Inspired by a post from Anne of Green Gables Incorrect Quotes on Tumblr. This particular quote is from James Breakwell (Twitter: XplodingUnicorn). Direct quotes and actions are in bold.
"Let us make, instead of war,
an everlasting peace and plighted wedding.
You have what you were bent upon: she burns
with love; the frenzy now is in her bones.
Then let us rule this people - you and I -
with equal auspices—"
An outburst of splashing from the kitchen interrupted Anne's recitation. She and Gilbert, for the third time in only a few minutes, broke their gaze from the lines of Virgil's Aeneid* and looked up at each other. Laughter filled Gilbert's eyes only, which heightened the despair in Anne's.
"Oh, for pity's sake," Anne said helplessly.
Gilbert broke down at this.
"Don't laugh, it's not—" Anne began to scold him, but gave in to a reluctant smile. She lifted up her voice over Gilbert's laughing. "Marilla, are you certain you don't need my help?"
It was a moment before a response came from the kitchen, where splashing sounds were now mingling with scolding whispers.
"No, Anne, go on with—Davy Keith, do sit down!" Marilla's words were followed by a faint thud—the sound of Davy being forced onto his bottom in the tub.
Anne slipped a bookmark into Aeneid with a short sigh. Earlier that week, she had thought Saturday evening would be a fitting time to study Virgil, but had somehow forgotten that bath night was never a quiet night in the Cuthbert household.
Gilbert strapped up his books while desperately holding in more laughter. He got a kick out of Davy any day, but especially when he was causing trouble.
"It makes me sorry for my mother," he said, slinging his book strap over his shoulder. "I'm certain I was just like him when I was a boy. Must've driven her wild."
Anne looked doubtful. "Some days I'm not quite sure there's ever been a boy like Davy. I have half a mind to beg Marilla to let him go to school a year early so she won't have to manage him alone any longer."
"We got through several pages of the Aeneid when Dora was having her bath," said Gilbert, grinning. "But with Davy, we hardly even got through 20 lines."
"I'm sorry you came all the way out here for such an unproductive hour of study," said Anne. "This will be a lesson to me to never choose Saturday nights for our dates."
As soon as she spoke those poorly chosen words, Anne looked up to see if Gilbert had noticed them. A playful twinkle in his eyes confirmed with her that he had; but neither of them acknowledged it with words.
"Well, good night, Gilbert," Anne said abruptly, leaving for the kitchen.
Gilbert followed behind her. "Good night, Anne; though I'll just say the same to Miss Cuthbert on my way out."
In the kitchen, a washtub was set up on the floor. Marilla was crouched beside it on hands and knees, trying to hold on to a slippery boy squirming in the tub. Davy had figured out how to make waves, as was evident from the pools of water on the floor, and was trying to stir up a big one when he caught a glance of Gilbert standing in the doorway.
The grin on Gilbert's face only encouraged Davy, who beamed up at him and said, "Say, Gilbert, I can make some bully waves. Watch—"
Just as he raised his arm, Marilla caught it firmly. She said with firm emphasis in every word, "No more waves. No more splashing, no more squirming, no more moving at all. You'll sit still until I'm finished with you."
Her tone was severe enough to instantly wipe the smile from the faces of both boys.
Gilbert whispered to Anne, "I'll see you later. Tell her I said good night," and quietly slipped away to door.
Anne stepped into the kitchen and touched Marilla's shoulder. "Let me finish washing him while you put Dora to bed." She nodded over to the couch, where Dora was curled up, asleep.
Marilla's firm expression faded at the sight. She sighed as she pushed herself up from the floor.
"I am surely glad you were old enough to bathe yourself by the time you came around," she said, handing the dripping washcloth to Anne.
Anne dropped to her knees and, tucking her finger under his chin, lifted Davy's downcast face to meet her smiling eyes. She ran her fingers through his soapy hair to make it stick straight up. As she laughed, Davy cleared away the suds in the water to see his rippling reflection and giggled, too.
"Now, let's hurry and get you out of that cold water," Anne said, fishing the bar of soap from the bottom of the tub and lathering up the washcloth.
Davy sat still while his arms were raised and his face was scrubbed, all the while keeping himself entertained by pretending his wriggling toes just barely poking above the water were little fish.
"Anne," he said, still watching his toes, "why don't we have our baths in the pond, like animals?"
"Because we're not animals," said Anne. "And the water is dirty. We wouldn't be getting very clean."
"But we'd be having more fun," said Davy. "There's heaps more room, too."
"That may be," said Anne, tucking in her lips to hide a smile. "But we have swimming for that."
"That's so." Davy agreed. "But couldn't I just try it once and see how I like it?"
"I'm afraid not, Davy-boy," said Anne.
By the time Marilla came back downstairs, Davy was dressed and shaking his locks dry like a dog.
"Davy Keith, you'll break your neck doing that. Stop it," said Marilla. "Now, off to bed with you. We've got to be up early for church."
"Again?" Davy whined.
"Yes."
"Can't God take a Sunday off?"
"No, he cannot. And neither can you." Marilla, by way of keeping herself from laughing, glared over Davy's shoulder at Anne, who was muffling a laugh with her hand.
"If I were God, I'd let people have a Sunday off sometimes. It seems awful mean to make 'em to go to church ev'ry week."
"Davy, don't talk so," Anne chimed in, no longer amused. "It isn't right to criticize God. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Davy said meekly.
"Good." Anne scooped Davy up and propped him on her hip. "Let's go up to bed now."
When Davy was upstairs and well out of earshot, Marilla finally gave into laughter.
"The things that child says!"
* L. M. Montgomery makes frequent references to Anne studying Virgil in the first two books
