The next three weeks at Green Gables were busy as Anne got ready to go to Queen's College.
Anne had many lovely clothes to take.
It was Matthew who bought Anne's clothes, and Marilla no longer objected.
Anne put on her new green silk dress, and recited a poem for Matthew and Marilla in the kitchen.
Marilla watched Anne's bright, animated face and graceful movements. A tear came to Marilla's eye.
"My poem made you cry, Marilla!" Anne exclaimed.
"No, I wasn't crying over that," Marilla sniffed.
"I was thinking of the little girl you used to be, Anne.
I wish you had stayed a little girl. You've grown up now, and you're going away to college.
You look so tall and stylish and so . . . so different in that dress.
I just get lonely thinking about it."
"Marilla!" Anne took Marilla's hands and looked tenderly into Marilla's eyes.
"I haven't changed, not really. The real me—back here—is just the same.
I will always be your little Anne, who will love you and Matthew and dear Green Gables every day of her life."
Matthew listened, and with suspicious moisture in his eyes, he got up and went outside.
"Well now, I guess she hasn't been spoiled," Matthew said to himself proudly.
"I guess interfering sometimes never did any harm either.
She's smart, pretty, and loving too. She's been a blessing to us.
It was a lucky mistake that Mrs. Spencer made.
But . . . I don't believe it was luck.
No, I believe Anne was sent as a gift from heaven because we needed her."
The day came for Anne to go to college.
After many tearful good-byes, Anne's life as a college student began.
On the first day at Queen's, students met each other and their professors.
Afterwards Anne left the college and went to her boarding house.
She looked dismally at her little room, with its picture-less walls and empty bookcase.
A tear came into her eye as she thought of Green Gables.
Anne started to cry. And a flood of tears would have come if Josie Pye had not appeared at Anne's door.
In the joy of seeing a familiar face, Anne forgot that she and Josie were not good friends, to say the least.
"I'm glad you came," Anne said sincerely.
"You've been crying," Josie remarked. "I suppose you're homesick. Some people have no self-control.
You really shouldn't cry because your nose and eyes get red, and then you seem red all over."
With that, Josie left. Anne scowled and cried again.
Soon Anne's homesickness subsided. She threw herself into her studies and made new friends.
She decided to try for the academic awards:
the gold medal for the best student in general and a scholarship to Redmond University for the best student in English.
"I'll win that scholarship if hard work can do it," she thought.
"Wouldn't Matthew be proud if I got a BA?"
After the Christmas holidays, the students settled down to hard work.
By this time the medal contestants were narrowed down to three: Gilbert Blythe, Anne Shirley, and Lewis Wilson.
The scholarship was more doubtful, with any one of six students being a possible winner.
Anne's rivalry with Gilbert was as intense as ever, but for some reason the bitterness had gone out of it.
Spring came, but at Queen's there was talk only of exams.
"Ruby, sometimes I feel like exams mean everything.
But when I look at the flowers blossoming, the exams don't seem as important," said Anne.
Ruby Gillis did not share this view.
To her, exams were very important, far more important than flowers!
Besides, Anne was sure to pass all her exams while Ruby was not so certain.
It was the morning the exam results were to be posted on the notice board at Queen's College.
Anne and Jane Andrews walked down the street together.
Jane was smiling and happy; exams were over and she had passed at least.
Anne was pale and quiet. In ten minutes she would know who had won the medal and the scholarship.
"I don't have the courage to march up to that notice board, Jane," Anne said.
"You must read it and tell me. And try to do it as quickly as possible.
If I failed, just tell me, and whatever you do, don't try to sympathize with me. Promise me, Jane."
Jane promised solemnly, but as it happened, there was no need for such a promise.
Anne and Jane found a group of boys carrying Gilbert Blythe on their shoulders and yelling, "Hooray for Gilbert, medalist!"
Anne felt a pang of defeat and disappointment. So Gilbert had won.
Well, Matthew would be sorry. He had been so sure she would win.
And then somebody called out, "Three cheers for Anne Shirley, winner of the scholarship!"
Suddenly many students were around them, and Anne was the center of a laughing, congratulating group.
She was pushed and pulled and hugged, but she managed to whisper to Jane, "Oh, won't Matthew and Marilla be pleased? I must write home right away."
After the scholarship and medal ceremony, Anne went home to Avonlea with Matthew and Marilla.
Diana was at Green Gables to greet her.
"It's so good to be home again," cried Anne, "and it's good to see you.
I have so many things to tell you.
But now I'm tired—tired of being studious.
I'll spend two hours tomorrow lying on the grass, thinking of absolutely nothing."
"You've done so well, Anne," said Diana.
"I suppose you won't be teaching, now that you've won the scholarship?"
"No, I won't," said Anne. "I'll go to the Redmond University in September."
"Jane's going to teach in Newbridge," said Diana, "and Gilbert is going to teach too. He must.
His father can't afford to send him to college next year, so he will work instead and save up the money for it."
Anne felt a little dismayed. She had expected Gilbert to go to Redmond University as well.
What would she do without their rivalry to inspire her?
And what would she do without her friends from Avonlea?