Chapter 26
When the day to leave for Queens was upon them. Anne naturally cried. Gilbert wished he could do something to make her feel better. Henry carefully and gently folded her in his arms as Matthew and the buggy retreated. Once her eyes had dried some, she had stepped back and lamely joked, "You both must think I'm such a watering pot."
"Never that, Anne," Gilbert had said with a gentle smile, wishing it was his arms she had cried in, but knowing it wasn't possible, yet.
"Remember your boarding house isn't terribly far from Gil and me, so if you feel homesick Anne, we're close by. Now let's head over to the Academy," Henry said slinging his arm about her shoulers. Miss Barry had found Anne a spot to board with a reduced gentlewoman with a single room to let, while Gilbert and Henry were boarding near by at an all boys boarding house. Anne was nervous about being so far from Henry but, Marilla had been firm that while it would be acceptable for Henry and Anne to board at the same place if one could be found with two rooms available, Anne would not be boarding in an otherwise coed boarding house. The fact that this particular house was two houses down from where both Gilbert and Henry could board had been very much in its favor for Anne.
"I'm so glad you are both here with me," Anne said reaching a hand out to Gilbert, who took it.
"Since we are all going for are licenses in one year, we should be in the same classes," Gilbert said giving her hand a squeeze. "Imagine how much worse it would be to go it alone."
"I'd rather not imagine that," Anne said seriously.
….
As Anne wiped furiously at her eyes as she sat looking out the window, the tears wouldn't stop coming. Her vision blurry from tears she suddenly saw a shock of red, along with a familiar brown curly head of hair on the street. Anne bolted up out her seat, down the stairs and out the door, throwing herself at the two boys in tears. Gilbert deftly caught her and just as he had that long ago day at Green Gables when she and Tommy, along with Diana, got intoxicated off Marilla's current wine, his hand stroked along her back, mummering quietly to her. He would have happily held her for as long as necessary but, Henry gave a tug to a lose curl that had come unpinned and said, "None of that, we are here now and we don't mean to let you be sad. Gilbert had a feeling it would be getting to you. And look see there, here comes Ruby and Jane."
"Oh Anne," Ruby said with sympathy. "Are those traces of tears? Do say so, so then I won't feel like such a goose. I was crying my eyes out when Jane arrived and I will feel so much better if someone else was being a goose too."
"The goosiest," Anne said with a sniffle.
"But now that we are here, doesn't it feel just a teeny bit like home?" Gilbert said with a soft smile for her, trying not to betray how much he wanted his arms to be Anne's home.
Upon walking up Ruby had certainly noticed just who was comforting Anne in her tears, and couldn't help but wish Gilbert Blythe would comfort her like that as well. She didn't understand how Anne could see Gilbert as only a chum. If any boy, but especially Gilbert Blythe, looked at her the way Gilbert looked at Anne, well Ruby would think it was splendid.
While some people, mainly Josie Pye, refused to see what was in front of their face ever since Gilbert declared his love for Anne in front of the Queen's class when Miss Stacy announced the concert, Ruby wasn't one of them. Nobody and nobody was that good of an actor, Ruby had thought then, for it to be anything other than a heart felt declaration of love, disguised as a Shakespearen quote. And if anybody still doubted it after he had saved her life, and Ruby still remembered the way he had looked sitting at the Green Gables kitchen table, she had feared that if Anne didn't make it, it would kill Gilbert Blythe as well. Then the two had become friends and well if anyone thought they had a chance with Gilbert before then, that should have put an end to it.
Ruby obviously had no proof, but she just knew that the day Anne had smashed her slate on Gilbert's head he had done something to her braid. She carried the distinction of being the last girl he teased before Anne so thoroughly turned his head. And she suspected he may have only done something to her braid to show off to Anne. He wouldn't ever look at anyone but Anne with that adoring look of pure love. He was simply a lost cause.
Ruby couldn't help but turn a considering look at Henry. He wasn't as good looking as Gilbert, but he was as tall and muscular. As Gilbert's best friend he was likely capable of looking at a girl with that same adoring look Gilbert bestowed so easily on Anne. The question was how did one go about getting him to do so? He certainly hadn't bestowed a look like that on her, and she was the prettiest girl in Avonlea. With Gilbert so completely unavailable, Henry must be the next best option. Unless she could find another likely fellow at the Academy.
...
"Leave it to Anne, making friends already," Gilbert said nodding to where Anne stood across the lawn talking to two girls.
"And she even was thoughtful enough to pick two pretty ones for me," Henry said grinning. "Especially that one. There is something interesting about her. Of course Anne wouldn't pick an uninteresting friend, so both are likely interesting enough."
"Dare ya to go pull her hair and call her a name, Gilbert teased.
"Cause that worked out so well for you?" Henry said sarcastically.
"Well maybe not intially," Gilbert said with a shrug.
"You spent the next two years mooning over her. I think I'll pass on the Gilbert Blythe way to meet a girl."
"Hey it's tried, tested and true," Gilbert said in mock offense. "If it's the right one she won't smile and simper at you."
"If that's the case why did you hand Anne a stack of slates, in case she needed them, your words, before we arrived," Henry teased.
"She needs something to scare any over eager fellas off. And with any luck they won't have the stomach for her particular brand of rejection. It takes a certain type of fella to persist in such dogged fashion."
"A particularly dense one?" Henry ribbed him.
"I resent that. I scored higher than you, need I remind you," Gilbert ribbed back.
"You were so fascinated with her back then I'm surprised you ever even noticed Matthew and Marilla adopted three orphans, not just one."
"I had thought you would make a decent chum, but the prospect of some red haired kid to horse around with slipped my mind when I saw Anne. Completely forgot about you until you so graciously introduced yourself," Gilbert teased.
"You didn't like my style of handshake?" Henry exclaimed dramatically in mock affront. "You were sure determined to return it in kind."
"Yes, now that was a plan. Impress Anne by beating up her brother," Gilbert said laughing. "When I remembered that they had adopted three orphans and made the connection-"
Henry cut him off laughing uproariously, "I will never forget the look on your face. And then Anne ignored you. It was so funny."
"It was not funny," Gilbert protested.
"You're right. It was hilarious," Henry said grinning.
"And I'm once again wasting my time talking to you, when I could be talking to a much prettier red head," Gilbert said flashing a grin before loping off to go join Anne.
"I'm hurt, Blythe. Real hurt," Henry called loudly jogging after him towards Anne and the two strangers.
"And what has Gil, done to hurt you this time?" Anne called smiling, overhearing him as Gilbert stoppped beside her and slung an arm around her shoulders. Ever since Anne had declared them friends the amount of physical contact had increased between the two since Anne was such an affectionate person. And Gilbert reveled in it, enjoying getting to be closer to her.
"He called me carrots, Anne!" Henry said with a grin.
"A bold faced lie," Gilbert cried out in protest.
"Stella, Pris, should I introduce you to these two louts or would you like to scamper off and rethink the connection to me? I'd like to say they are far more civilized than they seem, but that would be a lie," Anne said merrily.
"Now Anne, don't go telling your new friends lies about me," Henry said with a grin. "Gilbert's the uncivilized barbarian."
Anne rolled her eyes and said, "Stella, Pris this is Gilbert Blythe and my brother Henry Mack. Gil, Henry, this is Priscilla Grant and Stella Maynard."
After exchanging pleased to meet yous and how do you dos, Henry groaned and said ,"Pye alert, Gil."
"Save me Anne," Gilbert said.
"Just tell her no, Gil," Anne told him.
"I've tried that. She's persistent. If it was Charlie, I'd save you," Gilbert wheeddled.
"Josie," Anne said sunny smile in place. "Have you seen that there is to be a reading of Shakespear? Will you be going? "
"I imagine not," Joise said icily. "Excuse me, I see Frank Stockley montining for me, we board at the same place you know. He asked about you, Anne, yesterday after seeing you in class. So I told him you were one of the poor orphans the Cuthberts took in and nobody knew anything about where you came from, or your people, other than that they must have had terrible tempers," she said as she turned around and stalked off.
"Why exactly is it Gilbert, that every time I mention Shakespeare to Joise she stalks off? I feel like I am missing something. Why can't you just mention Shakespeare," Anne asked with a huff.
"Just doesn't have the same effect," Gilbert said unrepentantly.
"Anne, should we really question why it works or just be grateful it works. We don't want to jinx it," Henry said his eyes twinkling. He and Gilbert knew exactly why it worked. When Anne mentioned Shakespeare, Josie remembered Gilbert quoting it with such feeling to Anne, and it made her mad.
