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COPYRIGHT 2002 Anne of Green Gables Society
Editor's Note: The following is the second and final part published in the Autumn 2002 issue of Kindred Spirits.
Frede shared the next Christmas with the Macdonalds and their new three-month old son, Ewan Stuart. A year later, Frede spent the 1916 holiday in Leaskdale again. In spite of the war, it was a happy period in LM Montgomery's life. She was a wife and the proud mother of two sons and had written the famous book of her dreams. Her dearest friend was always there to share holidays and enlarge her family and enliven her house.
Underneath her usual bright spirit that Christmas, Frederica was unhappy. Frede, with her magnetic personality, had never lacked for friends. She was highly respected in her work, but she was almost 34 years old, neglected by a younger social circle and she was lonely. So, when she received a marriage proposal from a friend, a soldier on leave, she accepted it. On May 16, 1917, after an engagement of six hours, Frederica Elmanstine Campbell married 26 year-old Lieutenant Cameron MacFarlane.
It was the only time in her life that she disappointed Maud. Mrs. Maud Macdonald was dumbfounded, flabbergasted, knocked out and rendered speechless when she read the telegram. Frede and Maud had counseled each other on matters of the heart for many years, and Frede had written about Cameron's courtship, saying that it had no future. Maud not only expected to be fully informed, should Frede ever accept a marriage proposal, but she also expected to know the groom and be involved in the ceremony--Frede should have been married by Ewan in the Leaskdale Manse. Maud was terribly hurt and unsettled. A new husband could...
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