Oh, it seems as if I must be in a dream.
Do you know, my arm must be black and blue from the elbow up, for I've pinched myself so many times today.
Every little while a horrible sickening feeling would come over me and I'd be so afraid it was all a dream.
Then I'd pinch myself to see if it was real-until suddenly I remembered that even supposing it was only a dream I'd better go on dreaming as long as I could; so I stopped pinching.
But it IS real and we're nearly home."
With a sigh of rapture she relapsed into silence.
Matthew stirred uneasily.
He felt glad that it would be Marilla and not he who would have to tell this waif of the world that the home she longed for was not to be hers after all.
They drove over Lynde's Hollow, where it was already quite dark, but not so dark that Mrs. Rachel could not see them from her window vantage, and up the hill and into the long lane of Green Gables.
By the time they arrived at the house Matthew was shrinking from the approaching revelation with an energy he did not understand.