In the Woods When First We Met

182. Explanations

"Gilbert's here," Matthew said as they reached Green Gables.

Mr. Blythe's buggy parked in front of their house did not surprise them.

"I'm glad," Marilla said- then she shook her head at herself. "I never thought I'd be pleased for Anne to have a boy come calling at her age...and letting them be alone together in an empty house! Doesn't seem the least bit proper."

Then Marilla sighed. "But I am glad. I trust him, and I know she feels better when he's around."

Matthew nodded. "I hate to say it, but he's her only way to the outside world at the moment."

Marilla thought about that. "You're right...poor Anne. She likes going to Emily's house, so at least there's that. ...But she ought to be able to go back to school and be around other children."

When they reached the front door, Matthew found that when he pulled the doorknob, he met with resistance.

"...I think the door's locked," he said, his pitch going up in surprise. He pulled it again.

"What do you mean, locked?" Marilla asked, as if that was a bizarre statement to have made. But when she pulled, she met with the same resistance.

She'd have looked in the window, but the curtains were pulled shut.

Matthew hesitantly tapped the window, bewildered at the strangeness of having to knock on their own front door.

It was only a few seconds before the front door was opened by Gilbert, with Anne at his side.

The four stared at each other a moment, each thinking very different thoughts, until Marilla said, "What's happening here?"

Gilbert pulled the door back and they came in. Marilla walked briskly in, looking around the room. She saw her quilt on the sofa. "Why is the quilt from my bed out here on the sofa?"

"I wanted to sit with it around me," Anne tried to explain. "I was-"

"You two weren't in my bedroom, were you?"

"Well, sort of," Anne tried to say. "But not-"

"Why did you have the door locked?"

Anne felt a sob rising in her, seeing that Marilla was already judging her for something she hadn't done.

Gilbert was starting to panic a bit himself, but seeing Anne upset made him be calm for her sake. "Miss Cuthbert, please, let me explain"-

But Marilla was not listening. She had walked further into the house. "Why are there bedsheets in the wash?" She asked sharply as she stepped into the other room.

Matthew said quietly, "Marilla, give them a chance-"

"We trusted the two of you to spend time alone together, and we come home to a locked door and bedsheets in the wash! Clearly you were in my bedroom or you wouldn't have my quilt-"

"Marilla!" Matthew said, raising his voice for once.

Marilla stared at him, shocked.

Matthew said, quieter now: "You haven't let them get a word in edgewise. There could be a perfectly rational explanation and you're not going to find out what it is if you don't let them say anything."

Marilla took a deep breath, realizing Matthew had a point. She looked at Anne and Gilbert. Anne had begun to cry.

"How could you think that about me?" Anne said, crying. "How could you think I'd want to do anything after what happened to me? I never want to do that again!"