Dora is the picture of perfection, but Davy cannot stay out of trouble. Meanwhile, the twins take quite a toll on Marilla’s life. Anne makes up her mind to try and bring the two back together. Anne and Miss Lavendar become fast friends, and the older woman reveals to Anne how she and Stephen Irving broke up long ago. One day, on a walk with Diana to have tea with a friend, the girls take the wrong road and end up at Miss Lavendar’s house, Echo Lodge.

Rumor has it that Paul’s father, Stephen Irving, was once engaged to a woman named Lavendar Lewis from Grafton, but they broke off the engagement after a meaningless fight.

Paul Irving, a student in Anne’s class, quickly becomes a “kindred spirit,” and Anne sees a part of herself in the young man’s imagination regarding the rock people he envisions down at the shoreline. In the meantime, Gilbert works hard to win Anne’s affection, but she only sees him as a good friend and nothing more. Soon, they are welcomed as an integral part of Avonlea. It is not until the Improvers meet with bad luck that the tide of public opinion turns for them. Led by Anne and Gilbert, the young people of Avonlea form a Village Improvement Society, which is met by disdain from most of the townspeople. In a moment of weakness, Anne breaks her vow and whips the young man but strangely earns his love and respect soon after. Teaching school is much harder than Anne anticipates, and her solemn vow to earn students’ love and respect from affection instead of physical punishment goes awry when she meets Anthony Pye, a young man who remains obstinate in the face of Anne’s methods. Fortunately for her, Marilla takes in two orphan twins-Davy and Dora Keith-and much of Anne’s energy is spent answering their many questions and keeping young Davy out of trouble. Still, her impetuous nature and imaginative fantasies prove to be her undoing in many cases. Anne Shirley is now a bright-eyed girl of 16 on the verge of becoming Avonlea’s newest schoolteacher.

Anne of avonlea by lm montgomery