Chapter 38
"So did you notice anything unusual about Anne today?" Henry asked smirking at Gilbert.
"Have you talked to Phil?" Gilbert asked, the concern on his face apparent. "She practically ran off after you and Stella went to go get her book. She was awful jumpy, but kept telling me she was fine. I walked her to the dressing room outside the hall. She first said she had to get to class, and then I reminded her she had an hour and a half until her next lecture. She seemed pretty confused. Well, she said she had to go anyways, so I walked with her. I didn't think she should go wandering alone with how she was acting and well I didn't have class for another hour."
"And you had been anticipating spending that hour in Anne's company," Henry said with a smirk that Gilbert rolled his eyes too.
"She was acting all sorts of strange and her whole face was flushed. I thought she was maybe coming down with a fever and when I went to feel her forhead for one she yelped and ran into the girl's dressing room. I waited outside for her for about 15, 20 minutes and was about to go in after her to see if she was okay. Luckily one of Anne's classmates came by and I was able to ask her to go in and check on Anne for me. She came back and said Anne was okay. I waited out there until I had to leave for lecture. I would have waited longer but Phil, showed up and she promised to see to Anne," Gilbert told Henry. "I was thinking maybe we should stop by her boarding house to check on her."
Henry burst out laughing and Gilbert shot a glare at him and said, "I would expect you to be a bit more concerned about Anne. She wasn't herself. If you had seen the way she was acting you wouldn't be laughing. "
"I wish I could have seen it," Henry said between laughs. "Poor Anne. I guess it would have been better to leave Stella with her. Though the thought of Phil dealing with Anne right now is almost to funny."
"I don't see anything funny about it. I almost entered the ladies dressing room to check on Anne," Gilbert exclaimed.
"Ooooooh that would have been hilarious. Luckily I can diagnosis Anne's malady for you Dr. Blythe, but I think you had better sit down for this," Henry said smirking.
Gilbert eyed him warily, taking in the familiar smirk. He didn't think Henry would deliberately make light of Anne being ill, but Henry hadn't seen the erratic way Anne had been acting.
"You remember when Anne lost her train of thought right before Stella joined us today?" Henry asked patiently.
"Yea. It was after that that she started acting strangly," Gilbert said slowly remembering it and how pretty Anne had looked when she blushed. Then all of a sudden he practically grabbed Henry and demanded, "Anne looked at me and blushed! She blushed! Anne's never looked at me and blushed like that. I would have noticed if she had blushed at anyone like that-"
"Apparently not," Henry said dryly.
"I've been waiting for her to blush like that at me since I called her carrots. I gotta go! I'll see you around, Henry!"
"Where you going?" Henry called at his retreating back.
Turning around, but not stopping, Gilbert called back happily, "To ask Anne if I can court her!"
Henry chuckled, unsurprised Gilbert wanted to rush immediately to Anne. He was surprised though that Gilbert was only going to ask Anne if he could court her, afterall he had proposed almost a year ago.
...
"Phil," Gilbert said grinning widely when she opened the door. "I'm here to see Anne."
"Oh I don't know that is such a good idea right this second, Gilbert," Stella said appearing at Phillipa's shoulder. "Anne is having a bit of a crisis."
"A bit?" Phillipa asked dryly.
"She's fine," Stella assured Gilbert. "She's just a bit overwhelmed and perhaps not up to any sort of visitor right this second. She ummm-"
"Overwhelmed?" Phillipa demanded. "She terrified and it's all his fault. I say we let him in to talk to her. He caused this, he can deal with it. Serves him right."
Gilbert though, as soon as Phillipa mentioned it was his fault Anne was terrified, was stepping past the two girls into the house. Once in the parlor, the girls at his heels, he asked in confusion, "Where is she?'
"Oh lord," Phillipa exclaimed. "She's done a runner. I told you to keep an eye on her while I got the door. Do you know just how difficult it was to get her back here in the first place? Queen Anne's on the loose and lord knows where out there, wondering around confused and bewildered all by herself."
"What's wrong with Anne?" Gilbert demanded in agitation, reminding himself that Phillippa had once described choosing a hat as excruciating and her word choice did not necessarily reflect the truth of the situation.
"Well she has realized she loves you," seeing his face light up Phillipa said, "but she says she absolutely knows you only see her as a chum and that you are going to marry someone beautiful with raven black tresses and an albaster brow as beautiful as you are handsome. She will die a lonely old maid, unrequited in her love for you, because now that she knows she loves you, she will never love anyone else. She's quite distraught and claims she can't go anywhere near you or you may realize how she feels and you will look at her with pity and she couldn't bear that, so she has decided she must simply avoid you at all costs until she has learned how to hide her feelings," Phillipa ended dramatically.
"Didn't you think to tell her that I've been in love with her for years?" Gilbert asked incredulous.
"Oh gee, why wouldn't I have thought of that?" Phillipa snapped sarcastically. "Oh wait, I tried that one in the dressing room on campus. And do you know what response I received? "
Gilbert shook his had warily as Phillipa glared at him.
"That you couldn't possibly and you only saw her as Henry's little sister and would always think of her as the horrid girl that broke her slate on your head. Then she began to convince herself that you don't truly want to be her friend, but are nice to her because she is your best friend's little sister so you have to put up with her," Phillipa proclaimed.
"Don't forget the bit about Charlie Sloan," Stella said in a helpful tone, but she was smirking.
"How could I possibly?" Phillipa demanded. "You'll marry your perfect match and she will end up with Charlie Sloan making him boiled potatoes every Tuesday night and washing his laundry on Mondays- Night shirts first, shirts second, then trousers, then socks and undergarments last and to be sure to do it at the precise temperature and not a moment to long for any of the garments and he prefers to have his meal served to him at exactly half past, the food cool enough to eat but not to cool. And he believes three children to be an acceptable amount but he supposes for the right wife he could overlook one or two more, but she had best take care not to have more than that." Glaring at Gilbert, Phillipa exclaimed, "Thanks to you, I know far more about googly eyed Charlie Sloan's martial expectations than I ever wanted to."
"I-"
"I'm not done!" Phillipa proclaimed. "I'm just getting started. Two hours in and I've managed to get Anne back here, not an easy feat mind you as her mind conjured up one ridiculous situation after another for her to fret through, at one point I was quite convinced she was going to propose to the next homily boy we came across so that she could and I quote, bury the devastation of her heart in making a comfortable hearth and home for another poor tortured soul. And not five mintues later she was determined to remain an old maid and as dear as Avonlea was to her, there was nothing for her to do but travel the world and-"
Gilbert had decided he had heard enough and it was far more important to go look for Anne then to have Phillipa recall evey fearsome imagining Anne had tortured herself with so he simply whirled around and left. Standing outside the boarding house he took a couple of seconds to try and consider where Anne would have gone too.
"Oh good, we are searching for her now," Stella said as her and Phillipa stepped outside, joining him.
"We should likely divided up to look for her," Phillipa said. "Here take these," she commanded handing them each a bit of cheese.
"She isn't a mouse, Phil," Stella said.
"I know that, but we really should feed her and this will travel better than a bit of cake." Seeing Gilbert decisivly begin walking away, she called out, "Do you have an idea of where she could be?"
"Check the campus, but I'm going to check this way," he called back.
