It was fall at Green Gables. Anne and Diana Barry were resting in a sunny corner of the Green Gables orchard. They had been picking apples.
"It's been a nice summer," said Diana, "and Miss Lavender's wedding was the highlight.
Winter will be awfully dull with you and Gilbert gone."
"Fred will be here," said Anne teasingly.
"Still, I can't believe you leave next week!" said Diana for the hundredth time. "I'll be so lonely."
"It's me who'll be lonely!" said Anne. "I don't know anyone at Redmond College."
"Except Gilbert—and Charlie Sloane," said Diana, teasing Anne the way Anne had teased her.
"Charlie Sloane will be a great comfort," Anne said sarcastically, and they both laughed.
Diana knew that Anne did not enjoy Charlie's attention.
Both girls were less sure of how Anne felt about Gilbert.
They were great friends, but Gilbert had been expressing some romantic interest in Anne lately.
Diana soon returned home, and Anne went to the post office.
There she picked up a letter she'd received from Priscilla Grant, a friend that Anne had made at Queen's College.
As Anne walked home, reading the letter, she bumped into Gilbert Blythe.
"Gilbert!" Anne said excitedly, holding out the letter.
"Priscilla Grant is going to Redmond College too!"
"I think we'll be very happy at the college, Anne," said Gilbert.
"I've heard Halifax is a nice old town with many beautiful parks and magnificent scenery."
"I wonder if it will be—can be—any more beautiful than this," murmured Anne, looking around her.
Gilbert and Anne leaned on the bridge near the old pond.
"You are very quiet, Anne," said Gilbert at last.
He covered Anne's slender hand with his own.
His hazel eyes grew dark, and he opened his mouth to speak of his love for Anne.
But Anne snatched her hand away and turned quickly. "I must go home!" she exclaimed.
She chattered away until they parted a few minutes later.
"I never felt glad to see Gilbert go before," she thought as she walked alone up the lane to Green Gables.
"Our friendship will be spoiled if he goes on with this nonsense. Why can't boys just be sensible?"
The following week went quickly. The Avonlea Improvement Society gave a farewell party in honor of Anne and Gilbert.
Everyone was there: Diana Barry, rosy and dimpled, together with Fred;
Jane Andrews, neat and sensible; Ruby Gillis, pretty with red geraniums in her golden hair;
and Gilbert Blythe and Charlie Sloane, both trying to stay as close to Anne as possible.
Anne enjoyed the evening tremendously, but at the end it was spoiled.
On the veranda Gilbert tried again to say something romantic to her.
Anne was so annoyed that later, to punish him, she decided to walk home with Charlie Sloane.
When she looked to see if her punishment was working, Anne saw Gilbert leaving with the beautiful Ruby Gillis.
She felt a small knot in her stomach—her punishment had backfired!
A week later it was Monday, the day that Anne, Gilbert, and Charlie were to leave for Redmond College.
Rain poured down, and Mrs. Lynde, Marilla, Dora, and Anne were quietly eating breakfast.
For the first time ever, Davy did not eat, but instead spent the meal crying into his porridge.
Afterwards Marilla and Mrs. Lynde kissed Anne good-bye.
Dora squeezed out two tears and kissed Anne primly, but Davy refused to say good-bye at all.
Instead he ran and hid in the cupboard.
Diana arrived with the horse and buggy, and Anne climbed in.
Davy's muffled cries were the last sounds Anne heard as she left Green Gables.
When they arrived at the Avonlea train station, Charlie and Gilbert were waiting on the platform.
Anne just had time to check her luggage, show her ticket, and say a hurried good-bye to Diana before the train left for Charlottetown.
Anne, Charlie, and Gilbert got off the train at Charlottetown and boarded the ferry bound for Nova Scotia.
As the ferry left the harbor, the sun came out, and Anne felt a little less homesick.
Charlie became so seasick that Anne and Gilbert were left alone on the deck.
"Oh, Gilbert," said Anne. "I do hope I'll like Redmond College, but I'm sure I won't!"
"Anne, that's not like you!" Gilbert said, surprised.
"I've always longed to go to college," said Anne.
"But now that I am, I wish I wasn't!" She paused.
"I'll have a good cry and then I should feel better."
Anne walked to other end of the deck and did just that.
It was nine o'clock that night when the boat reached Halifax, and they found themselves in the crowded port.
Anne felt horribly bewildered, but before long Priscilla Grant, who had come to Halifax on Saturday, grabbed her.
"Here you are, Anne!" said Priscilla with a smile. "And I suppose you're pretty tired."
"Tired!" Anne exclaimed. "Priscilla, if you weren't here, I think I would just sit down on my suitcase and cry!"
Priscilla smiled and said, "Is that Gilbert Blythe over there, Anne? He's grown up!
And of course that's Charlie Sloane. He hasn't changed."
Anne and Priscilla waved good-bye to Gilbert and Charlie and got in a cab.
"We're staying in a lovely boardinghouse, Anne," Priscilla said,
"Our landladies are lovely too—Miss Hannah Harvey and Miss Ada Harvey. They're twins."
"I can't get away from twins," Anne said, smiling as she thought of Davy and Dora.
Then she and Priscilla set off toward their new home and new life in Halifax.