Marilla always wore her amethyst brooch to church.

She would have thought it rather sacrilegious to leave it off--as bad as forgetting her Bible or her collection dime.

That amethyst brooch was Marilla's most treasured possession.

A seafaring uncle had given it to her mother who in turn had bequeathed it to Marilla.

It was an old-fashioned oval, containing a braid of her mother's hair, surrounded by a border of very fine amethysts.