Valancy drags herself out of bed on this dreary, cold, wet May morning. She wakes at 7:30, and breakfast is at 8:00am. Like every other day, she works her way through her morning routine. 

She looks at herself in the mirror and feels that there was not a gleam of beauty anywhere—"exactly like my life", she says to herself.  From the plain view out her window to the clothes she wears, Montgomery paints a picture as bland as can be. We know, however, that these descriptions are setting us up for a day that will change her life completely.