TO THE WONDER - ANNE WITH AN E

chapter three

"If only I could accompany them, but for this unwelcome occasion I had to refuse so blankly" she complained, certainly an irritated tone in her voice.

Violet let out one of her elusive giggles and took her to sit on the stools in the little living room by her chambers. She still held both of her hands comfortably.

"You've become quite friendly with that Anne girl, haven't you?"

"Certainly. She's a person who possesses my deepest interest."

Violet nodded in acknowledgement.

"Well. Anne, Diana and you will have another chance to be adults with each other" she explained with the gentlest of voices, "But now is time for you to act like an adult for our lady mother. She expects so much from you and you don't want to let her down, would you?"

Bella didn't have the courage to raise her eyes but gave a slight nod.

"She hopes that our friendship with the Nightfalls will always be strengthened by the new generations and you are part of it" she told her enthusiastically. "Only you, Bella, only you have the duty to captivate the young Nightfalls. That is your duty, the duty given to you by our mother for the good name of this family."

"But Violet, you know that I do not share the least liking for the young Nightfalls" she complained with a slightly raised tone that insisted on a rebellion within herself.

Her words were true. Bella never shared a very affectionate liking for the Nightfalls. She had met the youngest of them, a young boy barely a year older than herself, when she was just a very tender child. He was capricious, certainly haughty, prejudiced, and with a belief of superiority that wasn't much of Bella's liking. With those traits very marked in his being, Bella concluded that she did not liked him and that she would never get to do it. It had happened so many years ago in Toronto, when her father still lived in Sprinfield, the beautiful residence they had in Avonlea, but Bella still had that thought very much marked in her that she doubted that time had changed it in the slightest. That was what tormented her most and stopped her from accepting her destiny.

"I know, Bella, I know well. But we have to do it for our mother and for the family" she lifted her up by the arms and led her back to the mirror.

Bella looked at her reflection with doubt and suspicion. There were several details that did not convince her. She felt so alienated from herself, but at the same time she felt that this was the only thing that could calm her mother. She nodded at every word of her sister in her insides, but with the greatest uneasiness of her heart.

"Perhaps you will be the one to honor the good name of the Hastings family, who knows?"

And Bella certainly didn't want it to be that way no matter how contradictory it sounded.

_____•_____

Bella was certainly magnified by the spaciousness of the property, which extended beyond a block in the form of a picturesque house that fit the impression of a modern Victorian model. Several of the finest carriages lay patiently waiting for their masters at the entrance. It was a luxury that Bella had never been able to witness in detail, even though she belonged to a very well-to-do and famous family.

They had opened the doors for them with the most sublime courtesy and gentleness, and it was not long before they had served them a fragrant, moisty tea with a range of delights at the table they had set for them. It was a delight that Bella secretly enjoyed in the absence of the masters of the house. After that insistent torment of her heart on the long journey to Charlottetown, she thought in a moment of clarity, that she could come to like such a worldly pleasure but so simply delicious in attention and taste.