Even Josie Pye attained a certain preeminence as the sharpest-tongued young lady in attendance at Queen 's . So it may be fairly stated that Miss Stacy 's old pupils held their own in the wider arena of the academical course . Anne worked hard and steadily . Her rivalry with Gilbert was as intense as it had ever been in Avonlea school , although it was not known in the class at large , but somehow the bitterness had gone out of it . Anne no longer wished to win for the sake of defeating Gilbert ; rather , for the proud consciousness of a well-won victory over a worthy foeman . It would be worth while to win , but she no longer thought life would be insupportable if she did not . In spite of lessons the students found opportunities for pleasant times . Anne spent many of her spare hours at Beechwood and generally ate her Sunday dinners there and went to church with Miss Barry . The latter was , as she admitted , growing old , but her black eyes were not dim nor the vigor of her tongue in the least abated . But she never sharpened the latter on Anne , who continued to be a prime favorite with the critical old lady . `` That Anne-girl improves all the time , '' she said . `` I get tired of other girls -- there is such a provoking and eternal sameness about them . Anne has as many shades as a rainbow and every shade is the prettiest while it lasts . I do n't know that she is as amusing as she was when she was a child , but she makes me love her and I like people who make me love them . It saves me so much trouble in making myself love them . '' Then , almost before anybody realized it , spring had come ; out in Avonlea the Mayflowers were peeping pinkly out on the sere barrens where snow-wreaths lingered ; and the `` mist of green '' was on the woods and in the valleys . But in Charlottetown harassed Queen 's students thought and talked only of examinations . `` It does n't seem possible that the term is nearly over , '' said Anne . `` Why , last fall it seemed so long to look forward to -- a whole winter of studies and classes . And here we are , with the exams looming up next week .
Girls , sometimes I feel as if those XXXXX meant everything , but when I look at the big buds swelling on those chestnut trees and the misty blue air at the end of the streets they do n't seem half so important . ''
Anne Anne-girl Avonlea Gilbert Mayflowers Queen barrens exams foeman preeminence