It wo n't make a bit of difference where I go or how much I change outwardly ; at heart I shall always be your little Anne , who will love you and Matthew and dear Green Gables more and better every day of her life . '' Anne laid her fresh young cheek against Marilla 's faded one , and reached out a hand to pat Matthew 's shoulder . Marilla would have given much just then to have possessed Anne 's power of putting her feelings into words ; but nature and habit had willed it otherwise , and she could only put her arms close about her girl and hold her tenderly to her heart , wishing that she need never let her go . Matthew , with a suspicious moisture in his eyes , got up and went out-of-doors . Under the stars of the blue summer night he walked agitatedly across the yard to the gate under the poplars . `` Well now , I guess she ai n't been much spoiled , '' he muttered , proudly . `` I guess my putting in my oar occasional never did much harm after all . She 's smart and pretty , and loving , too , which is better than all the rest . She 's been a blessing to us , and there never was a luckier mistake than what Mrs. Spencer made -- if it WAS luck . I do n't believe it was any such thing . It was Providence , because the Almighty saw we needed her , I reckon . '' The day finally came when Anne must go to town . She and Matthew drove in one fine September morning , after a tearful parting with Diana and an untearful practical one -- on Marilla 's side at least -- with Marilla . But when Anne had gone Diana dried her tears and went to a beach picnic at White Sands with some of her Carmody cousins , where she contrived to enjoy herself tolerably well ; while Marilla plunged fiercely into unnecessary work and kept at it all day long with the bitterest kind of heartache -- the ache that burns and gnaws and can not wash itself away in ready tears . But that night , when Marilla went to bed , acutely and miserably conscious that the little gable room at the end of the hall was untenanted by any vivid young life and unstirred by any soft breathing , she buried her face in her pillow , and wept for her girl in a passion of sobs that appalled her when she grew calm enough to reflect how very wicked it must be to take on so about a sinful fellow creature . Anne and the rest of the Avonlea scholars reached town just in time to hurry off to the Academy . That first day passed pleasantly enough in a whirl of excitement , meeting all the new students , learning to know the professors by sight and being assorted and organized into classes . Anne intended taking up the Second Year work being advised to do so by Miss Stacy ; Gilbert Blythe elected to do the same . This meant getting a First Class teacher 's license in one year instead of two , if they were successful ; but it also meant much more and harder work . Jane , Ruby , Josie , Charlie , and Moody Spurgeon , not being troubled with the stirrings of ambition , were content to take up the Second Class work .
Anne was conscious XXXXX a pang of loneliness when she found herself in a room with fifty other students , not one of whom she knew , except the tall , brown-haired boy across the room ; and knowing him in the fashion she did , did not help her much , as she reflected pessimistically .
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