaque fois qu'il vient à Green Gables". "Paul Irving?" There was a subtle change in Miss Lavendar's voice. "Who is he? I didn't think there was anybody of that name in Avonlea." Anne felt vexed at her own heedlessness. She had forgotten about Miss Lavendar's old romance when Paul's name slipped out. "He is a little pupil of mine," she explained slowly. "He came from Boston last year to live with his grandmother, Mrs. Irving of the shore road." "Is he Stephen Irving's son?" Miss Lavendar asked, bending over her namesake border so that her face was hidden. demande Miss Lavendar, en se penchant sur son homonyme de manière à cacher son visage.

"Yes." "I'm going to give you girls a bunch of lavendar apiece," said Miss Lavendar brightly, as if she had not heard the answer to her question. "Je vais vous donner à chacune un bouquet de lavande", dit Miss Lavendar avec éclat, comme si elle n'avait pas entendu la réponse à sa question. "It's very sweet, don't you think? Mother always loved it. She planted these borders long ago. Father named me Lavendar because he was so fond of it. The very first time he saw mother was when he visited her home in East Grafton with her brother. La première fois qu'il a vu sa mère, il s'est rendu chez elle à East Grafton avec son frère. He fell in love with her at first sight; and they put him in the spare room bed to sleep and the sheets were scented with lavendar and he lay awake all night and thought of her. Il est tombé amoureux d'elle au premier regard ; ils l'ont mis dans le lit de la chambre d'amis pour dormir et les draps étaient parfumés à la lavande ; il est resté éveillé toute la nuit en pensant à elle. He always loved the scent of lavendar after that . and that was why he gave me the name. Don't forget to come back soon, girls dear. We'll be looking for you, Charlotta the Fourth and I." Nous vous chercherons, Charlotta le quatrième et moi." She opened the gate under the firs for them to pass through. She looked suddenly old and tired; the glow and radiance had faded from her face; her parting smile was as sweet with ineradicable youth as ever, but when the girls looked back from the first curve in the lane they saw her sitting on the old stone bench under the silver poplar in the middle of the garden with her head leaning wearily on her hand.

"She does look lonely," said Diana softly. "We must come often to see her." "I think her parents gave her the only right and fitting name that could possibly be given her," said Anne. "Je pense que ses parents lui ont donné le seul nom juste et approprié qui pouvait lui être donné", a déclaré Anne. "If they had been so blind as to name her Elizabeth or Nellie or Muriel she must have been called Lavendar just the same, I think. "S'ils avaient été assez aveugles pour l'appeler Elizabeth, Nellie ou Muriel, on l'aurait tout de même appelée Lavendar, je pense. It's so suggestive of sweetness and old-fashioned graces and 'silk attire.' Now, my name just smacks of bread and butter, patchwork and chores." Maintenant, mon nom sent juste le pain et le beurre, le patchwork et les corvées." "Oh, I don't think so," said Diana. "Anne seems to me real stately and like a queen. "Anne me semble vraiment majestueuse et comme une reine. But I'd like Kerrenhappuch if it happened to be your name. Mais j'aimerais bien Kerrenhappuch si c'était votre nom. I think people make their names nice or ugly just by what they are themselves. Je pense que les gens rendent leurs noms agréables ou laids simplement par ce qu'ils sont eux-mêmes. I can't bear Josie or Gertie for names now but before I knew the Pye girls I thought them real pretty." Je ne supporte plus les noms de Josie ou Gertie, mais avant de connaître les filles Pye, je les trouvais très jolies". "That's a lovely idea, Diana," said Anne enthusiastically. "Living so that you beautify your name, even if it wasn't beautiful to begin with . "Vivre de manière à embellir son nom, même s'il n'était pas beau à l'origine... making it stand in people's thoughts for something so lovely and pleasant that they never think of it by itself. Thank you, Diana."