The Three of Us

118. The Question of Mrs. Andrews

"It looks like a christening gown, doesn't it?" Anne asked.

"It is a christening gown," Marilla admitted. "A very expensive looking one. That fabric and lace must have cost quite a bit."

Anne wondered why Marilla sounded a bit displeased. "He doesn't have to wear it, though," Anne quickly told her. "I like white eyelet, so I think he ought to wear his white eyelet gown." She smiled at Marilla, thinking it would make Marilla happy to know she preferred the outfit they already had.

But Marilla took a breath. "That's not it, Anne," she finally said. "Let's talk about christenings later."

"But what's wrong?"

Marilla patted her hand. "Nothing that need trouble you, dear. Walter needs a bottle. I already got the water heating on the stove for him. Why don't you go finish getting it ready?"

Anne put the gown back into the box, and left for the kitchen.

--

Marilla, holding the gown, thought back to an incident in church, during the time that Anne would not go. She had gone to the reverend, in his study after the service, and asked to speak with him:

"I wondered about deciding on a time for a christening," she began. "Anne isn't able to come to church yet, but she's healing nicely and it won't be long, so I thought we could-"

She was cut off by the reverend.

When their short conversation was over, and she opened the door to leave, she bumped right into Mrs. Andrews. She was so close to the door that the wide brim of her hat got knocked off kilter. Marilla asked sharply, "Were you listening in?"

"No," Mrs. Andrews sniffed, straightening her hat. "I have no interest in your affairs. I was simply retrieving a pamphlet." She suddenly looked down at the table outside the study, snatched a pamphlet in her hand, and stalked away.

Marilla watched her leave, feeling unsettled.

--

Mrs. Andrews thought about that overheard conversation all the way home:

"This church has never held christenings for illegitimate children and it never will," the reverend had said coldly.

"But surely-"

Miss Cuthbert can't get a word in, Mrs. Andrews thought.

"That child was conceived in sin," the reverend stated, referring to the parents being unmarried.

"Yes, he certainly was conceived in sin," Marilla had agreed, though the lack of a marriage was not the sin she had in mind.

She went on: "But I fail to see why the sin of the father should cause the poor child to be unworthy in the eyes of the church!"

The reverend said: "If you had done the right thing- the proper thing- and made the two of them marry, then the child wouldn't have been considered illegitimate, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. And we needn't be having it now- there is nothing I can do."

"There is nothing you can do? Nothing you're willing to do, you mean," Miss Cuthbert had said, her voice wavering with her anger. "Why on God's green earth would we have made them marry? I'd never do that to poor Anne, and even if I'd thought a marriage was for the best- which I don't- a marriage takes two, you know, and the Andrews will do nothing to hold their son accountable to Anne!"