Red-Haired Anne. Little Ann Shirley, a six-year-old girl, was welcomed into the Thomas home after her parents died when she was just a few months old. Bert Thomas is almost always drunk and during an argument with his wife Joanna, he breaks a precious brooch that had been entrusted to him by the rich and grim Mrs. Minton to fix it. Bert forces Ann to take the blame for her, hoping that Mrs. Minton, moved by a crying child asking for forgiveness, does not seek damages from the poor Thomas family. Things don't go quite as Bert expected, but Ann eventually receives a kitten as a gift from Mrs. Minton.