second romance | written
[Over the journals this morning is a very primly written announcement. The handwriting is very tidy and--if possible--seems to suggest the writer's great love for the language she is using.]
Dear residents of Luceti,
My name is Anne Shirley--[why yes, that e is obnoxiously underlined]--and it has come to my attention that I may be spending a much longer time in your lovely little village than I would have originally hoped for. It isn't that I don't appreciate the majestic scenery or your kind companionship...only that I am to be overcome with guilt at the amount of prior engagements I am going to miss back in Avonlea.
However, now that I have certainly resigned myself to staying? I feel I ought to get myself more permanently situated than as a constant hanger-on in your most charming Welcome Centre. I am, of course, asking about reasonable room and board. Marilla certainly never raised me to depend on hand-outs so I am happy to engage in whatever housework or baking or...oh, I can also milk cows and bring them alfalfa in the mornings. I'm quite good at that--but my cleaning and cooking skills are also more than adequate.
[Here, her formal reserve seems to snap away and her enthusiasm takes over:] I promise that I don't take up much room at all and I can be very quiet if I put my mind to it--though it is awfully difficult.
I anxiously await your responses and I do hope you're having a perfectly lovely day,
- Anne Shirley
[The "letter" is signed with a rather fanciful flourish.]
Dear residents of Luceti,
My name is Anne Shirley--[why yes, that e is obnoxiously underlined]--and it has come to my attention that I may be spending a much longer time in your lovely little village than I would have originally hoped for. It isn't that I don't appreciate the majestic scenery or your kind companionship...only that I am to be overcome with guilt at the amount of prior engagements I am going to miss back in Avonlea.
However, now that I have certainly resigned myself to staying? I feel I ought to get myself more permanently situated than as a constant hanger-on in your most charming Welcome Centre. I am, of course, asking about reasonable room and board. Marilla certainly never raised me to depend on hand-outs so I am happy to engage in whatever housework or baking or...oh, I can also milk cows and bring them alfalfa in the mornings. I'm quite good at that--but my cleaning and cooking skills are also more than adequate.
[Here, her formal reserve seems to snap away and her enthusiasm takes over:] I promise that I don't take up much room at all and I can be very quiet if I put my mind to it--though it is awfully difficult.
I anxiously await your responses and I do hope you're having a perfectly lovely day,
- Anne Shirley
[The "letter" is signed with a rather fanciful flourish.]