Chapter 16 - So Far, So Close

The Weekend had started, Anne was in her room preparing her suitcase which was lying on her bed. Meanwhile, Diana was watching at the window, she saw Miss Blackmore leaving the house with her luggage, Lily and Albert were following her closely. The owner of the house seemed to be giving instructions to her two employees.

The young redhead sighed, "Do you think Miss Blackmore will be here much longer?"

Her friend replied anxiously, "You should hurry, Anne, I'd say you still have five to ten minutes before you can go out the back door into the garden. Albert and Lily should be here soon."

Anne exclaimed, "I'm ready for adventure!", she finally had her suitcase in hand. She had hesitated for a long time about what she should wear for her trip, and the night before she had spent the evening discussing it with Diana. And her friend had finally convinced her to dress as simply as possible, because traveling alone, she couldn't afford to attract too much attention.

The redhead wore a simple white blouse, as well as a very pretty green skirt, she took neither hat nor parasol. But it was out of the question for her to go out with her hair undone, so she crimped her hair and made a bun over her head.

She then rushed to the stairs to reach the ground floor as quickly as possible, Diana had followed her. Anne was going to open the door to get out as discreetly as possible, then she repeated one last time to her friend, "Don't forget to say that I had to leave in a hurry to Avonlea, that Marilla needed me terribly. Oh if you only knew Diana! I don't like lying very much, but sometimes you don't have much choice, but I can't help but feel ashamed."

When the two girls heard a throat clearing, "Um... Lying," the two friends turned around and discovered that it was Ruby who had just spoken.

Anne panicked, "Oh Ruby! I... it's terrible Marilla needs me! I have to leave right now! Have a great weekend girls!", With those words, the redheaded girl took a powder and ran away. She left behind a poor Diana who now had Ruby on her back.

The naive young blonde hastened to say, "I guess the Cuthberts must be in big trouble?", the brunette nodded shyly, she didn't like to lie either.

Starting from a good feeling, Ruby added, "I should talk to my parents, maybe they could help the Cuthberts, I'll go write them right now."

This made Diana gasp, "Oh no, don't! I mean, they can't help it, there's no point in talking to them about it.", the naive girl then took her friend's word for it.

All of a sudden, the young blonde girl turned pale, "Poor Anne, while she's going to sort out the Cuthberts' worries, I've done something really awful, well it wasn't my idea at first...", the brunette came up to her friend and put a hand on her shoulder, "My God what have you done Ruby?!"

In the streets of Charlottetown, Anne was advancing at a brisk pace, she had managed to escape the gaze of Miss Blackmore and her servants. Now, she had to get to the city port to catch the ferryboat.

The young redhead was bubbling, she was excited to travel but at the same time she was afraid to be confronted with Gilbert. Why hadn't he written to her all those weeks? It is true that she herself had refused to write a third letter out of pride, but in retrospect she found his reaction futile. There must surely have been a good reason, as her friend Diana had pointed out so well.

In Toronto, Gilbert was waiting for his train to enter the station. Seen from the outside the train looked particularly nervous, even though this little escapade would do him a lot of good, he could not help but dread his meeting with Anne. Why had she stopped answering him so suddenly? Had he said something wrong in his second letter? Did the red-haired girl really want to talk about commitment in her letter? So many questions that would finally have their answers in a few hours.

The dark-haired boy remembered that he wanted to buy flowers for the girl he loved, but unfortunately it was too late, his train would arrive any minute. Fortunately, he would be changing trains in Montreal, so he would have time to buy some there.

At the Blackmore mansion, Diana was having a lively discussion with young Ruby, they were in Diana's room, "But how could you do this to Anne? Isn't she your friend too? It was terribly selfish and immature, no wonder it was Josie's idea. Could I at least know where you've put them?"

The young blonde girl who was sitting on the edge of the bed didn't dare look her friend in the eye, "I...I'm so sorry... But if you knew Diana, if you'd read those letters, he loves her so much... It made me envious."

The brunette sat next to her, "I'm sorry you learned it that way, but it wasn't the most ingenious idea, admit it. Look, you'll find a boy who's right for you, too."

Ruby looked up and looked at her friend, "But that's not it, Diana! I'm very happy for Anne! It's just... Reading these letters, I realized that no boy will ever love me the way Gilbert loves Anne. And Moody is so unromantic compared to... " she sighed.

Diana was caught off guard, so to be sure, she asked, "So... you're not in love with Gilbert anymore?", the young blonde replied in a detached tone, "Oh... I haven't thought about it for a while, and even before I saw him with Winifred at the fair. It didn't do anything to me. But when I think of it, poor Anne..."

The young brunette replied, "Yes... poor Anne. Enough talk, I want the letters back that were meant for my friend now."

Ruby nodded at once, she didn't want to upset Diana anymore.

Anne was now at the New Brunswick train station, the further she went on her journey, the more nervous she became, she shook in her hand, as if to bring her luck, the little shell that Gilbert had sent her in the one and only letter she had received from him.

A few hours later, Gilbert had arrived in Montreal, he took the time to buy a bouquet of flowers, it was decorated with red roses and purple cloves. The poor young man was getting more and more nervous at the thought of seeing Anne again as he got closer to his destination.

At the same time, a train arrived at the station, it was a train from New Brunswick. Gilbert, who had to take this train to get to the same destination, was at the other end of the station, so he started running on the platform. In his haste he dropped a branch from the bouquet on the ground.

Anne, who was on board the train, got out of it, she found a twig of purple wallflower at her feet as she stepped out of the car, she smiled and picked it up at once. She thought she lacked fantasy in her outfit, so she adjusted the twig in her headdress.

As for the dark-haired boy, he was finally settled in his wagon, he was about to leave for New Brunswick at any moment. His eyes were lost, his look was fixed on the platform, but he seemed to be looking at nothing in particular, he was passing the time while waiting for the departure.

When he saw a red hair that caught his attention, she had flowers in her hair, the girl seemed in a hurry, she was struggling to move around with her luggage.

And when he saw her, she turned around to ask an agent who worked at the station for information. He was sure it was Anne. Immediately, he knocked with all his strength against the window and shouted her name, "Anne! Anne! Look over here!"

One can hear the train whistle, it was about to leave. So he decided to get off the train as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Anne was on her way to the platform to catch her train to Toronto when she heard a familiar voice yelling her name, "Anne! Don't get on that train!"