“At seventeen dreams DO satisfy because you think the realities are waiting for you farther on.”
“I'm so glad you're here, Anne,' said Miss Lavendar, nibbling at her candy. 'If you weren't I should be blue…very blue…almost navy blue. Dreams and make-believes are all very well in the daytime and the sunshine, but when dark and storm come they fail to satisfy. One wants real things then. But you don't know this…seventeen never knows it. At seventeen dreams do satisfy because you think the realities are waiting for you further on.”
“How sympathetic you look, Anne…as sympathetic as only seventeen can look.”
“Now, Anne, don't look as if you were trying to understand. Seventeen can't understand.”
“Do you know what I think about the new moon, teacher? I think it is a little golden boat full of dreams. And when it tips on a cloud some of them spill out and fall into your sleep.”
“I don't want sunbursts and marble halls. I just want YOU. [....] Sunbursts and marble halls may be all very well, but there is more 'scope for imagination' without them. And as for the waiting, that doesn't matter. We'll just be happy, waiting and working for each other—and dreaming. Oh, dreams will be very sweet now.”
“Yes; but if dryads are foolish they must take the consequences, just as if they were real people," said Paul gravely. "Do you know what I think about the new moon, teacher? I think it is a little golden boat full of dreams.”