Lucy Maud Montgomery

Caroline Parry

Rilla, Anne Shirley's youngest daughter, discovers the problems and difficulties of coming of age during the terrifying days of World War I.

Rilla of Ingleside

Bethany

“Would you exchange them—now—for two years filled with fun?”

“No,” said Rilla slowly. “I wouldn’t. It’s strange—isn’t it?—They have been two terrible years—and yet I have a queer feeling of thankfulness for them—as if they had brought me something very precious, with all their pain. I wouldn't want to go back and be the girl I was two years ago, not even if I could. Not that I think I've made any wonderful progress—but I'm not quite the selfish, frivolous little doll I was then. I suppose I had a soul then, Miss Oliver—but I didn't know it. I know it now—and that is worth a great deal—worth all the suffering of the past two years. And still"—Rilla gave a little apologetic laugh, "I don't want to suffer any more—not even for the sake of more soul growth. At the end of two more years I might look back and be thankful for the development they had brought me, too; but I don't want it now."

I wonder if I shall ever feel really glad over anything again. It seems as if gladness were killed in me…..Perhaps some day a new kind of gladness will be born in my soul—but the old kind will never live again.

Rilla of Ingleside quotes

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