A Tangled Web by L. M. Montgomery

Author:L. M. Montgomery
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2014-01-29T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 3

Midsummer Madness

1

Gay did not find the first few weeks of her engagement to Noel all sunshine. One could not in a clan like hers. Among the Darks and Penhallows an engagement was tribal property and every one claimed the right to comment and criticize, approve or disapprove, according to circumstances. In this instance disapproval was rampant, for none of the clan liked any Gibson and they did not spare Gay’s feelings. It simply did not occur to them that a child of eighteen had any feelings to spare, so they dealt with her faithfully.

“Poor little fool, will she giggle as loud after she’s been married to him for a couple of years?” said William Y., when he heard Gay’s exquisite laugh as she and Noel whirled by in their car one night. To do him justice, William Y. would not have said it in Gay’s hearing, but it was straightway carried to her. Gay only laughed again. And she laughed when Cousin Hannah from Summerside asked her if it could be true that she was going to marry “a certain young man.” Cousin Hannah would not say “a Gibson.” Her manner gave the impression that Gibsons did not really exist. They might imagine they did but they were mere emanations of the Evil One, to be resolutely disbelieved in by anyone of good principles and proper breeding. One did not speak openly of the devil. Neither did one speak of the Gibsons. Her contempt stung Gay a bit, in spite of her laughter. But a letter from Noel, simply crammed with darlings, soon removed the sting.

“Do you really love him?” asked Mrs. William Y. solemnly.

Gay wanted to say no because she detested Mrs. William Y. But she also wanted to show her and everyone just what Noel meant to her.

“He’s the only man in the world for me, Aunty.”

“H’m! That’s a large order out of about five hundred million men,” said Mrs. William Y. sarcastically. “However, I remember I once felt that way, too.”

This, although Mrs. William Y. was unaware of it, was the most dreadful thing Gay had heard yet. Mrs. William Y. couldn’t have thought William Y. the only man in the world. Of course she had married him—but she couldn’t. Gay, with the egotism of youth, couldn’t believe that any woman had ever been in love with William Y., not realizing that when William Y. had been slender and hirsute, twenty-five years before, he had been quite a lady-killer.

“You could do better, you know,” persisted Mrs. William Y.

“Oh, I suppose you mean Roger,” cried Gay petulantly. “You all think there’s nobody like Roger.”

“Neither there is,” said Mrs. William Y. with simple and sincere feeling. She loved Roger. Everybody loved him. If only Gay wasn’t so silly and romantic. Just swept off her feet by Noel Gibson’s eyes and hair.

“I suppose you think it’s all fun being married,” Mrs. Clifford said.

Gay didn’t think it was “fun” at all. That wasn’t how she regarded marriage. But Aunt Rhoda Dark was just as bad.

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