ed vase on the mantel, stuffed the flowers in
it, and set it on the table. The look on Aunt Olivia's face was too much
for me at last. I turned, caught Peggy by the shoulder and dragged her
out of the house.

"He will horrify the very soul out of Aunt Olivia's body if he goes on
like this," I gasped. "But he's splendid--and he thinks the world of
her--and, oh, Peggy, did you EVER hear such kisses? Fancy Aunt Olivia!"

It did not take us long to get well acquainted with Mr. Malcolm
MacPherson. He almost haunted Aunt Olivia's house, and Aunt Olivia
insisted on our staying with her most of the time. She seemed to be very
shy of finding herself alone with him. He horrified her a dozen times in
an hour; nevertheless, she was very proud of him, and liked to be teased
about him, too. She was delighted that we admired him.

"Though, to be sure, he is very different in his looks from what he used
to be," she said. "He is so dreadfully big! And I do not like a beard,
but I have not the courage to ask him to shave it off. He might be
offended. He has bought the old Lynde place in Avonlea and wants to
be married in a month. But, dear me, that is too soon. It--it would be
hardly proper."

Peggy and I liked Mr. Malcolm MacPherson very much. So did father. We
were glad that he seemed to think Aunt Olivia perfection. He was as
happy as the day was long; but poor Aunt Olivia, under all her surface
pride and importance, was not. Amid all the humour of the circumstances
Peggy and I snuffed tragedy compounded with the humour.

Mr. Malcolm MacPherson could never be trained to old-maidishness, and
even Aunt Olivia seemed to realize this. He never stopped to clear his
boots when he came in, although she had an ostentatiously new scraper
put at each door for his benefit. He seldom moved in the house without
knocking some of Aunt Olivia's treasures over. He smoked cigars in her
parlour and scattered the ashes over the floor. He brought her flowers
every day and stuck them into whatever receptacle came handiest. He sat
on her cushions and rolled her antimacassars up into balls. He put
his feet on her chair rungs--and all with the most distracting
unconsciousness of doing anything out of the way. He never noticed Aunt
Olivia's fluttering nervousness at all. Peggy and I laughed more than
was good for us those days. It was so funny to see Aunt Olivia hovering
anxiously around, picking up flower stems, and smoothing out tidies, and
generally fo