Owl Me

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The wait is over! - it’s time to celebrate the champion startups of the world. Shout out to all of the participants in our ! You did a wonderful job showcasing your incredible startups and powering through another year. 2023 Startups of the Year is a community-driven voting platform brought to you by HackerNoon that recognizes and celebrates tech startups changing technology and the world for the better. The award started on May 8th, 2023, where the internet nominated and voted for 30k startups around the world. The voting period remained open until December 31, 2023, and now we are here with the winner announcement after a comprehensive evaluation by the HackerNoon team. Startups of the Year 2023 To see the top 3 startups in each respective city, visit and pick a city. hackernoon.com/startups You’ll get a little surprise 😉 Here are the Startups of the Year Regional Announcements: North America Europe Asia Africa South America Oceania Misc/Remote From all of us at HackerNoon, thank YOU for your excellent campaign perseverance 🥺 This year has been awesome! Startups of the Year 2023 is concluded with 623k+ total votes, up from 215k+ votes in the inaugural startup competition. We look forward to seeing you again in the next campaign (stay tuned 😉)! Without further ado, let us kick off the announcement by celebrating the cities with top votes per region for 2023 🎉 North America (11,697 votes): Winner: Bloomfilter Cleveland, Ohio (8,835 votes) - Winner: SerpApi Austin, Texas , California (5,564 votes) - Winner: Finch San Francisco (4,258 votes) - Winner: RELAYTO SoMa, California - (3339 votes) Winner: Windscribe Toronto, Canada, North America (3304 votes) - Winner: Vouched Seattle (2716 votes) - Winner: Seccuri Palo Alto, CA, North America (2671 votes) - Winner: Salsa Valley Miami, FL, North America (2,613 votes) - Winner: Majhi Group Manhattan, New York (2423 votes) - Winner: Flieber, Inc. New York City, NY, North America See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, North America, here Europe (45,612 votes) - Winner: Algomo London, UK (2,344votes) - Winner: Data Lake Warsaw, Poland (1,955 votes) - Winner: Hoken Tech Bari, Italy (1716 votes) - Winner: Not8 Amsterdam, Netherlands (1657 votes) - Winner: KYVE Frankfurt Am Main, Germany (1566 votes) - Winner: BazaIT Kyiv, Ukraine (1496 votes) - Winner:  Unity Network Tallinn, Estonia (1,478 votes) - Winner: Volcaino Ghent, Belgium (1,288 votes) - Winner: Owl Me Dublin, Ireland (1198 votes) - Winner: Groover Paris, France See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Europe, here Oceania (3,350 votes) - Winner: Sharepass Melbourne (2,107 votes) - Winner: The Catfisher Project Perth, Australia (220 votes) - Winner: Gemini AI Solutions Auckland, New Zealand, Oceania (213 votes) - Winner: Nexustorage Wellington, New Zealand, Oceania (138 votes) - Winner: Coviu Sydney (124 votes) - Winner: Bopple Brisbane, Australia, Oceania (124 votes) - Winner: Regional CFO New South Wales, Australia, Oceania (106 votes) - Winner: Edit on the Spot Gold Coast, Australia, Oceania (93 votes) - Winner: Knowledge Satnav Canbera, Australia, Oceania , Australia, Oceania (48 votes) - Winner: Peptalk360 North Melbourne, Melbourne See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Oceania, here Asia (16,345 votes) - Winner: Serenity Shield Singapore (13,588 votes) - Winners: QUIXY Telangana, India (10,168 votes) - Winner: HealthySure Mumbai, India (3,865 votes) - Winner: InterviewBuddy Visakhapatnam, India (3,733 votes) - Winner: Omniflo Bengaluru, India (4589 votes) - Winner: MeNow Tel Aviv (3877 votes) - Winner: ForestVPN Dubai (2478 votes) - Winner: TechGraph Powai, Mumbai, India (1004 votes) - Winner: Reelo Ahmedabad, GJ, India (875 votes) - Winner: Debt Hunter Hong Kong, China See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Asia, here Africa (8,179 votes) - Winner: GO PLATFORM Algiers, Algeria (767 votes) - Winner: Tudu Accra, Ghana (415 votes) - Winner: Treford Lagos, Nigeria (265 votes) - Winner: Phalconwise Ogbomosho, Nigeria (157 votes) - Winner: AbuErdan Cairo (151 votes) - Winner: Eazipay Lekki (144 votes) - Winner: KaziConnect Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (101 votes) - Winner: faceATT Gauteng, South Africa (79 votes) - Winner: Dimagi Cape Town (71 votes) - Winner: Sabi Addis Ababa See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Africa, here South America (376 votes ) - Winner: UpGirl Santiago, Chile (217 votes) - Winner: Klever Sao Paulo, Brazil (191 votes) - Winner: Tributo Simple Buenos Aires, Argentina (127 votes) - Winner: Light-it Montevideo, Uruguay (87 votes) -Winner: Thousand Antioquia, Colombia (108 votes) - Winner: GetLavado Lima (101 votes) - Winner: Cogniflow Medellin (73 votes) - Winner: TPAGA Bogota (73 votes) - Winner: Reliv Quito (47 votes) - WInner: Quantex Cordoba See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, South America, here Misc/Remote: Featured Startups (1500 votes) - Winner: CIC Chain Remote, Earth (1193 votes) - Winner: Reship Colony US Misc (146 Votes) - Winner: Partful UK, Misc (116 votes) - Winner: GoMining British Virgin Islands Misc (283 Votes) - Winner: tomorrowSpace Germany Misc (225 votes) - Winner: Dtravel Cayman Islands See the complete announcement for Misc/Remote startups . here Once again, HUGE CONGRATULATIONS and BIG PROPS to all of the top Startups of each region this year! The whole team at HackerNoon would like to thank you for your perseverance in the campaign, and we look forward to seeing you in the next campaign. About HackerNoon’s Startups Of The Year Startups of The Year is HackerNoon’s Flagship community-driven event celebrating startups that survived and thrived in 2023. 30,000 startups across 4200+ cities and six continents participated this year to be crowned the best startup in their city. Visit our page to learn more. FAQ Companies that blog more get 67% more leads - Jumpstart your company’s blogging journey by purchasing our . Business Blogging Package The 2023 Startups Of The Year is sponsored by: . . The winners get a free .Tech Domain, a HackerNoon NFT, and a Tech Company News Page. TECH Domains

Stand Up for the Champion Startups of the Year! 

বছরের চ্যাম্পিয়ন স্টার্টআপের জন্য দাঁড়ান!

Setzen Sie sich für die Champion-Startups des Jahres ein!

¡Defiende a las startups campeonas del año!

Défendez les startups championnes de l’année !

वर्ष के चैंपियन स्टार्टअप के लिए खड़े रहें!

今年のチャンピオンスタートアップのために立ち上がろう!

올해의 챔피언 스타트업을 위해 일어서세요!

Defenda as startups campeãs do ano!

Встаньте на защиту стартапов-чемпионов года!

Yılın Şampiyon Startup'ları için Ayağa Kalkın!

Hãy ủng hộ các công ty khởi nghiệp vô địch của năm!

为年度冠军初创企业挺身而出！

Startups of The Year 2023 Winners: Europe

One of the hardest things to do as a maker is validate assumptions quickly, without investing a ton of time/resources. It can be very easy to pigeon hole yourself (and you team) by getting excited/attached to a single idea and building momentum behind that, without ever talking to customers, getting feedback, and seeing if people are actually interested. We end up building what want…not our users. we To eliminate this problem, early on, your team must buy into the “ ” attitude towards building products. You have to throw ego out the door and let users do the talking. user-first It can be easy to say that. Most companies brand it everywhere. But very few are able to successfully listen to users and build something people truly want. And by the time they figure out their assumptions are wrong, they have already spent too much time and money to make the right changes. A great way to save you, your team, and your investors tons of time is to have a basic “pre-launch page” that collects sign up for your product. Why? Even just a simple landing page that advertises the value proposition of your product can help you see if people will a) click on your page and b) whether or not they are interested enough to sign up. If people are not clicking, then perhaps your message is not so compelling OR you are not reaching the right audience. Creating a simple “waiting list” with a call to action will help you validate interest in the vale you are advertising. Robinhood’s Viral Waiting List Owlmetrics’ on Blog Instagram Analytics If you want to be really scrappy and clever…you do not even need to have the product built when you launch your landing page (of course this is risky). Using ’s new “ ” Feature, you can literally build a launch page in seconds. Product Hunt Ship Ship makes it easy to launch your product the right way. I work with makers and startups from around the world and recommend Ship to those that are serious about building something people want. — Eric Ries Here are two examples from my friend is building: John Saddington , A To Do List App George , a Creation CryptoYum Bitcoin Pub Once you have your landing page up and running, start reaching out to your audience and asking to interview them. Here are some best practices for your user interviews: _User interviews can be a great way to extract information from users for user experience understanding, usability…_www.interaction-design.org How to Conduct User Interviews _"Qualitative research" is used to explore users' reasons, opinions, and motivations-building an interview guide is a…_webdesign.tutsplus.com UX Research: How to Build an Interview Guide _CareerFoundry UX Design Mentor Raven Veal dives deep into User Experience research, showcasing popular methods and…_careerfoundry.com How To Conduct User Experience Research Like A Professional Best of luck on your product launch! Are you working on anything new? How are you getting traction?

How to validate assumptions for your product before you even launch

A few weeks ago, announced a new feature: . Product Hunt Upcoming The purpose with these easy to build landing pages “is to to give the community a preview of tomorrow’s next 🔥 products, and makers an opportunity to build an audience and collect feedback before their public debut. 🚀” It is interesting seeing the trends and products coming soon to the tech world. Here is what I am most excited about: Station Browsers aren’t the most effective way to go about your work. We decided to start from scratch and build a whole new experience ✨ — in one intuitive and coherent interface. a workstation centralizing all of your work applications Superhuman Superhuman is the fastest email experience in the world. Join folks like Justin Kan, Naval Ravikant, Jason Calacanis — they get through their inbox twice as fast as before! Siftery Track Track makes it super easy to view and optimize what your team spends on . software Panda “We’re working on a new app that uses your phone’s camera and voice in a fun new way.” Owlmetrics An exciting new Instagram Analytics Platform that gives you insight into your profile’s . performance Coindex “We are building a new way to track your favorite cryptocurrencies.” Laylo “We’ve built a way to compete with your friends to spread the using any major music service 🎵 🚀 best new songs around the world Studio Studio makes audio group running classes that pair motivating instructors with killer playlists. Connect your Apple Watch to compete on our real-time leaderboard and earn Fitcoin. Draftsend With Draftsend your presentations won’t ever have to speak for themselves again. Advocado “We are working on a new exciting product that will allow anyone to create beautiful social media posts and banner ads in seconds.” Thanks for reading! Also, check out my latest project in Product Hunt’s Upcoming: DISCLAIMER: THIS MY PROJECT THAT I AM WORKING ON : Mesh “We believe that no one from your company/community should feel like a stranger. So we’ve built a super easy to implement, intelligent introduction bot for your teams/groups.”

10 Product Hunt Upcoming Pages I am Excited For

Data. Data. Data. Data. Data. Data. Data. Hi I’m Jordan , I love helping people think & grow their products. Hope this helps! You can find me on Twitter :) The best companies understand how to use data to build and execute incredible strategies. Whether you are an already established, corporate powerhouse or just a small startup fighting to stay alive — numbers should be close to your heart. Creating an ecosystem where numbers trump opinions is crucial to distilling the truth from opinions. The truth sells and builds on the conviction of your long term hypothesis. Opinions are really just assumptions waiting to be tested. The first step in testing any assumption and finding the truth behind it is to configure an experiment that can help you find w . hich features to build next To do that, you need numbers. Lots of them. Luckily, there are now thousands of tools out there to help you better understand business through data analytics, optimization, and experimentation. your Here are 7 of the absolute best of them: : Analytics for your website Google Analytics Google Analytics is a must have for any company or project with a web presence. It is the first thing I install whenever I create a new project and is essential to understanding the customer life cycle. Easy to digest analytics for Instagram. Owlmetrics Instagram Analytics : If you are in marketing, you have likely implemented or developed some sort of social media strategy. Whether that is the type of content you want to publish or the cadence you are aiming for — you need numbers to back up and inform your efforts. Many people overlook social media as a place for data — use Owlmetrics to make sure you stay ahead of the curve here. Increase conversion and gain retention Kissmetrics : Kissmetrics is a data driven way to understand your customers and quickly engage with them via behavior based emails. The best marketers move swiftly and Kissmetrics is all about testing assumptions rapidly that are backed by data. : A/B Testing Made Easy Optimizely As growth people, we all may say we are committed to building experiments and testing assumptions but the reality is that doing so can be hard and very time consuming. Optimizely makes running experiments that much easier — allowing you to do A/B testing in just a few clicks. : Codeless analytics for web and mobile Heap Heap is my go to dashboard for anytime I want to get more granular data on how each user is interacting with my product. They provide an extremely easy to integrate portal that helps you track everything that your customers do. : Measure your links quickly and easily Bitly Figuring out who is clicking on your links is one of the easiest and best ways to gauge interest from your “fans.” Bitly makes that drop dead simple and in just a few clicks you can turn your links into trackable and identifiable channels. : Session Recording Fullstory Understanding and empathizing with the customer journey is crucial to being able to build a great product. Fullstory enables you to do that better than any other solution as they provide literal screen grabs and recordings of your customer’s experience with your product! I did not want to overwhelm you with tools because — as you know — there are so many out there. The challenge is rather finding the absolute best tools for you and your team. What tools do you use for your projects? Let me know! Thanks so much for reading! My name is and I write blog posts It would mean a ton to me if you could: Jordan Gonen every day. > Follow me on Twitter < If you ever have any questions, send me an email jordangonen1 at gmail dot com ! Thanks so much!

7 Analytics Tools for Every Project You Launch

Hi I’m Jordan , I love helping people think & grow their products. Hope this helps! You can find me on Twitter :) Over the last 11 months or so, I have launched a handful of products across a variety of spaces. I would not call myself a wide success. Nor would I claim to really know what I am doing. But I, along with the teams I have worked on, have attracted tens of thousands of users to my products. That is a humbling feeling, and it is driven by the desire to make things people truly want. Getting that validation is amazing — not only in satiating my own personal goals, but also in helping companies/startups/projects grow. “Listening to your users” is something every founder claims to invest a ton of time in, but how consistent are they really? In my (limited experience) talking to other founders, I’d say while most creators want to be driven by customers, often times there are many other variables/factors that come into play. Ego. Personal Bias. Sunk costs. The list goes on and on — nonetheless, projects are often fueled, early on at least, by the willingness of a small group of people. These efforts sometimes work. The long term, more sustainable efforts are driven by a real and tangible customer problem. Whenever you launch something, you are testing that assumption — LIVE! In front of the whole world wide web. But what happens when you get that assumption wrong? I will tell you because it has happened to me many times. When you get your big bet wrong — a) no one cares about your product. You do not get any views on your site. You do not get any signups. No one pays you. No one cares. b) Whatever team you have gets sad. They feel miserable that they just poured all this time building something that no one wants. It sucks. Avoid building a lot of hype around an assumption that has not been tested at all costs. How? Talk to customers! Before you go out and build this grand company, just go see if it should exist. Understand pain points before raising money, getting press, etc. etc. Two ways I think about doing that: 1. Find a niche Figure out who your niche is and literally just contact them. Talk to them. Ask them question. Do not impose your personal bias. Go on Facebook and search for a niche community that you are trying to work with. Get into that facebook group and then try and provide value to people for free. Send interesting content. Be of help, etc. Then personal message people in the group and ask them to hop on a quick skype / phone call. Ask questions. Build for root problems, not fluff. What people really really need. 2. Put up an carefully interview each person who signs up. “early access page” Ex: — Instagram Analytics Owlmetrics Sometimes it can be hard to manage so much direct outreach, especially when you are heads down on the product. Building in the dark is really scary because you often run into the problem of not knowing if what you are building people really want. Turn on the lights! Put up a landing page and see what people think. Do they drop their email? Do they beg you for access? Do they give you money right away? How do they react? There is a clear difference, however, between “saying” you want to buy something and actually buying it. Many more people would do the former than the latter. That is why it is important to separate out your assumptions into multiple segments. A) you think people are interested in your product and B) you think they would pay for it. A may be true while B is not. Figure out ways to test for both, at once! Let your users tell you if what you are building is good. Not the press. Not your friends. And do not wait until launch day to find out :) Just start! Thanks so much for reading! My name is and I write blog posts It would mean a ton to me if you could: Jordan Gonen every day. > Follow me on Twitter < If you ever have any questions, send me an email jordangonen1 at gmail dot com ! Thanks so much!

I do this before I launch any product

Listen to Your Users Hi I’m Jordan , I love helping people think & grow their products. Hope this helps! You can find me on Twitter :) One of the hardest parts about founding a company or hacking up a project is deciding which features you want to build next. We all have our own ideas and biases for what we think the next best thing or feature to add to our product is, but rarely do we build out true experiments for testing our assumptions. It can be hard to escape from the influence of your personal bias. You want your ideas to be right. You worked so hard on them! Separating that, even from your unconscious decision making, can be extremely valuable for hosting accurate and insightful testing on your product. The next trap that many creators fall into, aside from imposing personal bias, is listening to external cues as validation separate from their user feedback. It’s 2017 — we hear so much advice nowadays about what In podcasts. In the news. In videos. In blog posts like this one. We keep hearing the same advice and feedback over and over. we should be doing. The thing to think about is…who is this “advice” from and should we care about it? The conclusion that many entrepreneurs, especially the most successful ones, come to quickly is that most people’s opinions do not really matter. Your professors. The press. Your friends. All of these people’s insights, while they may be interesting, can often be distractions. Distractions from what? From your users’ opinions. They are the ones who are going to use your product. They are who you should be listening to. Right? Because they are the people that, at the end of the day, will be spending money on your product. We often tend to over index on what “smart people think” rather than what our “users think.” We think that “serial entrepreneurs” know better than our users. Is this true? Maybe. But more likely it’s true that if you could solve a real problem, you would not need to worry so much about growth and growth hacking. If you could so keenly empathize with a large set of a population, then you could build the perfect tool/service that answers to their needs. Listening is the first step. So how do you create a system to listen to your users? I asked my friend Deep Patel, he’s building a company right now, , and he is working on building out a feedback loop just like this right now. Owlmetrics “This first big thing we had to recognize is that, to be really successful, we needed validation. We could not spend all of this time and money building out awesome features without first hearing feedback from users. So we launched a beta program and have slowly been on boarding users.” I asked Deep exactly how they are on boarding users and how they measure feedback. “We’re taking it really slowly. The last thing that we wanted to do was rush into this, get too many customers, and deliver a poor experience. So we started slowly and have really been hand holding customers understanding their interaction with the platform and measuring things like use cases, as well as problems they have had with the platform. We are doing our best to ignore false indicators — like press, vanity metrics — and focus on what really matters — paying customers.” While it is often easier said than done, focusing on what matters is often a startup’s biggest obstacle early on. Figuring out what matters, so you know what to focus on, is best found by listening to your users and distilling their problems into buckets and then iterating on those. Thanks so much for reading! My name is and I write blog posts It would mean a ton to me if you could: Jordan Gonen every day. > Follow me on Twitter < If you ever have any questions, send me an email jordangonen1 at gmail dot com ! Thanks so much!

How to Understand Which Features to Build Next

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Finding AI-Generated Faces in the Wild: Discussion, Acknowledgements, and References

বন্যের মধ্যে এআই-উত্পন্ন মুখগুলি সন্ধান করা: আলোচনা, স্বীকৃতি এবং উল্লেখ

KI-generierte Gesichter in freier Wildbahn finden: Diskussion, Danksagungen und Referenzen

Encontrar rostros generados por IA en la naturaleza: debates, agradecimientos y referencias

Trouver des visages générés par l'IA dans la nature : discussion, remerciements et références

जंगल में एआई-जनरेटेड चेहरे खोजना: चर्चा, आभार और संदर्भ

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야생에서 AI가 생성한 얼굴 찾기: 토론, 감사의 말, 참고자료

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Поиск лиц, созданных искусственным интеллектом, в дикой природе: обсуждение, благодарности и ссылки

Vahşi Doğada Yapay Zeka Tarafından Üretilen Yüzleri Bulma: Tartışma, Teşekkür ve Referanslar

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在野外寻找人工智能生成的人脸：讨论、致谢和参考文献

Further Chronicles of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . ONLY A COMMON FELLOW XIV. ONLY A COMMON FELLOW On my dearie's wedding morning I wakened early and went to her room. Long and long ago she had made me promise that I would be the one to wake her on the morning of her wedding day. "You were the first to take me in your arms when I came into the world, Aunt Rachel," she had said, "and I want you to be the first to greet me on that wonderful day." But that was long ago, and now my heart foreboded that there would be no need of wakening her. And there was not. She was lying there awake, very quiet, with her hand under her cheek, and her big blue eyes fixed on the window, through which a pale, dull light was creeping in—a joyless light it was, and enough to make a body shiver. I felt more like weeping than rejoicing, and my heart took to aching when I saw her there so white and patient, more like a girl who was waiting for a winding-sheet than for a bridal veil. But she smiled brave-like, when I sat down on her bed and took her hand. "You look as if you haven't slept all night, dearie," I said. "I didn't—not a great deal," she answered me. "But the night didn't seem long; no, it seemed too short. I was thinking of a great many things. What time is it, Aunt Rachel?" "Five o'clock." "Then in six hours more—" She suddenly sat up in her bed, her great, thick rope of brown hair falling over her white shoulders, and flung her arms about me, and burst into tears on my old breast. I petted and soothed her, and said not a word; and, after a while, she stopped crying; but she still sat with her head so that I couldn't see her face. "We didn't think it would be like this once, did we, Aunt Rachel?" she said, very softly. "It shouldn't be like this, now," I said. I had to say it. I never could hide the thought of that marriage, and I couldn't pretend to. It was all her stepmother's doings—right well I knew that. My dearie would never have taken Mark Foster else. "Don't let us talk of that," she said, soft and beseeching, just the same way she used to speak when she was a baby-child and wanted to coax me into something. "Let us talk about the old days—and HIM." "I don't see much use in talking of HIM, when you're going to marry Mark Foster to-day," I said. But she put her hand on my mouth. "It's for the last time, Aunt Rachel. After to-day I can never talk of him, or even think of him. It's four years since he went away. Do you remember how he looked, Aunt Rachel?" "I mind well enough, I reckon," I said, kind of curt-like. And I did. Owen Blair hadn't a face a body could forget—that long face of his with its clean color and its eyes made to look love into a woman's. When I thought of Mark Foster's sallow skin and lank jaws I felt sick-like. Not that Mark was ugly—he was just a common-looking fellow. "He was so handsome, wasn't he, Aunt Rachel?" my dearie went on, in that patient voice of hers. "So tall and strong and handsome. I wish we hadn't parted in anger. It was so foolish of us to quarrel. But it would have been all right if he had lived to come back. I know it would have been all right. I know he didn't carry any bitterness against me to his death. I thought once, Aunt Rachel, that I would go through life true to him, and then, over on the other side, I'd meet him just as before, all his and his only. But it isn't to be." "Thanks to your stepma's wheedling and Mark Foster's scheming," said I. "No, Mark didn't scheme," she said patiently. "Don't be unjust to Mark, Aunt Rachel. He has been very good and kind." "He's as stupid as an owlet and as stubborn as Solomon's mule," I said, for I WOULD say it. "He's just a common fellow, and yet he thinks he's good enough for my beauty." "Don't talk about Mark," she pleaded again. "I mean to be a good, faithful wife to him. But I'm my own woman yet—YET—for just a few more sweet hours, and I want to give them to HIM. The last hours of my maidenhood—they must belong to HIM." So she talked of him, me sitting there and holding her, with her lovely hair hanging down over my arm, and my heart aching so for her that it hurt bitter. She didn't feel as bad as I did, because she'd made up her mind what to do and was resigned. She was going to marry Mark Foster, but her heart was in France, in that grave nobody knew of, where the Huns had buried Owen Blair—if they had buried him at all. And she went over all they had been to each other, since they were mites of babies, going to school together and meaning, even then, to be married when they grew up; and the first words of love he'd said to her, and what she'd dreamed and hoped for. The only thing she didn't bring up was the time he thrashed Mark Foster for bringing her apples. She never mentioned Mark's name; it was all Owen—Owen—and how he looked, and what might have been, if he hadn't gone off to the awful war and got shot. And there was me, holding her and listening to it all, and her stepma sleeping sound and triumphant in the next room. When she had talked it all out she lay down on her pillow again. I got up and went downstairs to light the fire. I felt terrible old and tired. My feet seemed to drag, and the tears kept coming to my eyes, though I tried to keep them away, for well I knew it was a bad omen to be weeping on a wedding day. Before long Isabella Clark came down; bright and pleased-looking enough, SHE was. I'd never liked Isabella, from the day Phillippa's father brought her here; and I liked her less than ever this morning. She was one of your sly, deep women, always smiling smooth, and scheming underneath it. I'll say it for her, though, she had been good to Phillippa; but it was her doings that my dearie was to marry Mark Foster that day. "Up betimes, Rachel," she said, smiling and speaking me fair, as she always did, and hating me in her heart, as I well knew. "That is right, for we'll have plenty to do to-day. A wedding makes lots of work." "Not this sort of a wedding," I said, sour-like. "I don't call it a wedding when two people get married and sneak off as if they were ashamed of it—as well they might be in this case." "It was Phillippa's own wish that all should be very quiet," said Isabella, as smooth as cream. "You know I'd have given her a big wedding, if she'd wanted it." "Oh, it's better quiet," I said. "The fewer to see Phillippa marry a man like Mark Foster the better." "Mark Foster is a good man, Rachel." "No good man would be content to buy a girl as he's bought Phillippa," I said, determined to give it in to her. "He's a common fellow, not fit for my dearie to wipe her feet on. It's well that her mother didn't live to see this day; but this day would never have come, if she'd lived." "I dare say Phillippa's mother would have remembered that Mark Foster is very well off, quite as readily as worse people," said Isabella, a little spitefully. I liked her better when she was spiteful than when she was smooth. I didn't feel so scared of her then. The marriage was to be at eleven o'clock, and, at nine, I went up to help Phillippa dress. She was no fussy bride, caring much what she looked like. If Owen had been the bridegroom it would have been different. Nothing would have pleased her then; but now it was only just "That will do very well, Aunt Rachel," without even glancing at it. Still, nothing could prevent her from looking lovely when she was dressed. My dearie would have been a beauty in a beggarmaid's rags. In her white dress and veil she was as fair as a queen. And she was as good as she was pretty. It was the right sort of goodness, too, with just enough spice of original sin in it to keep it from spoiling by reason of over-sweetness. Then she sent me out. "I want to be alone my last hour," she said. "Kiss me, Aunt Rachel—MOTHER Rachel." When I'd gone down, crying like the old fool I was, I heard a rap at the door. My first thought was to go out and send Isabella to it, for I supposed it was Mark Foster, come ahead of time, and small stomach I had for seeing him. I fall trembling, even yet, when I think, "What if I had sent Isabella to that door?" But go I did, and opened it, defiant-like, kind of hoping it was Mark Foster to see the tears on my face. I opened it—and staggered back like I'd got a blow. "Owen! Lord ha' mercy on us! Owen!" I said, just like that, going cold all over, for it's the truth that I thought it was his spirit come back to forbid that unholy marriage. But he sprang right in, and caught my wrinkled old hands in a grasp that was of flesh and blood. "Aunt Rachel, I'm not too late?" he said, savage-like. "Tell me I'm in time." I looked up at him, standing over me there, tall and handsome, no change in him except he was so brown and had a little white scar on his forehead; and, though I couldn't understand at all, being all bewildered-like, I felt a great deep thankfulness. "No, you're not too late," I said. "Thank God," said he, under his breath. And then he pulled me into the parlor and shut the door. "They told me at the station that Phillippa was to be married to Mark Foster to-day. I couldn't believe it, but I came here as fast as horse-flesh could bring me. Aunt Rachel, it can't be true! She can't care for Mark Foster, even if she had forgotten me!" "It's true enough that she is to marry Mark," I said, half-laughing, half-crying, "but she doesn't care for him. Every beat of her heart is for you. It's all her stepma's doings. Mark has got a mortgage on the place, and he told Isabella Clark that, if Phillippa would marry him, he'd burn the mortgage, and, if she wouldn't, he'd foreclose. Phillippa is sacrificing herself to save her stepma for her dead father's sake. It's all your fault," I cried, getting over my bewilderment. "We thought you were dead. Why didn't you come home when you were alive? Why didn't you write?" "I DID write, after I got out of the hospital, several times," he said, "and never a word in answer, Aunt Rachel. What was I to think when Phillippa wouldn't answer my letters?" "She never got one," I cried. "She wept her sweet eyes out over you. SOMEBODY must have got those letters." And I knew then, and I know now, though never a shadow of proof have I, that Isabella Clark had got them—and kept them. That woman would stick at nothing. "Well, we'll sift that matter some other time," said Owen impatiently. "There are other things to think of now. I must see Phillippa." "I'll manage it for you," I said eagerly; but, just as I spoke, the door opened and Isabella and Mark came in. Never shall I forget the look on Isabella's face. I almost felt sorry for her. She turned sickly yellow and her eyes went wild; they were looking at the downfall of all her schemes and hopes. I didn't look at Mark Foster, at first, and, when I did, there wasn't anything to see. His face was just as sallow and wooden as ever; he looked undersized and common beside Owen. Nobody'd ever have picked him out for a bridegroom. Owen spoke first. "I want to see Phillippa," he said, as if it were but yesterday that he had gone away. All Isabella's smoothness and policy had dropped away from her, and the real woman stood there, plotting and unscrupulous, as I'd always know her. "You can't see her," she said desperate-like. "She doesn't want to see you. You went and left her and never wrote, and she knew you weren't worth fretting over, and she has learned to care for a better man." "I DID write and I think you know that better than most folks," said Owen, trying hard to speak quiet. "As for the rest, I'm not going to discuss it with you. When I hear from Phillippa's own lips that she cares for another man I'll believe it—and not before." "You'll never hear it from her lips," said I. Isabella gave me a venomous look. "You'll not see Phillippa until she is a better man's wife," she said stubbornly, "and I order you to leave my house, Owen Blair!" "No!" It was Mark Foster who spoke. He hadn't said a word; but he came forward now, and stood before Owen. Such a difference as there was between them! But he looked Owen right in the face, quiet-like, and Owen glared back in fury. "Will it satisfy you, Owen, if Phillippa comes down here and chooses between us?" "Yes, it will," said Owen. Mark Foster turned to me. "Go and bring her down," said he. Isabella, judging Phillippa by herself, gave a little moan of despair, and Owen, blinded by love and hope, thought his cause was won. But I knew my dearie too well to be glad, and Mark Foster did, too, and I hated him for it. I went up to my dearie's room, all pale and shaking. When I went in she came to meet me, like a girl going to meet death. "Is—it—time?" she said, with her hands locked tight together. I said not a word, hoping that the unlooked-for sight of Owen would break down her resolution. I just held out my hand to her, and led her downstairs. She clung to me and her hands were as cold as snow. When I opened the parlor door I stood back, and pushed her in before me. She just cried, "Owen!" and shook so that I put my arms about her to steady her. Owen made a step towards her, his face and eyes all aflame with his love and longing, but Mark barred his way. "Wait till she has made her choice," he said, and then he turned to Phillippa. I couldn't see my dearie's face, but I could see Mark's, and there wasn't a spark of feeling in it. Behind it was Isabella's, all pinched and gray. "Phillippa," said Mark, "Owen Blair has come back. He says he has never forgotten you, and that he wrote to you several times. I have told him that you have promised me, but I leave you freedom of choice. Which of us will you marry, Phillippa?" My dearie stood straight up and the trembling left her. She stepped back, and I could see her face, white as the dead, but calm and resolved. "I have promised to marry you, Mark, and I will keep my word," she said. The color came back to Isabella Clark's face; but Mark's did not change. "Phillippa," said Owen, and the pain in his voice made my old heart ache bitterer than ever, "have you ceased to love me?" My dearie would have been more than human, if she could have resisted the pleading in his tone. She said no word, but just looked at him for a moment. We all saw the look; her whole soul, full of love for Owen, showed out in it. Then she turned and stood by Mark. Owen never said a word. He went as white as death, and started for the door. But again Mark Foster put himself in the way. "Wait," he said. "She has made her choice, as I knew she would; but I have yet to make mine. And I choose to marry no woman whose love belongs to another living man. Phillippa, I thought Owen Blair was dead, and I believed that, when you were my wife, I could win your love. But I love you too well to make you miserable. Go to the man you love—you are free!" "And what is to become of me?" wailed Isabella. "Oh, you!—I had forgotten about you," said Mark, kind of weary-like. He took a paper from his pocket, and dropped it in the grate. "There is the mortgage. That is all you care about, I think. Good-morning." He went out. He was only a common fellow, but, somehow, just then he looked every inch the gentleman. I would have gone after him and said something but—the look on his face—no, it was no time for my foolish old words! Phillippa was crying, with her head on Owen's shoulder. Isabella Clark waited to see the mortgage burned up, and then she came to me in the hall, all smooth and smiling again. "Really, it's all very romantic, isn't it? I suppose it's better as it is, all things considered. Mark behaved splendidly, didn't he? Not many men would have done as he did." For once in my life I agreed with Isabella. But I felt like having a good cry over it all—and I had it. I was glad for my dearie's sake and Owen's; but Mark Foster had paid the price of their joy, and I knew it had beggared him of happiness for life. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. L. M. Montgomery (2004). Further Chronicles of Avonlea. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5340/pg5340-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html .

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