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looking at her rescuer, ā€œand I had to drift down to Camelot in the bargeā ā€”I mean the flat. The flat began to leak and I climbed out on the pile. The girls went for help. Will you be kind enough to row me to the landing?ā€

Gilbert obligingly rowed to the landing and Anne, disdaining assistance, sprang nimbly on shore.

ā€œIā€™m very much obliged to you,ā€ she said haughtily as she turned away. But Gilbert had also sprung from the boat and now laid a detaining hand on her arm.

ā€œAnne,ā€ he said hurriedly, ā€œlook here. Canā€™t we be good friends? Iā€™m awfully sorry I made fun of your hair that time. I didnā€™t mean to vex you and I only meant it for a joke. Besides, itā€™s so long ago. I think your hair is awfully pretty nowā ā€”honest I do. Letā€™s be friends.ā€

For a moment Anne hesitated. She had an odd, newly awakened consciousness under all her outraged dignity that the half-shy, half-eager expression in Gilbertā€™s hazel eyes was something that was very good to see. Her heart gave a quick, queer little beat. But the bitterness of her old grievance promptly stiffened up her wavering determination. That scene of two years before flashed back into her recollection as vividly as if it had taken place yesterday. Gilbert had called her ā€œcarrotsā€ and had brought about her disgrace before the whole school. Her resentment, which to other and older people might be as laughable as its cause, was in no whit allayed and softened by time seemingly. She hated Gilbert Blythe! She would never forgive him!

ā€œNo,ā€ she said coldly, ā€œI shall never be friends with you, Gilbert Blythe; and I donā€™t want to be!ā€

ā€œAll right!ā€ Gilbert sprang into his skiff with an angry color in his cheeks. ā€œIā€™ll never ask you to be friends again, Anne Shirley. And I donā€™t care either!ā€

He pulled away with swift defiant strokes, and Anne went up the steep, ferny little path under the maples. She held her head very high, but she was conscious of an odd feeling of regret. She almost wished she had answered Gilbert differently. Of course, he had insulted her terribly, but stillā ā€”! Altogether, Anne rather thought it would be a relief to sit down and have a good cry. She was really quite unstrung, for the reaction from her fright and cramped clinging was making itself felt.

Halfway up the path she met Jane and Diana rushing back to the pond in a state narrowly removed from positive frenzy. They had found nobody at Orchard Slope, both Mr. and Mrs. Barry being away. Here Ruby Gillis had succumbed to hysterics, and was left to recover from them as best she might, while Jane and Diana flew through the Haunted Wood and across the brook to Green Gables. There they had found nobody either, for Marilla had gone to Carmody and Matthew was making hay in the back field.

ā€œOh, Anne,ā€ gasped Diana, fairly falling on the formerā€™s neck and weeping with relief and delight, ā€œoh, Anneā ā€”we thoughtā ā€”you wereā ā€”drownedā ā€”and we felt like murderersā ā€”because we had madeā ā€”you beā ā€”Elaine. And Ruby is in hystericsā ā€”oh, Anne, how did you escape?ā€

ā€œI climbed up on one of the piles,ā€ explained Anne wearily, ā€œand Gilbert Blythe came along in Mr. Andrewsā€™s dory and brought me to land.ā€

ā€œOh, Anne, how splendid of him! Why, itā€™s so romantic!ā€ said Jane, finding breath enough for utterance at last. ā€œOf course youā€™ll speak to him after this.ā€

ā€œOf course I wonā€™t,ā€ flashed Anne, with a momentary return of her old spirit. ā€œAnd I donā€™t want ever to hear the word ā€˜romanticā€™ again, Jane Andrews. Iā€™m awfully sorry you were so frightened, girls. It is all my fault. I feel sure I was born under an unlucky star. Everything I do gets me or my dearest friends into a scrape. Weā€™ve gone and lost your fatherā€™s flat, Diana, and I have a presentiment that weā€™ll not be allowed to row on the pond any more.ā€

Anneā€™s presentiment proved more trustworthy than presentiments are apt to do. Great was the consternation in the Barry and Cuthbert households when the events of the afternoon became known.

ā€œWill you ever have any sense, Anne?ā€ groaned Marilla.

ā€œOh, yes, I think I will, Marilla,ā€ returned Anne optimistically. A good cry, indulged in the grateful solitude of the east gable, had soothed her nerves and restored her to her wonted cheerfulness. ā€œI think my prospects of becoming sensible are brighter now than ever.ā€

ā€œI donā€™t see how,ā€ said Marilla.

ā€œWell,ā€ explained Anne, ā€œIā€™ve learned a new and valuable lesson today. Ever since I came to Green Gables Iā€™ve been making mistakes, and each mistake has helped to cure me of some great shortcoming. The affair of the amethyst brooch cured me of meddling with things that didnā€™t belong to me. The Haunted Wood mistake cured me of letting my imagination run away with me. The liniment cake mistake cured me of carelessness in cooking. Dyeing my hair cured me of vanity. I never think about my hair and nose nowā ā€”at least, very seldom. And todayā€™s mistake is going to cure me of being too romantic. I have come to the conclusion that it is no use trying to be romantic in Avonlea. It was probably easy enough in towered Camelot hundreds of years ago, but romance is not appreciated now. I feel quite sure that you will soon see a great improvement in me in this respect, Marilla.ā€

ā€œIā€™m sure I hope so,ā€ said Marilla skeptically.

But Matthew, who had been sitting mutely in his corner, laid a hand on Anneā€™s shoulder when Marilla had gone out.

ā€œDonā€™t give up all your romance, Anne,ā€ he whispered shyly, ā€œa little of it is a good thingā ā€”not too much, of courseā ā€”but keep a little of it, Anne, keep a little of it.ā€

XXIX An Epoch in Anneā€™s Life

Anne was bringing the cows home from the back pasture by way of Loverā€™s Lane. It was a September evening and all the gaps and clearings in the woods were brimmed up

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