A few days after the gathering at Ruby's, Anne and Diana were walking slowly near the stream next to Green Gables.
"What are you thinking, Anne?" asked Diana.
"I've been thinking about writing a short story," Anne confessed.
"I'm hoping I can get it published, in a women's magazine maybe."
"Oh, have you started it?" exclaimed Diana, very interested.
"I've only written a few pages, but I've got a suitable plot," Anne replied.
"The main character's name is Averil. The hero's name is Harold Jonathon Wittington.
I think they are elegant and fitting names for the main characters, don't you?
It took me hours to think of those names, Diana."
"Have you named all the characters?" asked Diana wistfully.
"If you haven't, could I name someone? Even if it's just some unimportant person."
"You can name the servant," conceded Anne.
"I think his name will be . . . Bobby," said Diana promptly.
"And you'll let me read your story, won't you, Anne?"
"When it is finished," Anne said, "I'll read it to you and Mr. Harrison." He was Anne's neighbor in Avonlea.
"And I want you both to criticize it severely, since no one else shall see it until it is published."
"How are you going to end the story? Happily or unhappily?" Diana asked.
"I'm not sure," Anne said. "I'd like it to end unhappily, because that would be so much more romantic.
But I think magazine editors have a prejudice against sad endings.
A famous author once said that only a genius should write an unhappy ending. And I am anything but a genius."
"Oh, I like happy endings best.
I think the hero should marry Averil," said Diana, who, especially since her engagement to Fred, thought this was how every story should end.
"But don't you like to cry when you read stories?" Anne asked.
"Yes," Diana said. "But I only like crying in the middle of the story. I like everything to end happily."
"Hmm, perhaps I should have one tragic scene," said Anne thoughtfully.
"Perhaps Bobby the servant is injured in a tractor accident in the fields and dies—"
"No! You can't kill Bobby!" said Diana, laughing.
"He belongs to me and I want him to live and flourish! Kill someone else."
"But it's my story!" Anne laughed with her.
Over the next fortnight, Anne worked hard on her story, writing day and night.
She managed to include a tragic scene without killing Bobby the servant.
When the story was finally finished, Anne read it to Diana on the porch of Green Gables.
When Anne looked up after reading the last paragraph, Diana seemed disappointed.
"Why did you kill Anthony Lennox?" Diana asked reproachfully.
"He was the villain," protested Anne. "He had to be punished!"
"I liked him best of all!" said Diana, unreasonably, it seemed to Anne.
"Well, he's dead, and he'll have to stay dead," said Anne, annoyed.
"If I had let him live, he would have kept persecuting Averil and Harold. The villain had to die, Diana!"
"Well, anyway," Diana said, "it's a wonderful story, Anne, and it will make you famous, I'm sure. What's its title?"
"Oh, I decided that long ago," Anne replied. "It's called 'Averil's Atonement.'
Both words begin with the letter a, so it sounds sophisticated.
Now, Diana, tell me honestly, do you see any faults in my story?"
"Well," hesitated Diana, "that part where Averil makes the cake doesn't seem quite romantic enough to match the rest of the story.
Heroines shouldn't cook."
"But that's a funny part, and one of the best parts of the story!" Anne exclaimed.
Diana prudently refrained from any further criticism, but later Mr. Harrison criticized the story a lot.
"Why did you write a story about rich people with silly names?" he asked.
"You should write about the people you know, here in Avonlea."
"But Avonlea is not romantic," Anne protested.
"Well," Mr. Harrison replied, "I don't like the hero, Harold, either.
He's too good. He just stands around being polite and romantic. I prefer the villain, Anthony Lennox."
Anne decided the next time she wrote a story, she wouldn't ask for anyone's feedback!
Anne sent the story to one of the biggest women's magazines and waited to hear from them. She didn't have to wait long.
The magazine sent the story back a week later with a letter that said "Averil's Atonement" wasn't "suitable."
Diana tried to comfort Anne, saying, "Those big magazines are no good anyway," and that she should keep trying.
Not to be dissuaded, Anne sent the story to another magazine.
It was sent back even faster. Anne didn't believe the editor had read it at all!
Discouraged, she put her story away underneath her dresser and gave the extra copy to Diana.
Anne never mentioned the two rejections to Mr. Harrison, but one evening he asked her bluntly if her story had been accepted.
"No, the editors didn't accept it," Anne answered briefly.
Mr. Harrison looked at Anne's flushed face.
"Well, I hope you keep writing, Anne," he said encouragingly.
"No, I shall never try to write a story again," declared Anne.
"I wouldn't give up altogether," said Mr. Harrison gently, looking at Anne's flushed face.
"I would keep writing once in a while.
Why don't you write about people and places you know?
Make the characters talk in everyday English, and write about everyday life. But don't stop writing, Anne."
"No. It was foolish of me to try," Anne said firmly.
"I am good at teaching, and when I finish college, I'll return to that.
I can teach. I can't write stories."
"When you finish college, it'll be time to get married, Anne," said Mr. Harrison.
Anne scowled. Sometimes Mr. Harrison was so annoying! She got up and marched home.