Chapter 7 - The Letter Ceremony
That morning, Miss Blackmore was standing in front of her six boarders. Lily, the deaf maid, was also at the side of the mistress of the house, she had in her hands a box containing the mail received just today.
The girls were all excited to open their mail and find out who had taken the time to write to them.
Diana held Anne's hand, as if to give her courage and bring her luck.
The owner of the house then spoke, "Well, now that you are all in front of me, I will start to deliver, don't worry, I don't go as far as reading your mail, but I check that there is nothing suspicious inside your envelopes, you never know... »
The six girls were surprised and at the same time dismayed that Miss Blackmore allowed herself such an intrusion into their private affairs, but none of them dared to react. Anyway...
There was the young redhead girl who strongly refrained from intervening, but she had said to herself that this was not the time, she did not want to be seen badly by the mistress of the house today, she wanted to have her mail, if at least she could have news of the green gables, it would brighten her day.
Lily had picked up a large pile of letters, and handed them to her boss, who hastened to read the name on the envelope, "Miss Tillie Boulter, this is for you, you alone have received half of the mail in this box." This one hastened to her feet to retrieve her correspondence, while the other girls began to look anxiously at the box, which weighed much less now.
So the distribution continued, "Miss Ruby Gillis, come and get this." she said, reaching for a single envelope. Poor Ruby was obviously disappointed, especially after the lucky girl who unlike her, had her hands full of letters.
The young blonde had hardly had time to sit down, when the next one was called, "Miss Josie Pye, this is for you, but beware, there is something of value inside one of these envelopes, so take great care." Josie found that indeed there was a wad of notes inside this one, and a short note in the other, the girl was obviously disappointed.
The stern-looking woman continued, "Miss Jane Andrews, it's your turn, and take the same precautions as your friend, there's value in one of these letters too." Jane nodded and then took her three envelopes.
Only Anne and Diana remained, the two friends were still holding hands, "Miss Anne Shirley-Cuthbert, these two envelopes are for you, nothing of value in them except a trinket which seems to be of importance to you." The redhead's eyes widened in surprise, she was all the more curious, but at the same time she was always upset that Miss Blackmore was thus allowing herself to pry into other people's affairs. Anne was sure to react next time, under her fake smile, she was bubbling.
She got up and rushed to her letters, the other girls were always trying to find out who each one's pen pals were, not always very discreetly.
The young redhead didn't want to open her envelope in front of the others, or even look at the provenance, she wanted to discover it alone later, she wanted to savour this moment, even if it meant perhaps having too many expectations and being disappointed. Then she hid her envelopes against her dress, so that nothing could be read at all. Diana gave her friend a knowing look.
Finally it was the last one's turn, "There's only you left, Miss Diana Barry, here's for you." The young brunette got up to retrieve her two envelopes, and as Miss Blackmore had nothing to add, there was nothing special in these.
Lily closed the now empty box and took her leave, she was closely followed by the mistress of the house. All the girls rushed to read their letters afterwards, except Anne, who decided to get up discreetly so she could read quietly in her room. Except that Josie noticed at once, "So, Anne, you don't want to share with us the news of your relatives." The young redhead stopped.
Diana looked at the young blonde girl sideways, "Each one does as she prefers Josie, are you so curious to know what each one got? You should read your letters first.", the pretty brunette interrupted, then noticed that the haughty girl had very little reading, barely two sentences to a word, it's not really what you would name a letter, especially since it came from her parents, one might expect a little more curiosity from them.
Anne, who hadn't moved, then sat down beside the girls on the couch, she replied "Well, that will wait a little, indeed I prefer to be alone when I read my letters, I let myself be surprised to discover it, I may be disappointed too." She said, looking sadly at Josie.
The tall blonde could see that her friends were taking pity on her, so she took it upon herself, "Hum! In any case, what hope do you have for, Anne? If you don't have any particular expectations it can only be better. As for me, disappointment is my daily life, you see."
This must have been Josie's special way of comforting her, although she was not entirely sure, as it was not the girl's habit to do this to her.
Suddenly, we heard Ruby whine, "I only got one letter, but it's the nicest letter I've ever read, I miss my parents, I love them so much! And too bad if Moody didn't write me, in the end I prefer this letter to a letter from any boy!".
Everyone was surprised to hear the freckled blonde girl talk like that, for once she was expressing love for something other than boys, it was quite an evolution. Anne approached Ruby and hugged her, "Oh Ruby! I understand you, I feel exactly the same way you do! »
The young blonde lowered her eyes and then opened them wide, "Gilbert Blythe... "Anne frowned when she heard the name, and then her eyes turned to her friend Diana, who was also looking at the floor where an envelope was on the ground at the redhead's feet, and of course the visible side was the sender's address : University of Toronto - Gilbert Blythe.
The pretty redhead stammered, "I don't-, well I know that-, it's not a-," Ruby interrupted her friend, "Gilbert wrote me a letter! Oh! But maybe Lily dropped a letter without realizing it earlier! Oh, isn't that marvellous?! After all these years, Gilbert finally decided to show some interest in me, even though I admit I'd forgotten about him lately... That's probably it, he realized that I wasn't interested in him anymore... »
All the girls were turned towards Anne, they were probably all aware of who the real recipient of this letter was.
Josie couldn't help but intervene, "Oh Ruby... please... Don't be naive, I've never seen you talk for more than five minutes with Gilbert, so why would he write to you? We all know that he talks to Anne the most."
Tillie, who was right behind Josie, winked at the redhead and while sketching a smile full of innuendo. At that moment, the young redhead regretted that she had been told before the others.
Diana, for her part, remained mute, she didn't know what to say to help her friend, and what about Jane, who just smiled back and watched the situation.
Anne took her courage in both hands and finally gave Ruby an explanation, "Gil-Gilbert and I have decided to keep in touch about our respective journeys, but there's nothing romantic about it, and the contents of this letter would be of little interest to you. Gil-Gilbert must surely be talking about his first experiences in medicine, not always very pleasant, really you wouldn't want to know, you'd have nightmares!" she concluded while picking up her letter.
Josie looked up at the very unconvincing explanation of the redhead, while Diana and the other girls were somewhat embarrassed.
The young redheaded girl, who now had a red face, took the powder and left the living room to go upstairs to her room, "Well I'll go and read the details of Gil-Gilbert's new medical experiments, I won't tell you anything I promised!"
The four girls exchanged questioning glances at poor Diana, who had remained in the background, and who could not decently offer a clear explanation, as it was certainly not her place to do so.
One of the girls who hadn't reacted much since earlier, it was Jane, "She tripped three times over his first name." she said in a detached tone.