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Anne 1

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Script: Part 2

SCENE: Outside the house.

MATTHEW: Little Jerry Buote from the Creek was around. I told him I guess I'd hire him on for the summer.

MARILLA: Hurry up, child!

ANNE: Just fixing Green Gables in my memory. In years to come I'm going to look back on Green Gables as a beautiful dream that will always haunt me. Don't you think it's--

MARILLA: You can think about it as you drive along.

ANNE: I shall never forget your kindness, Mr. Cuthbert.

SCENE: Mrs. Spencer's House.

MRS. SPENCER: Marilla. Marilla, dear. You're the last person I ever expected to see today. I'd imagine you would be getting Anne settled. How are you Anne?

ANNE: As well as a victim of tragic circumstances can be, Mrs. Spencer.

MARILLA: There seems to be some queer mistake, Sarah. We told Roberta for you to get us a boy.

MRS. SPENCER: Oh, Marilla, you don't say. Well, Roberta distinctly said that you wanted a girl.

MARILLA: I knew I should have gone myself.

MRS. SPENCER: I am dreadfully sorry, Marilla.

MARILLA: I suppose the asylum will take the child back.

MRS. SPENCER: Well, as a matter of fact, Mrs. Blewett was up here yesterday asking me if I could get her a little girl. She has such a large family, you know. Ten children and another one on the way, she's simply beside herself for help.

ANNE: Excuse me, Mrs. Spencer, would there happen to be any twins among them?

MRS. SPENCER: Oh, she has two sets of twins. How did you know, child?

ANNE: Twins seem to be my lot in life.

MRS. BLEWETT: Mrs. Spencer!

MRS. SPENCER: And you'll be just the girl.

MRS. BLEWETT: Mrs. Spencer!

MRS. SPENCER: And, oh, look, there's Mrs. Blewett this blessed minute. I call this positively providential. You, who, Mrs. Blewett. Mrs. Blewett, Anne Shirley. She'll be just the thing for you.

MRS. BLEWETT: Miss Cuthbert.

MARILLA: Mrs. Blewett.

MRS. BLEWETT: How old are you, girl.

ANNE: Thirteen.

MRS. BLEWETT: Ain't much to you, but you're wiry, and I don't know but the wiry ones can work the hardest. I'll expect you to earn your keep, no mistaking that. And I want you to act smart and be respectful. Alright, I'll take her. My twins have been awful fractious these days and I'm terrible worn out.

MARILLA: Well, now, I don't know. I feel I oughtn't make a decision until I speak to Matthew. I'll just take her home again and talk to him. Good afternoon, ladies.

SCENE: On road.

ANNE: Miss Cuthbert, did you really say it or did I only just image it?

MARILLA: I haven't said anything yet, young lady, except I want to speak to Matthew. Sending you back to the orphanage is one thing. Handing you over to the likes of Matilda Blewett is another.

ANNE: I'd rather go back to the asylum than live with her. Two sets of twins! Oof. Besides, she looks exactly like a gimlet.

MARILLA: Anne Shirley, you should be ashamed of yourself, speaking of a stranger that way. Hold your tongue and don't criticize your elders.

ANNE: I'll try and do anything and be anything you want, if you'll only keep me, Miss Cuthbert.

SCENE: The Cuthbert barn.

MARILLA: Well, aren't you going to say anything, Matthew? I wouldn't give a dog I liked to that Blewett woman. It makes no sense to keep her. But if we did keep her, I'd expect you not to interfere with my methods. An old maid like me may not know much about raising a child, but I know a darn sight more than a bachelor like you. Oh, she could talk a hind leg of a mule, that's certain. Oh, wouldn't that be a change around here?

SCENE: Anne's room.

MARILLA: Have you said your prayers?

ANNE: I never say any prayers.

MARILLA: What do you mean? Haven't you been taught to say your prayers?

ANNE: Mrs. Hammond told me that God made my hair red on purpose, and I've never cared for him since.

MARILLA: Well, while you are under my roof, you will say your prayers.

ANNE: Why, of course, if you want me to. How does one do it?

MARILLA: Well, you kneel beside the bed.

ANNE: That's the part I never really could understand. Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray, I'd go out into a great, big field, all alone, and I'd look up into the sky. I'd imagine it was the dome of a great cathedral, and then I'd close my eyes and just feel the prayer. What am I say?

MARILLA: Well, I think your old enough now to think of your own prayer. You thank God for his blessings and then humbly ask him for the things you want.

ANNE: I'll do my best. Dear Gracious, Heavenly Father, I thank you for everything. As for the things I especially want, they're so numerous it would take a great deal of time to mention them all, so I'll just mention the two most important. Please, let me stay at Green Gables. Please, make me beautiful when I grow up. I remain yours respectfully, Anne Shirley, with an "e". Did I do alright?

MARILLA: Yes, if you were addressing a business letter to a catalog store. Get into bed.

ANNE: I should have said Amen instead of yours respectfully. Do you think it will make any difference?

MARILLA: I expect God will overlook it, this time. Good night.

ANNE: Good night, Miss Cuthbert.

MARILLA: That girl is next door to a perfect heathen.

SCENE: The Cuthbert kitchen.

ANNE: Good morning, Miss Cuthbert. Where's Matthew?

MARILLA: He had his breakfast hours ago. Been in the fields ever since. Why?

ANNE: I see I'll have to be up before the break of day if I'm to say good morning to Matthew. That is if...

MARILLA: If what?

ANNE: Please, Miss Cuthbert, tell me if you're going to send me back. I made up my mind to be patient, but just can't bear it any longer.

MARILLA: Well, you'll just have to bear it because I simply don't know. I though maybe we'd put it on trial for a while, for all our sakes. Would that suit you?

ANNE: If you think it's necessary, Miss Cuthbert.

MARILLA: I do. You may not be happy with two old grumps like us.

ANNE: I know I would be. I'd be happier than even I can imagine at this present moment.

MARILLA: Come. While you're eating your breakfast, I want you to learn that. You need a little religion in your life as bad as you need fattening up.

ANNE: [reciting the opening lines to the Lord's Prayer] "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." That is just like a line of music. I'm glad you thought of making me learn this, Miss Cuthbert.

MARILLA: Then learn it, then, and hold your tongue.

ANNE: Yes, ma'am.

MARILLA: Oh, good Lord, here comes Rachel Lynde. Anne, take that card into the parlor, and then you come back here on your best behavior. I don't want her knowing you're a heathen.

RACHEL: Good morning, Marilla.

MARILLA: Come in, Rachel.

RACHEL: I'm shocked at this horrendous mistake I've heard about.

MARILLA: I've gotten over the shock, myself.

RACHEL: Couldn't you have sent her back?

MARILLA: Well, we're still considering on it.

RACHEL: Considering on it? What is there to consider? A boy would have been bad enough but--

MARILLA: This is a friend and neighbor of mine, Mrs. Rachel Lynde. Anne Shirley.

ANNE: How do you do, Mrs. Lynde?

RACHEL: Well, her looks are certainly nothing to consider. I mean she's terribly skinny and homely, Marilla. Come here, child. Lawful heart! Her hair is as red as carrots!

ANNE: How dare you say I'm skinny and... carrots! You're a rude, impolite, unfeeling woman, and I hate you!

MARILLA: Anne Shirley!

ANNE: How would you like to have nasty things said about you? How would you like to be told that you're fat, and ugly, and a sour old gossip.

MARILLA: Anne Shirley! Anne Shirley, you come back at once and apologize!

RACHEL: Mark my words, Marilla. That's the kind that puts strychnine in the well.

MARILLA: You shouldn't have twitted her about her looks.

RACHEL: Marilla Cuthbert!

MARILLA: I'm not making excuses for her. Perhaps she was never taught what was right, but you were too hard on her, Rachel.

RACHEL: I see I'll have to be very careful what I say from now on. Oh, I'm not vexed, Marilla. I'm too sorry for you to leave any room for anger in my mind. It's obvious to me that the good sense I admire you for left you when that child walked in your door! Goodbye, Marilla. Come down and see me when you can, Marilla, but don't expect me to visit here again if I'm to be treated in such a fashion.

MARILLA: Goodbye, Rachel.

SCENE: Outside the Cuthbert house.

MARILLA: When I said trial, I had no idea you'd take me literally. Of all the people, you would pick on Rachel Lynde.

ANNE: She hadn't any right to say what she did.

MARILLA: Rachel is too outspoken. But she is your elder, a stranger, and my guest, not to mention my friend, all of them very good reasons for you to have bit your tongue. She deserves and apology. You will go to her and you will give it.

ANNE: I can never do that. You can punish me any way you like. You can lock me up in a dark dungeon inhabited by snakes and toads, and feed me on bread and water. I won't complain. But I cannot ask Rachel Lynde to forgive me.

MARILLA: If you expect to remain under my roof, you will apologize to Mrs. Lynde.

ANNE: Then you'll have to send me back.

MATTHEW: Rachel Lynde deserves what she gets.

MARILLA: Matthew Cuthbert, don't form opinions for me. Next you'll be saying she oughtn't be punished at all.

SCENE: Anne's room.

MATTHEW: I haven't been upstairs in this house in four years. I guess you're leaving, then.

ANNE: Oh, Matthew, I'd rather die than apologize to Mrs. Lynde. It's so humiliating.

MATTHEW: Well, Marilla is a terrible determined woman. You don't have to be exactly sorry, you know; you can just be sort of sorry.

ANNE: I'm not sorry at all.

MATTHEW: I hear Mrs. Blewett's an awful work-horse. It'll terrible lonesome around here without you. Couldn't you just kind of smooth it over?

ANNE: You don't want me to go, do you? I'd do anything for you, Matthew, if you really wanted me to.

MATTHEW: Of course I do.

ANNE: I can't let Mrs. Lynde be the cause of our parting. I don't have to be really sorry. I just have to remove the disgrace I brought upon Marilla's good name.

MATTHEW: Don't tell Marilla that I said anything. She'll say I'm interfering.

ANNE: Wild horses couldn't drag it from me.

SCENE: The Cuthbert kitchen.

ANNE: Miss Cuthbert?

MARILLA: What is it?

ANNE: I'm sorry I lost my temper and said those rude things, and I'm willing to go and tell Mrs. Lynde so.

MARILLA: I think that's a wise decision. I'll take you over first thing. Now get up to bed, and don't forget to say your prayers.

ANNE: Yes, ma'am.

MARILLA: I knew that if we left her alone, she'd come to her senses.

SCENE: Anne's room.

MARILLA: Hurry up, Anne. What are you muttering about?

ANNE: I'm just imagining out what I must say to Mrs. Lynde. Miss Cuthbert, you look so elegant!

MARILLA: You don't make an important visit in kitchen clothes.

ANNE: I think amethysts are lovely. That's what I used to imagine diamonds were like, and then I saw a real diamond in a ladies--

MARILLA: Oh, for goodness sake, child! Bite your tongue, and come along.

SCENE: The Lynde house.

MARILLA: Good morning Rachel. Anne has something to say to you.

ANNE: Mrs. Lynde, I'm extremely sorry I behaved so terribly. I've disgraced my good friends who've let me stay at Green Gables on trial, even though I'm not a boy. I am wicked and ungrateful, and I deserve to be cast out forever. What you said was true; I am skinny and ugly, and my hair is red. What I said about you was true too, only I shouldn't have said it. Please, Mrs. Lynde, forgive me. You wouldn't be so cruel as to inflict a life-long sorrow on a poor orphan. Please. Please, forgive me.

RACHEL: There, there, child, of course I forgive you. I guess I was a bit hard. But you mustn't mind me; I'm known throughout these parts as a woman who speaks her mind. And don't worry about your hair. I knew a girl once who had hair every bit as red as yours, but when she grew up, it darkened into a real handsome auburn.

ANNE: You have given me hope, Mrs. Lynde. I shall always think of you as a benefactress.

MARILLA: Marilla, what this child needs is discipline and a proper education. The Sunday School picnic is scheduled this week for Barry's field. I want you to take Anne so she can meet some civilized children her own age. Her tongue appears to be hinged in the middle, but she may turn out alright.

MARILLA: I'm sure you're right, Rachel.

RACHEL: And trial or no trial, you ought to put the girl into school.

SCENE: On the road home.

MARILLA: Putting you in school doesn't mean a decision. It's just as easy to take you out as put you in.

ANNE: I understand, Miss Cuthbert, but it does give a person reason to hope.

MARILLA: I've seen some shocking behavior from you, Anne Shirley, and it does give a person reason to doubt. Understand?

ANNE: My temper will never get the better of me again, even though I am red-haired.

MARILLA: I hope not. Good behavior in the first place is more important than theatrical apologies afterwards.

ANNE: Since, I had to do it, I thought I might as well do it thoroughly.

MARILLA: Save your thoroughness for prayer. And the praying that counts, is the praying that's sincere; God does not want you for a fair-weathered friend.

ANNE: The only real friend I ever had was Katie Morris, and she was only my window friend.

MARILLA: Window friend?

ANNE: I discovered her in the window of Mrs. Thomas' bookcase, which was the only window which hadn't been smashed by her intoxicated husband. I lived with them before the Hammonds. I used to wish I knew the spell to step through the glass into Katie's world, which was so beautiful.

MARILLA: I don't think you should have window friends anymore.

ANNE: My greatest wish, apart from staying at Green Gables, would be to have a bosom friend.

MARILLA: A what kind of friend?

ANNE: A bosom friend; a really kindred spirit. I've dreamt of meeting her all my life.

MARILLA: Diana Barry lives over there on Orchard Slope. She's about your age. Her parents are sponsoring the picnic next Sunday. You can meet her.

ANNE: Diana of the Lake of Shining Waters.

MARILLA: For mercy's sake child. You set your heart too much on silly names.

ANNE: What should I call you? May I call you Aunt Marilla?

MARILLA: No. You can call me just plain Marilla. I don't believe in calling people names that are not their own.

ANNE: You could imagine you were my aunt.

MARILLA: No, I could not.

ANNE: Don't you ever imagine things different from they are?

MARILLA: No.

ANNE: Oh, Marilla, how much you miss.


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