Emily could not believe her ears.
'You donât mean that you are going to cut off my hair, Aunt Elizabeth,' she exclaimed.
'Yes, I mean exactly that,' said Aunt Elizabeth firmly. 'You have entirely too much hair especially for hot weather. I feel sure that is why you have been so miserable lately. Now, I donât want any crying.'
But Emily could not keep the tears back.
'Donât cut it all off,' she pleaded. 'Just cut a good big bang. Lots of the girls have their hair banged clean from the crown of their heads. That would take half my hair off and the rest wonât take too much strength.'
'There will be no bangs here,' said Aunt Elizabeth. 'Iâve told you so often enough. Iâm going to shingle your hair close all over your head for the hot weather. Youâll be thankful to me some day for it.'
Emily felt anything but thankful just then.
'Itâs my one beauty,' she sobbed, 'it and my lashes. I suppose you want to cut off my lashes too.'
Aunt Elizabeth did distrust those long, upcurled fringes of Emilyâs, which were an inheritance from the girlish stepmother, and too un-Murray-like to be approved; but she had no designs against them. The hair must go, however, and she curtly bade Emily wait there, without any fuss, until she got the scissors.
Emily waited - quite hopelessly. She must lose her lovely hair - the hair her father had been so proud of. It might grow again in time - if Aunt Elizabeth let it - but that would take years, and meanwhile what a fright she would be! Aunt Laura and Cousin Jimmy were out; she had no one to back her up; this horrible thing must happen.
Aunt Elizabeth returned with the scissors; they clicked suggestively as she opened them; that click, as if by magic, seemed to loosen something - some strange formidable power in Emilyâs soul. She turned deliberately around and faced her aunt. She felt her brows drawing together in an unaccustomed way - she felt an uprush as from unknown depths of some irresistible surge of energy.
'Aunt Elizabeth,' she said, looking straight at the lady with the scissors, 'my hair is not going to be cut off. Let me hear no more of this.'
An amazing thing happened to Aunt Elizabeth. She turned pale - she laid the scissors down - she looked aghast for one moment at the transformed or possessed child before her - and then for the first time in her life Elizabeth Murray turned tail and fled - literally fled - to the kitchen.
'What is the matter, Elizabeth?' cried Laura, coming in from the cook-house.
'I saw - Father - looking from her face,' gasped Elizabeth, trembling. 'And she said, âLet me hear no more of this,â - just as he always said it - his very words.'
From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the author of Anne of Green Gables, the first book of the beloved Emily trilogy—recently seen on Netflix’s hit show Russian Doll!Emily Starr never knew what it was to be lonely—until her beloved father died. Now Emily's an orphan, and her snobbish relatives are taking her to live with them at New Moon Farm. Although she's sure she'll never be happy there, Emily deals with her stern aunt Elizabeth and her malicious classmates by using her quick wit and holding her head high.In this first volume of the celebrated Emily trilogy, Lucy Maud Montgomery draws a more realistic portrait of a young orphan girl's life on early twentieth-century Prince Edward Island. Along with Emily Climbs and Emily’s Quest, Emily of New Moon insightfully portrays the beauty and anguish of growing up.
Mass Market Paperback
352
Random House Children's Books
1983-04-01
First Laurel-Leaf Edition
en
9780553233704