A Similar String | Anne Shirley & Gilbert Blythe

Three | Jane Eyre

"Gilbert is even more handsome then when he left!" said Diana as her and Anne walked home from school. "He's so tall and mature looking. Don't you think Anne? Anne?"

Anne was gazing absentmindedly at the forest ground, which had just beginning to gather the first leaves of autumn, as she walked, and she now looked up at Diana. "Sorry? What did you say?"

"I said don't you think Gilbert seems very mature now?" repeated Diana. "I suppose you were lost in your imagination again?" Diana did not say this an kind of patronizing way. She found Anne's mind to be one of the most wonderful and curious things she had ever encountered in her whole life.

"Not exactly." Anne shoved her hands into the pockets of her autumn coat.

"Is . . . Something bothering you?" asked Diana.

"Yes," admitted Anne, but she made no inclinations to explaining what that was.

"Is it about you and Gilbert's names being up on the blackboard?" asked Diana.

"Yes and no . . . Diana, did you see Gilbert's face when he saw our names together?" Anne's voice was rather faint."

Diana shook her head. "No. What was wrong with it?"

"Nothing exactly," said Anne carefully. "It's just that . . . He looked pleased to see our names together!"

"What's wrong with that?" asked Diana, brows furrowed.

"What's wrong with that? Why Diana! It's humiliating! The last thing I want is the whole school thinking Gilbert Blythe is my beaux!"

"Well, maybe Gilbert does want the whole school thinking that," said Diana.

Anne looked quickly at her friend, expecting to see a teasing grin, but instead she found Diana was quite serious about the matter.

"B-but he can't want that!" Anne was red in the cheeks. "I'm so homely! No boy would ever want me for a beaux!"

Diana laughed. "Oh Anne! You can't say you haven't noticed! Gilbert has has been enamored with you since the day you met!"

"Enamored? That is a lovely choice of word, but Diana, what do you mean by it?" The queasy feeling Anne felt back at school had returned.

"I mean —" Diana lowered her voice "that he cares for you."

"Cares for me? You mean —" Anne's voice became rather strangled "— romantically?"

Diana nodded gravely. The queasy feeling grew.

"That's what I was afraid of." Anne's feet seemed to drag behind her.

She thought numbly of Gilbert's expression in school, and then her mind went back to the day they said goodbye to each other a half a year ago. She could remember the way he looked at her. Like he never wanted to stop. The emotions in both expressions were similar.

For a moment, Anne felt defeated, then she felt a surge of varying emotions.

"He can't!" cried the girl in anguish. Her pace quickened and she walked forward aggressively. "Gilbert Blythe is not allowed to harbor any sort of romantic feelings toward me — whatsoever!"

"But why not?" asked Diana worriedly, hurrying after her over-excited friend.

"Because! I don't care for him the same way and —" Anne stopped in her tracks. Once again her mind went back to the day they'd said goodbye. Gilbert might've been staring at her like he never wanted to look away, but she'd been staring right back. "Ruby!"