The Keith twins' orphanhood and permanent home at Green Gables

The Keith twins’ orphanhood and permanent home at Green Gables mark the change from temporary care to a future secured by both affection and practical provision. When Richard Keith dies, his will leaves money in trust for Davy Keith and Dora Keith, allowing Marilla Cuthbert to keep the children she already wants to raise. Their joy at being able to stay, alongside Dora’s anxious question about their uncle’s burial, gives the change both its domestic happiness and its sober awareness of death.

From Care to a Lasting Home

By the time news of Richard Keith arrives, the twins have been living with Marilla for about a year. Davy has begun attending school, and Marilla acknowledges that he has become less mischievous since he started mixing with the other boys in his class. His improvement suggests that life at Green Gables is already doing more than sheltering the children: it is giving them routines and relationships in which they can grow.

The uncertainty, however, remains. Marilla notes that she has heard nothing from Richard since the previous May, and Anne Shirley fears that a letter might demand the twins be sent to him. A month later, a letter does arrive, but it brings news of his death rather than a request to take them away. Richard has died of consumption a fortnight earlier. The prospect Anne dreaded is replaced by the finality of bereavement—and by a provision that makes the twins’ continued stay possible.

The Trust and Its Practical Meaning

The letter comes from the executor of Richard’s will. It states that £2,000 has been left to Marilla in trust for Davy and Dora until they come of age or marry; in the meantime, the interest is to support their maintenance. The arrangement gives Marilla a defined source of funds for raising them, while preserving the principal for the twins’ future under the conditions of the will.

Marilla explains why that provision matters. She had wanted to keep Davy and Dora but could not see how to afford their care as they grew older: the rent from the farm did no more than maintain the household. She had also been determined not to spend any of Anne’s money on them. The new trust resolves that practical obstacle without making the twins’ support a claim on Anne’s savings. Marilla’s fondness and financial caution coexist; the money does not create her wish to keep the children, but makes that wish sustainable.

Reactions to Richard’s Death

Anne responds with divided feeling. She is sorry for Richard, yet glad that the will means the twins can remain with them. Her reaction recognizes the uncomfortable conjunction at the heart of the news: a death brings security to the children and relief to the household that loves them. Marilla, in turn, emphasizes the financial clarity of the bequest, speaking practically about how the trust makes their future care possible.

Davy and Dora are delighted when they learn they may live at Green Gables for good. Richard was an uncle they had never seen, and the news that they will not have to leave their home outweighs, for them, the death of that distant relative. Dora nevertheless has a particular worry: she asks Anne in a whisper whether Uncle Richard was buried. Her question interrupts the children’s happiness with a concrete concern about what has happened to the dead, without undoing their relief at being allowed to stay.

A Home That Makes Other Futures Possible

The twins’ continued care remains part of the household’s wider responsibilities. Later, Marilla discusses Anne’s education at Redmond College and admits that Anne cannot go while Marilla would be left alone to look after the twins. Marilla’s proposed solution is to invite Rachel Lynde to live with her, so Anne can pursue her studies while the children remain cared for. The trust secures the twins’ maintenance, but their daily care still shapes the choices of the adults around them.

The settlement therefore has two connected effects: Richard’s bequest provides for the twins financially, and their permanent place at Green Gables gives them continuity within a family life already being built around them. Their future is not presented as an abstract inheritance alone. It takes shape in Davy’s schooling, Marilla’s willingness to keep them, Anne’s concern for their welfare, and the ordinary arrangements required to make a home endure.