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Matthew was haunted by this question long after the girls had gone, arm in arm, down the long, hard-frozen lane and Anne had betaken herself to her books.

He could not refer it to Marilla, who, he felt, would be quite sure to sniff scornfully and remark that the only difference she saw between Anne and the other girls was that they sometimes kept their tongues quiet while Anne never did.

This, Matthew felt, would be no great help.

He had recourse to his pipe that evening to help him study it out, much to Marilla's disgust. After two hours of smoking and hard reflection Matthew arrived at a solution of his problem. Anne was not dressed like the other girls!

The more Matthew thought about the matter the more he was convinced that Anne never had been dressed like the other girls-never since she had come to Green Gables.

Marilla kept her clothed in plain, dark dresses, all made after the same unvarying pattern.

If Matthew knew there was such a thing as fashion in dress it was as much as he did; but he was quite sure that Anne's sleeves did not look at all like the sleeves the other girls wore.

He recalled the cluster of little girls he had seen around her that evening-all gay in waists of red and blue and pink and white-and he wondered why Marilla always kept her so plainly and soberly gowned.

Of course, it must be all right.

Marilla knew best and Marilla was bringing her up.

Probably some wise, inscrutable motive was to be served thereby.

But surely it would do no harm to let the child have one pretty dress-something like Diana Barry always wore.

Matthew decided that he would give her one; that surely could not be objected to as an unwarranted putting in of his oar.

Christmas was only a fortnight off.

A nice new dress would be the very thing for a present.

Matthew, with a sigh of satisfaction, put away his pipe and went to bed, while Marilla opened all the doors and aired the house.

The very next evening Matthew betook himself to Carmody to buy the dress, determined to get the worst over and have done with it.

It would be, he felt assured, no trifling ordeal.

There were some things Matthew could buy and prove himself no mean bargainer; but he knew he would be at the mercy of shopkeepers when it came to buying a girl's dress.

After much cogitation Matthew resolved to go to Samuel Lawson's store instead of William Blair's.

To be sure, the Cuthberts always had gone to William Blair's; it was almost as much a matter of conscience with them as to attend the Presbyterian church and vote Conservative.

But William Blair's two daughters frequently waited on customers there and Matthew held them in absolute dread.

He could contrive to deal with them when he knew exactly what he wanted and could point it out; but in such a matter as this, requiring explanation and consultation, Matthew felt that he must be sure of a man behind the counter.

So he would go to Lawson's, where Samuel or his son would wait on him.

Alas! Matthew did not know that Samuel, in the recent expansion of his business, had set up a lady clerk also; she was a niece of his wife's and a very dashing young person indeed, with a huge, drooping pompadour, big, rolling brown eyes, and a most extensive and bewildering smile.

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