able of further speech. Anne lighted the lamp,
oversetting the match safe and using up half a dozen matches before her
shaking hands could accomplish the task. Then she snatched up the paper.
Yes, she had passed--there was her name at the very top of a list of two
hundred! That moment was worth living for.

"You did just splendidly, Anne," puffed Diana, recovering sufficiently
to sit up and speak, for Anne, starry eyed and rapt, had not uttered a
word. "Father brought the paper home from Bright River not ten minutes
ago--it came out on the afternoon train, you know, and won't be here
till tomorrow by mail--and when I saw the pass list I just rushed over
like a wild thing. You've all passed, every one of you, Moody Spurgeon
and all, although he's conditioned in history. Jane and Ruby did pretty
well--they're halfway up--and so did Charlie. Josie just scraped through
with three marks to spare, but you'll see she'll put on as many airs as
if she'd led. Won't Miss Stacy be delighted? Oh, Anne, what does it feel
like to see your name at the head of a pass list like that? If it were
me I know I'd go crazy with joy. I am pretty near crazy as it is, but
you're as calm and cool as a spring evening."

"I'm just dazzled inside," said Anne. "I want to say a hundred things,
and I can't find words to say them in. I never dreamed of this--yes, I
did too, just once! I let myself think ONCE, 'What if I should come out
first?' quakingly, you know, for it seemed so vain and presumptuous to
think I could lead the Island. Excuse me a minute, Diana. I must run
right out to the field to tell Matthew. Then we'll go up the road and
tell the good news to the others."

They hurried to the hayfield below the barn where Matthew was coiling
hay, and, as luck would have it, Mrs. Lynde was talking to Marilla at
the lane fence.

"Oh, Matthew," exclaimed Anne, "I've passed and I'm first--or one of the
first! I'm not vain, but I'm thankful."

"Well now, I always said it," said Matthew, gazing at the pass list
delightedly. "I knew you could beat them all easy."

"You've done pretty well, I must say, Anne," said Marilla, trying to
hide her extreme pride in Anne from Mrs. Rachel's critical eye. But that
good soul said heartily:

"I just guess she has done well, and far be it from me to be backward in
saying it. You're a credit to your friends, Anne, that's what, and we're
all proud of you."

That night Anne, who had wound up the delightful evening