Autumn Sings the Blues

CHAPTER NINETEEN

OH THIS CHAPTER

I LOVE THIS CHAPTER

I’d happily copy-and-paste the entire thing in, but instead just - go read it. If you’ve read it, reread it. Meanwhile I’ll just include my favourite lines…

“Not every evening,” said Valancy reflectively. “No, not quite every evening.”

“Oh yes. But the things I am ashamed of are not the things you are ashamed of.”

“Were you by any chance referring to me, Mister Stirling?” demanded Roaring Abel, suddenly appearing in the doorway of the back verandah where he had been smoking a peaceful pipe and listening to “old Jim Stirling’s” tirade with huge enjoyment.

Oh James, why do you not back down here…

I WANT THE FILM. I WANT TO SEE JAMES FLYING THROUGH THE DOORWAY.

“The next time you come back here,” he bellowed, “I’ll throw you through the window - and all the better if the window is shut! Coming here, thinking yourself God to put the world to rights!”

Valancy candidly and unashamedly owned to herself that she had seen few more satisfying sights that Uncle James’ coat-tails flying out into the asparagus bed. She had once been afraid of this man’s judgement. Now she saw clearly that he was nothing but a rather stupid little village tin-god.

Roaring Abel turned with his great broad laugh.

“He’ll think of that for years when he wakes up in the night. The Almighty made a mistake in making so many Stirlings. But since they are made, we’ve got to reckon with them. Too many to kill out. But if they come here bothering you I’ll shoo ‘em off because a cat could lick its ear.”

This. OHMYGOD. Every. Line. Of. This. Every single word is delicious. Abel doesn’t keep Valancy captive, and he doesn’t patronise her by protecting her, but he recognises that her relatives are harassing her and when she needs a helping hand, he offers it. By chucking her relatives out. Literally.

I LOVE THEIR DYNAMIC.

“How the devil should I know where you’re going, gosling?”

I mean…harsh, but, you know? Fair, as well. And funny.

AND THIS NEXT BIT

“I’ve got the reputation of my household to keep up.”

ABEL IT’S TOO LATE FOR THAT ONE

“I’ve got to chaperone this young lady. Can’t have any sparkin’ going on here behind my back.”

Outraged Dr Stalling looked so terrible that Valancy wondered how Abel could endure his aspect. But Abel was not worried at all.

“D’ye know anything about it, anyway?” he asked genially.

“About what?”

“Sparking,” said Abel coolly.

AHHHHHHH I’M SCREAMING.

“House,” interjected Roaring Abel. “H-o-u-s-e.”

He needs his own book.

“Miss Stirling can go if she pleases, or stay if she pleases [..] But no woman comes here in Jim Stirling’s pay. If any one does-” Abel’s voice was uncannily bland and polite. “I’ll splatter the road with her brains. Tell him that, with A. Gay’s compliments.”

Abel completely respects Valancy in a way that no one else has, yet.

And Valancy’s moment of almost giving in, and then…

Not.

All thanks to John Foster’s quote!! That is one powerful quote.

(Also! Let’s note here that Barney doesn’t feature in this decision at all. She chooses to stay because she wants to, not because she thinks ‘if I go home I’ll never talk to Barney again’. Another display of her independence.)

Mrs Frederick wept. It would really have been so much easier to bear if Valancy had died. She could have worn mourning then.

“Of course, the Stirlings had not left the poor maniac alone all this time or refrained from heroic efforts to rescue her perishing soul and reputation.”

I love this sentence.

“Don’t quibble, Valancy,” said Uncle James solemnly.”

They are calling her “Valancy”. Finally!

“Why, I’m told that that jail-bird, Snaith, is hanging around here every evening.”

“Not every evening,” said Valancy reflectively. “No, not quite every evening.”

Hahaha I love her.

“She had once been afraid of this man’s judgment. Now she saw clearly that he was nothing but a rather stupid little village tin-god.”

Love these two sentences as well.

“Dr. Stalling was not so sure of this and had no great liking for the task. He did not believe Valancy Stirling was out of her mind. She had always been queer. He, Dr. Stalling, had never been able to understand her. Therefore, beyond doubt, she was queer. She was only just a little queerer than usual now.”

This is very interesting. I think the conventional people in her community always sensed something “off” in Valancy, and that was partially why they were so mean to her.

“Valancy greeted him with a sinking heart. She had to own to herself that she was terribly afraid of Dr. Stalling still. She had a miserable conviction that if he shook his long, bony finger at her and told her to go home, she dared not disobey.”

Religious authority is the last authority Valancy has to defeat. It is mightier than the familial, medicinal and legal authorities for her.

“Back of her terror Valancy smiled in secret. Uncle James must indeed regard the matter as desperate when he would loosen his purse-strings like that. At any rate, her clan no longer despised her or ignored her. She had become important to them.”

Yes. Exactly.

“But no woman comes here in Jim Stirling’s pay. If any one does”—Abel’s voice was uncannily bland and polite—“I’ll spatter the road with her brains.”

Yeah, I hate this. Sorry.

“She entreats, but I, Miss Stirling,”—Dr. Stalling remembered that he was an ambassador of Jehovah—“I command. As your pastor and spiritual guide, I command you to come home with me—this very day. Get your hat and coat and come now.”

Dr. Stalling shook his finger at Valancy. Before that pitiless finger she drooped and wilted visibly.

“She’s giving in,” thought Roaring Abel. “She’ll go with him. Beats all, the power these preacher fellows have over women.”

Valancy was on the point of obeying Dr. Stalling. She must go home with him—and give up. She would lapse back to Doss Stirling again and for her few remaining days or weeks be the cowed, futile creature she had always been. It was her fate—typified by that relentless, uplifted forefinger. She could no more escape from it than Roaring Abel from his predestination. She eyed it as the fascinated bird eyes the snake. Another moment—

“Fear is the original sin,” suddenly said a still, small voice away back—back—back of Valancy’s consciousness. “Almost all the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that some one is afraid of something.”

Valancy stood up. She was still in the clutches of fear, but her soul was her own again. She would not be false to that inner voice.”

Religious authority is the last Titan Valancy needs to defeat, but she takes her power to do it from religion itself. I quite like this part.

Also, a weird question I have to ask: Is Valancy genuinely in reverence and awe of Dr. Stalling’s religious authority or is it really just fear of his finger and the memory of her childhood traumas regarding it? How religious is Valancy?

“Then Cousin Georgiana came—on her own initiative, for nobody would have thought it worth while to send her.”

Cousin Georgiana starts to be singled out as the “less bad” Stirling.

“She found Valancy alone, weeding the little vegetable garden she had planted”

I love how Valancy is always doing work when Stirlings bother her. I mean it makes sense, it is her job, but also “realities vs unrealities”.

“We’ll just have to wait,” said Uncle Benjamin. “After all, Cissy Gay can’t live long. Dr. Marsh tells me she may drop off any day.”

Mrs. Frederick wept. It would really have been so much easier to bear if Valancy had died. She could have worn mourning then.”

“Oh, yes. But the things I am ashamed of are not the things you are ashamed of.”

I admit, I still have Questions about Barney’s violet eyes. Unless Montgomery means deep blue rather than purple?

That said, I love that Valancy’s first instinct is to take care of him. He doesn’t save her—they save each other. After taking the first steps to save themselves.

I think someone pointed out in “Story Girl” book club that Barney and the Story Girl say “good evening” the same way.

I love the name of his car. Lady Jane Grey Slosson. It may have been more common back then to name gray things after Lady Jane Grey—I seem to remember the Rays’ cat in the Betsy-Tacy books having the same name—but it delights me every time.

I also love how easy it is for Valancy and Barney to talk to each other. I mean no shade to Rilla and Kenneth’s shyness around each other—I find that sweet in its own, teenage way (this is something we talked about extensively in “Rilla” book club)—but I think in the long run, Valancy and Barney’s comfort with each other is healthier. And their easy conversation doesn’t stop them from being adorably attracted to each other.

I also love Barney and Cissy’s friendship—and I need to track down the person who wrote such a beautiful elaboration on it in their Barney POV fanfic. I can’t remember if I left a comment or not, but if I didn’t, I should have. That person, if you’re in the book club, thank you for the gift of your writing!

In news unrelated to Barney—I’m a little embarrassed—Montgomery’s love for barrens has resurfaced! Welcome back!

Valancy on the possibility that Barney is running away from something:

Valancy determining that Barney had never been Cissy's lover:

Valarney has finally arrived and what an arrival!

“She had never looked up, though Barney had gone racketting past every evening since she had been at Roaring Abel’s.”

@kehlana-wolhamonao3 ‘s Barney POV retelling/fanfic interprets this as Barney wanting to meet Valancy and gathering up the courage to approach her. It might be Montgomery’s intention to convey that as well, though I am not 100 percent sure.

“Their eyes met—Valancy was suddenly conscious of a delicious weakness. Was one of her heart attacks coming on?—But this was a new symptom.”

“Delicious weakness” is a pretty good description of the early stages of a crush.

“There was something in his face—one hardly knew what it was. Tiredness? Sadness? Disillusionment?”

Disillusionment, mostly.

“I’m going over to the Port,” Barney was saying. “Can I acquire merit by getting or doing anything there for you or Cissy?”

“Will you get some salt codfish for us?” said Valancy. It was the only thing she could think of. Roaring Abel had expressed a desire that day for a dinner of boiled salt codfish. When her knights came riding to the Blue Castle, Valancy had sent them on many a quest, but she had never asked any of them to get her salt codfish.”

“Can I acquire merit” does sound chivalric. But I like how prosaic Valancy’s answer is.

“Lots of room in Lady Jane Grey Slosson.”

I know that the car is called Lady Jane in a punning allusion to Lady Jane Grey, but it is also a nice coincidence that Jane is Valancy’s middle name.

“Barney did not turn away at once. He was silent for a little. Then he said, slowly and whimsically:

“Miss Stirling, you’re a brick! You’re a whole cartload of bricks. To come here and look after Cissy—under the circumstances.”

Yes, he clearly wanted to talk to Valancy all along. I also love how Barney talks in 1920s slang.

“Mr. Gay is paying me fair wages. I never earned any money before—and I like it.”

I love this too within the historical context.

“Well, I’m sure he’ll be decent to you, apart from his inebriated yowls,” said Barney. “And I’ve told him he’s got to stop damning things when you’re around.”

“Why?” asked Valancy slily, with one of her odd, slanted glances and a sudden flake of pink on each cheek, born of the thought that Barney Snaith had actually done so much for her. “I often feel like damning things myself.”

They are already so precious!

“For a moment Barney stared. Was this elfin girl the little, old-maidish creature who had stood there two minutes ago? Surely there was magic and devilry going on in that shabby, weedy old garden.”

I love the confirmation here that Barney did not find Valancy physically attractive at the first sight, though he admired her courage. It is Valancy’s character and manners that make her attractive.

“Since then he had called several times, walking down through the barrens, whistling. How that whistle of his echoed through the spruces on those June twilights! Valancy caught herself listening for it every evening—rebuked herself—then let herself go. Why shouldn’t she listen for it?”

This is the product of a lifetime of sexual repression but Valancy is already letting it go!

“He always brought Cissy fruit and flowers. Once he brought Valancy a box of candy—the first box of candy she had ever been given. It seemed sacrilege to eat it.

She found herself thinking of him in season and out of season. She wanted to know if he ever thought about her when she wasn’t before his eyes, and, if so, what.”

Well, he brought you candy… So he is clearly thinking of you occasionally, even if it is not yet romantic.

“All that mattered was that she was sure now that he had never been Cissy Gay’s lover. There was nothing like that between them. Though he was very fond of Cissy and she of him, as any one could see. But it was a fondness that didn’t worry Valancy.

“You don’t know what Barney has been to me, these past two years,” Cissy had said simply. “Everything would have been unbearable without him.”

I think it is a true mark of a man’s character how he treats a woman he is not attracted to or related to. Perhaps the truest mark of it.

I love (love) how Valancy gets verification of Barney’s goodness from a female friend of hers. And a working-class, unfortunate, chronically ill female friend too.

“Barney was an interesting talker, with a knack of telling a great deal about his adventures and nothing at all about himself.”

An important trait in a writer!

“Where in all this was there room for the penitentiary and the other things?

If he were telling the truth. But Valancy knew he was.”

This could be a terrible story. Barney could be a bad guy. The book itself later alludes to that possibility with the Bluebeard allusion. But there is one thing that makes Valancy’s trust in Barney not totally naive and unfounded: Cissy’s perception of him.

“But then she liked everything about him—his tawny hair—his whimsical smiles—the little glints of fun in his eyes—his loyal affection for that unspeakable Lady Jane—his habit of sitting with his hands in his pockets, his chin sunk on his breast, looking up from under his mismated eyebrows. She liked his nice voice which sounded as if it might become caressing or wooing with very little provocation. She was at times almost afraid to let herself think these thoughts. They were so vivid that she felt as if the others must know what she was thinking.”

Lusty Mind Montgomery!

“The barrens lay before her in a white moon splendour, where dozens of little rabbits frisked. Barney, when he liked, could sit down on the edge of the barrens and lure those rabbits right to him by some mysterious sorcery he possessed. Valancy had once seen a squirrel leap from a scrub pine to his shoulder and sit there chattering to him.”

Barney the Disney Princess, indeed!

“It reminded her of John Foster.”

Subtlety is not this book’s forte, and I am saying this as affectionately as possible.

Someone has a cru-ush! Valancy is so down bad for Barney, it's adorable. And so, *so* relatable that the experience is so alien to her that the first time she feels drawn to him she thinks she's ill. Girl, as a deeply repressed queer woman who feels feelings primarily as physical sensations, I get you so much.

Barney, meanwhile, is being a little ridiculous, racketting by every night until he finally gets the nerve to talk to Valancy. I'm sure he thinks himself very logical and emotionally disconnected from it, and that he has convinced himself that he's just making sure for himself that this woman come to look after Cissy is truly trustworthy. But he's not fooling anyone but himself and Valancy. Boy's as intrigued by her as she is by him.

This chapter is primarily an exploration of Barney Snaith. After so many Stirling chapters of him haunting the narrative, we finally actually meet him and find out that, as Valancy suspected, he's not so bad after all. He's thoughtful and practical and intelligent. He runs errands for the women and tells stories in the evenings and is Friend To The Animals. In all honesty he's maybe a little too perfect, but it works.

I'm interested in the subtle theme we're working of Valancy's imagined Blue Castle vs the actual things that make her happy. Her childhood dreams were all very grandiose and impressive. Marble and silk and expensive perfume, with dashing knights and daring quests and swooning maidens. Now that she can have what she wants in the real world, she gravitates towards the pedestrian and the practical. Her happiness is a tumble-down cottage with lots of dirty rooms to clean and her quests are for dinner ingredients. Her literal prince charming has appeared at last and she sends him to buy codfish.

And the text acknowledges that! Valancy is aware of the discrepancy! But she is not, I think, upset by it. At the end of chapter 1, when she lost the keys to her castle, she vowed to never live in fantasy again. So now she is living her truth, freed from the restrictions of her family and her fantasies alike. And her truth is that she likes caring for people and living simply and being allowed to think and feel and say what she likes.

If that’s not our girl idk what is.

but it's an entirely new level of tragic when somebody you've actually spoken to gets turned into a bot account. it's like peeking at a zombie apocalypse through the window and realizing one of the shambling corpses was your friend.

and then the zombie catches sight of you, lurches up to your window, and shouts through the glass that they accidentally reported your account to tumblr and you'll be deactivated unless you click this link.

if you get something like this ↑ they're gonna follow up by instructing you to contact tumblr support on discord and give you contact info; or they're gonna link a website that looks sort of like tumblr support and say you have to email them; or any variety of "you must now contact tumblr, here is how you contact tumblr."

whatever they send you, it Does Not lead to tumblr. it leads to the master zombie that bit them and inducted them into the ranks of the undead, and will bite you the second they have your email and password. i might be confusing zombies and vampires. anyway,

it's easier to fall for these messages because the blog doesn't LOOK like a bot blog, because it ISN'T a bot blog. it's a normal person's blog that got accessed by a bot, meaning the blog's content CLEARLY looks like a real active user when you click on it. and yes—it might even be a blog you already know. sometimes bots like this go down a blog's DMs or reblogs and message people they've previously interacted with.