Matthew turned to shyly to speak to the child. She was about eleven, with long red hair in two plaits. Her face was small, white and thin, with a lot of freckles, and she had large grey-green eyes. She was wearing an old brown hat and a dress which was too small for her. "Are you Mr Cuthbert of Green Gables?" she asked excitedly in a high, sweet voice. "I'm very happy to come ..

"Yes," the man replied. "And there's a passenger who's waiting for you. A little girl." "A little girl?" asked Matthew. "But I've come for a boy! The childern's home is sending us one of their orphan boys. We've going to adopt him, you see, and he's going to help me with the farm work." "Well, perhaps the childern's home didn't have any boys, so they sent you a girl," answered..

1 A surprise for the Cuthberts Mattthew Cuthbert lived with his sister Marilla on the farm on Prince Edward Island on Canada. Their farmhouse, Green Gables, was just outside the little village of Avonlea. Matthew was nearly sixty and had a long brown beard. His sister was five years younger. They were both tall and thin, with dark hair. Everybody in Avonlea knew that the Cuthb..