Description

---

MRS. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into alittle hollow, fringed with alders and ladies' eardrops and traversed by a brook thathad its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed tobe an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with darksecrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde's Hollow it was aquiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. RachelLynde's door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably wasconscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye oneverything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticedanything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out thewhys and wherefores thereof.