A/N: Thanks again to everyone who is reading and reviewing. It means so much to me to know you're enjoying this.

All of these characters belong to LMM, and I love her.


Chapter 3 – 'The Glory and the Dream'

Suddenly, everything seemed to fall into focus – Redmond, professors, classes, students, social doings. Life became homogenous again, instead of being made up of detached fragments.

- Anne of the Island, Chapter V, 'Letters from Home'

The next morning, Gilbert was awake before dawn and he sat up to peer out the window of his tiny boarding house bedroom. Gilbert and Charlie were staying in a boarding house very close to Redmond, and he could almost see the buildings of the college campus. With a blissful sigh, he lay back on the hard, narrow bed, folded his hands behind his head and smiled widely.

"Registration day," he said aloud, with some satisfaction. "I think it's going to be a beautiful day."

Gilbert paused for a few moments to watch the sky lighten into the orange and purple hues of sunrise from his vantage point. Then he leapt up from the bed to prepare for the day as the bright morning light began streaming in though his window.

At seven o'clock, Gilbert was washed and dressed as he rushed downstairs for breakfast.

By eight o'clock, Charlie still hadn't appeared and Gilbert was becoming agitated. He was pacing back and forth in the hallway, glancing at the top of the stairs every few seconds, and starting to wonder whether he should check if Charlie was actually awake.

At eight fifteen, just as Gilbert was about to charge up the stairs, Charlie emerged, calmly straightening his tie as he strolled downstairs.

"Hurry up, Charlie," said Gilbert. "We'll be late."

"There's plenty of time," Charlie replied serenely. "We don't have to get there until nine, and it's only registration. We've got all day, you know."

"Only registration!" Gilbert was appalled. "This is officially our first day of college, Charles, and I, for one, definitely don't plan on missing a single minute of it."

Charlie said nothing and sat down to eat his porridge imperturbably.

Finally, Charlie was ready to leave, although his pace wasn't anywhere near fast enough for Gilbert's tastes. As soon as Gilbert's feet hit the pavement outside their boarding house, he stretched out his long legs and marched them towards the college campus at such a pace that Charlie found he was almost running to keep up.

When they arrived at the Redmond entrance hall, crowded with students rushing in all directions, Gilbert could not stop the delighted grin from splitting his face.

"Yes, just as I imagined it," he murmured to himself, nodding in pleasure.

"Come on, Charlie," he said more loudly, still smiling broadly. "Let's get registered and start college."

A few minutes later, they were standing at the end of a long queue to register. Gilbert was bouncing on the balls of his feet, smiling joyfully and looking about the room. Next to him, Charlie kept shooting nervous looks at the group of boys on the big staircase who were calling out to the passing students.

As they waited in line, a very expensively dressed young lady walked past the boys. The girl was frowning at something written on the piece of paper in her hands, and not watching where she was walking so that she almost bumped straight into Gilbert.

"Oh, excuse me!" she exclaimed, raising her eyes from the scrap of paper in her hand.

The girl's well-cut garments and modish shoes, whilst not gaudy, spoke plainly of a kind of wealth far beyond anything Gilbert or Charlie had ever known. Her glossy brown hair was swept up elegantly underneath her very stylish pink hat and she possessed a vivid, irregular kind of prettiness which was fairly dazzling.

"That's quite all right," Charlie responded eagerly.

Without even glancing in Charlie's direction, the girl's eyes grew very wide and her pointed eyebrows shot up as she surveyed the planes of Gilbert's broad chest, before slowly taking in the breadth of his shoulders until finally her large, brown eyes were looking straight into his hazel ones.

"Oh," she said again. Her mouth was slightly agape.

The girl's crooked red mouth suddenly turned up in a bright smile which revealed the straight rows of her pretty, white teeth as she openly appraised Gilbert's face. Her eyes took in the chiselled lines of his jaw and cheekbones, lingering appreciatively on his full, pink lips and the brown hair curling beneath his cap before returning her gaze to his twinkling hazel eyes once more.

The girl fluttered her eyelashes charmingly at Gilbert.

"Is this the queue to register for Mathematics?" she asked, still smiling.

Gilbert smiled kindly at the girl.

He raised his arm and pointed over her shoulder, nodding towards the far corner of the hall where there was a large sign with the word "Mathematics" emblazoned on it.

"I think you'll find the registration for Mathematics will be over there, Miss," he suggested helpfully.

"Oh yes, how silly of me," the girl laughed, batting her eyelashes at Gilbert again. "Thank you."

"Happy to help," Gilbert replied, doffing his cap courteously.

"I hope I'll see you boys later," she said sunnily, waving her fingers in farewell as she sauntered away from them towards the Mathematics queue.

Charlie shook his head in consternation.

"Why didn't you ask her name, Gilbert?" Charlie admonished, still watching the girl as she walked away. "She was very pretty."

"Sorry, Charlie," Gilbert replied absently, his eyes now searching the room. "I suppose she was quite nice-looking."

His height meant that Gilbert could see over the top of most of the crowd and he was scanning the hall for a familiar flash of red, as he had been ever since they arrived.

They waited in the line for several more minutes but Gilbert still hadn't spotted the girls.

"Come on, we're next," Charlie nudged him and Gilbert turned back to face the stern looking clerk at the desk with the ledger in front of him.

Smiling broadly, Gilbert strode over and reached across the table to shake the man's hand warmly.

"Thank you very much, sir," Gilbert said exuberantly.

The man looked confused for a moment and peered at their hands suspiciously.

"Sit down, please," he said severely. "What's your name, young man?"

"Blythe," Gilbert responded, seating himself as requested. "Gilbert Blythe, sir."

After that, the first week of classes flew by and Gilbert was flourishing in the college environment. He thrived on the excitement and practically ran from class to class, eager to absorb every morsel of information, and unwilling to miss a moment of anything. Inspired by his professors and fellow students, he readily joined in the discussions in classes, and revelled in the passionate debates that could spring up.

Gilbert and Charlie had barely seen Anne and Priscilla all week, since they only shared a few classes together. So by Friday, Gilbert was so full of anticipation about college and their first visit to Thirty-eight St John's Street that he felt ready to burst again. He was eager to find out how the girls had fared during the week and he could barely wait to ask Anne about some of her professors.

That evening, when Gilbert and Charlie arrived promptly at seven as instructed, Priscilla greeted them both cordially at the door.

"Good evening, boys," Priscilla said brightly. "Won't you come in?"

"Good evening, Priscilla," Gilbert greeted her genially.

"I'm sorry about all the cushions," she whispered apologetically as she showed them into the parlour. "Please try to avoid them if you can."

As Priscilla ushered them in, Gilbert noted that there were certainly a great many cushions in the room and wondered how it was going to be possible to avoid them. Gilbert was also surprised to find that the pretty girl from registration was there, smiling brightly at them from where she was sitting daintily on the edge of the overstuffed sofa.

"Gilbert Blythe, Charlie Sloane, I'd like you to meet Miss Philippa Gordon," Anne introduced them politely. "She's a Freshette, just like us."

"How do you do, Miss Gordon?" Gilbert smiled warmly in greeting, privately thinking that Philippa Gordon did not appear to be a Freshette much like Anne and Priscilla at all.

"Charmed, I'm sure," Philippa replied cordially. "But, please, won't you call me Phil?"

"Yes, of course, Phil," Charlie responded eagerly, sitting down on the sofa next to her. "Please call me Charlie."

"Certainly, Charlie," Phil smiled charmingly at Gilbert. After a brief pause, she breathed, "Gilbert."

Her voice was so silky, it sounded as though she was caressing his name. For some reason, Gilbert found this hugely amusing and tried to hide his smile.

Gilbert sat down next to Priscilla, carefully avoiding the fearfully embroidered cushion on his chair as best he could.

"I trust you found the Mathematics queue, Phil?" Gilbert asked politely.

"Oh, yes, thank you for your help in finding it, Gilbert," she smiled, fluttering her eyelashes. "What a coincidence that you boys should know Anne and Priscilla. They're my only friends here, you know."

"I doubt that very much," Gilbert replied, smiling.

As Phil glanced up at him, her lovely face with its pointed black eyebrows immediately reminded him of one of his mother's tiny, fluffy kittens which had been born just a few weeks before he left for college. Gilbert almost wanted to reach over and pat her head. Similarly, his warm smile was the indulgent kind he used when he was playing with the kittens.

"Well, now you have Charlie Sloane as your friend, Phil," Charlie interjected. "You won't be lonely anymore."

"Are you boys from the Island, too?" Phil asked Gilbert.

"Oh yes, we went to Queen's with Priscilla and Anne," Charlie replied loftily. "We're from Avonlea."

Gilbert thought that Charlie was looking unusually excited this evening as his goggling eyes flickered from Anne to Priscilla to Phil.

"We met Phil in the graveyard across the road," said Anne.

"That doesn't sound like the most auspicious place to meet," laughed Gilbert.

"Oh, no, wait till you see it, Gilbert," Anne said with her eyes shining. "You'll love that old graveyard. It's the dearest place and it's so romantic. There are so many interesting epitaphs and it's surrounded by all those lovely trees. We must go there together and I'll show it to you."

Gilbert's heart leapt in his chest at Anne's expression as she said "dearest" and "romantic" while gazing into his eyes.

"Yes, let's," he replied, unable to drag his gaze away from her sparkling grey eyes. "Perhaps we can go next week then?"

"Yes, let's!" exclaimed Phil. "Isn't Redmond magnificent? Of course, that first day, I felt as though I'd made a mistake in coming here. I was so forlorn until I met Anne and Priss, but now, I'm sure it's going to be such fun."

Gilbert nodded gravely. He was beginning to find Philippa Gordon quite comical.

Glancing at Anne, Gilbert noticed that her brow was creased with a slight frown as she studied Phil, and she was apparently deep in thought. Anne suddenly turned her clear grey eyes towards him, and he raised his eyebrows in question. Seeing the expectant look on his face, Anne's cheeks turned slightly pink, but she smiled reassuringly and looked away hastily.

For the rest of the evening, they all fell into a jolly discussion about the first week's classes, and even Charlie's presence was a little less grating than usual.

"I heard there's a dance next Friday," Phil announced. "I would simply adore to go; I'm told all the Freshmen will be attending."

Phil hadn't taken her eyes off Gilbert as she spoke and she was looking pointedly at him now, apparently expecting him to ask to escort her. Gilbert, however, had lost track of the conversation a few moments previously, having suddenly become distracted by the way Anne's pale skin was contrasting with her vibrant hair under the warm glow of the lamp.

There was a pause while Priss looked uncomfortably from Anne to Gilbert to Phil. It was Charlie who broke the sudden silence.

"Let's all go together," he declared eagerly. "We'll meet you girls here at seven. Won't we, Gilbert?"

Startled from his reverie, Gilbert quickly looked around the room, discomfited that he may have been caught staring at Anne.

"Oh, I beg your pardon," he said apologetically. "I think I was daydreaming. I, ah, it must be the excitement of the first week of classes. What did you say, Charlie?"

"We're going to take the girls to the dance next Friday," Charlie told him, in a tone that conveyed he thought Gilbert was a bit simple.

"Oh, that sounds splendid," Gilbert smiled, looking at Anne.

A few weeks later, Gilbert was invited to join the 'Lambs', a compliment whose significance was not lost on him and he accepted the offer graciously. As part of his initiation, he was required to walk the principal business streets of Kingsport for a whole day wearing a sunbonnet and kitchen apron. Which challenge Gilbert undertook with all the aplomb and dignity merited by such an honour. Accordingly, one sunny Saturday morning, he was cheerfully parading the streets of Kingsport clad in a large, pink sunbonnet and voluminous floral patterned apron.

This attire caused much outrage among many of the demure matrons of Kingsport and considerable alarm among some of the men when Gilbert politely greeted them as he strode past. However, his costume produced much hilarity among the students of Redmond who knew of his initiation test, and most particularly among the Lambs, several of whom had positioned themselves around the main streets so as to ensure Gilbert fulfilled his task thoroughly.

"Nice bonnet, Blythe!" they called as he strolled past.

"Thank you, gentlemen," Gilbert replied pleasantly. "It's my mother's favourite colour."

Around mid-morning, Gilbert was delighted to see Anne, Priscilla and Phil crossing the street and strolling towards him with their arms linked. The girls were all giggling at his garb as they approached. He was already enjoying himself hugely.

"Good morning, ladies," he grinned, doffing his sunbonnet courteously at them. "It's a fine morning, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," Priscilla laughed.

"Your apron is very fetching, Gilbert," Anne observed.

"Why, thank you, Anne," he replied politely. "I've found it uncommonly effective in keeping the dust off my shirt."

"How fascinating," Anne replied, her eyes dancing.

"Yes," Gilbert nodded. "And the bonnet keeps the sun out of my eyes. It's most convenient."

"It's a very becoming colour on you," Anne laughed.

"May I escort you ladies to your destination?" His hazel eyes were twinkling as he bent his elbows towards them gallantly.

"How very kind of you, Gilbert," Priscilla replied, taking one arm. Anne grasped his other elbow and Phil stayed on Anne's other side. "Phil is collecting a new hat from the milliner's."

"How delightful!" Gilbert replied. "Perhaps I can find a new bonnet there, too."

The girls all laughed merrily as they set off together.

After Gilbert had walked the girls to the specified shop, he once again lifted the bonnet with courtly grace and bowed.

"Good day to you, ladies," he said, smiling.

"Goodbye, Gilbert," they trilled in unison.

As he strode away from the girls, Gilbert overheard Phil's whisper.

"Ooohh, he's still so handsome, even in that get up," Phil declared. "Anne, I just don't know how you can resist him."

About mid-term, Gilbert received an unexpected letter from Ruby Gillis.

Dear Gilbert

I must say I miss you and Anne dreadfully. Avonlea is quite dull and all the A.V.I.S. social affairs are so boring without you. Josie Pye tried to host another party just last week, and it was so poorly attended, I felt sorry I'd worn my new cream silk dress to it. The only saving grace was that Herb Spencer escorted me there and danced with me all evening. He's so amusing. Now, I don't want you to be jealous when I tell you that, Gilbert, but you know someone must keep me company while you're off at college. I hope you're having a good time there, I'm sure there must be all kinds of fun parties. Anne seems to be enjoying college life very much, judging by her letters. It almost makes me wish I had decided to come to Redmond, too.

Write back soon and tell me everything.

With all best wishes

Ruby

He smiled and picked up his fountain pen, taking out a piece of stationery to write Ruby a hurried reply, at the same time wondering what he might tell her. College life was glorious and it seemed to Gilbert as though all of his dreams were miraculously coming true in rapid succession. He couldn't remember a time when he'd been happier or more fulfilled.

Thoughtfully putting the pen to his mouth, Gilbert reflected that these first weeks at Redmond had been among the best times of his life. He was profoundly interested in everything, acutely aware of the opportunities that college presented, and consequently he never let a chance to participate in anything pass him by. He'd made many new friends in those few short weeks, and Gilbert delighted just as much in the social affairs as the academic challenges.

Gilbert had the satisfaction of topping most of his classes, due in large part to the hard work he and Anne had put in during the past two years in Avonlea. As a result of leading the Freshmen to an unexpected triumph at the annual "Arts Rush", Gilbert had also been elected President of the Freshmen class. Furthermore, he had been elected captain of the football team, and he was on the debating team.

Best of all, Gilbert spent time with Anne and her group of friends almost every day, just as he'd imagined, and their inspiring rivalry was even more stimulating at college. They still studied together, Gilbert visited at Thirty-eight St John's every week and he was Anne's escort at almost all of the Redmond social events. He knew they were growing closer with each passing day and Gilbert felt dizzy with joy at her constant proximity.

"Yes, Ruby," he grinned as he started writing his reply. "I'm having a very good time."