Anne's House of Dreams Part III

Leslie takes Dick to the city for his operation and Cornelia and Anne fret about their friend. Then, news comes from Leslie to say the operation is safely over. Soon afterwards, she contacts Anne to say that something has occurred, that she has now found that Dick is dead. The man she thought was her husband is his cousin, George Moore, who did resemble his cousin quite a bit as their Mothers were twin sisters. He had been looking after Dick who had died of fever, and he planned to go back to Canada and tell Leslie of her husband's death... and he had a letter from her in his pocket. HE had then been attacked in the port and badly injured and lost his memory. He had changed somewhat due to his injury and run to fat, but some of his memory had come back. Leslie is amazed. She looks after him for a while till he is able to get in contact with relatives in his home town and travel back to them. She then comes back to Glen St Mary, and Anne has written to Owen Forde to let him know that Leslie is now free. Anne has her new baby and this time all goes well and she has a healthy son James Matthew. Leslie moves in to help her, and Owen is able to court her respectably. Owen's book is due to be published and Captain Jim is excited, but he is beginning to fail,health wise. THen Miss Cornelia tells the Blythes that in middle age, she is getting married. THey are astounded, as she had so often abused all the men in the village. She has a farm, and she tells him that she has quite a few suitors still, including Marshall Elliott, who lives nearby, but she had refused to marry him for years. He is a passionate Liberal, in politics (the slang term is Grit) and he was so angry several years ago at an election that he swore not to cut his beard or hair till the Liberals got in again. Now they have just won an election and he's cut his hair and beard and looks respectable again. She says that she will be glad to have someone to help her run the farm, and makes her wedding plans. Leslie and Owen are also planning to marry and move to Toronto, where Owen will go on with his writing. Captain Jim's Life Book is finally published and the old man sits up all night reading it, but the following day, they find him dead. Anne is grieved but she knows that he was happy to see the book published and did not care if it did well in sales. He had achieved his ambition and died before he became frail and helpless. Gilbert tells Anne that he has found a new house, in the village, Ingleside, which is bigger and will be more suitable for them. Anne hates the thought of leaving her litlte house but he reminds her that it will be lonely with Leslie and Captain Jim gone, so she agrees to move. I like the novel even allowing for some fantastic elements such as the news about George and Dick Moore. It is a portrait of a vanished time, in a small prudish community. One of Dick's faults is that he drinks, and there are also stories about him and a girl. Leslie tells Anne that she would never have married him if she had known of these stories, and it seems that in Prince Edward Island only "bad" men drink. There is sadness in the death of Anne's first baby, but rejoicing when she has her son. It is the last novel about Anne herself, as later ones tend to focus on the children and are a bit coy and twee.