Vimy Ridge is a name written in crimson and gold on the Canadian annals of the Great War . `` The British could n't take it and the French could n't take it , '' said a German prisoner to his captors , `` but you Canadians are such fools that you do n't know when a place ca n't be taken ! '' So the `` fools '' took it -- and paid the price . Jerry Meredith was seriously wounded at Vimy Ridge -- shot in the back , the telegram said . `` Poor Nan , '' said Mrs. Blythe , when the news came . She thought of her own happy girlhood at old Green Gables . There had been no tragedy like this in it . How the girls of to-day had to suffer ! When Nan came home from Redmond two weeks later her face showed what those weeks had meant to her . John Meredith , too , seemed to have grown old suddenly in them . Faith did not come home ; she was on her way across the Atlantic as a V.A.D. Di had tried to wring from her father consent to her going also , but had been told that for her mother 's sake it could not be given . So Di , after a flying visit home , went back to her Red Cross work in Kingsport . The mayflowers bloomed in the secret nooks of Rainbow Valley . Rilla was watching for them . Jem had once taken his mother the earliest mayflowers ; Walter brought them to her when Jem was gone ; last spring Shirley had sought them out for her ; now , Rilla thought she must take the boys ' place in this . But before she had discovered any , Bruce Meredith came to Ingleside one twilight with his hands full of delicate pink sprays . He stalked up the steps of the veranda and laid them on Mrs. Blythe 's lap . `` Because Shirley is n't here to bring them , '' he said in his funny , shy , blunt way . `` And you thought of this , you darling , '' said Anne , her lips quivering , as she looked at the stocky , black-browed little chap , standing before her , with his hands thrust into his pockets . `` I wrote Jem to-day and told him not to worry ` bout you not getting your mayflowers , '' said Bruce seriously , '' 'cause I 'd see to that .
And I XXXXX him I would be ten pretty soon now , so it wo n't be very long before I 'll be eighteen , and then I 'll go to help him fight , and maybe let him come home for a rest while I took his place .
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