After two hours of smoking and hard reflection Matthew arrived at a solution of his problem.

Anne was not dressed like the other girls! The more Matthew thought about the matter the more he was convinced that Anne never had been dressed like the other girls--never since she had come to Green Gables.

Marilla kept her clothed in plain, dark dresses, all made after the same unvarying pattern.

If Matthew knew there was such a thing as fashion in dress it was as much as he did; but he was quite sure that Anne's sleeves did not look at all like the sleeves the other girls wore.

He recalled the cluster of little girls he had seen around her that evening--all gay in waists of red and blue and pink and white--and he wondered why Marilla always kept her so plainly and soberly gowned.
Of course, it must be all right.