And she honestly believed it was . But a certain little gush of joy , as from some secret , unknown spring , bubbled up in her heart the next evening , when she saw Gilbert striding down through the Haunted Wood and crossing the old log bridge with that firm , quick step of his . So Gilbert was not going to spend this last evening with Ruby Gillis after all ! `` You look tired , Anne , '' he said . `` I am tired , and , worse than that , I 'm disgruntled . I 'm tired because I 've been packing my trunk and sewing all day . But I 'm disgruntled because six women have been here to say good-bye to me , and every one of the six managed to say something that seemed to take the color right out of life and leave it as gray and dismal and cheerless as a November morning . '' `` Spiteful old cats ! '' was Gilbert 's elegant comment . `` Oh , no , they were n't , '' said Anne seriously . `` That is just the trouble . If they had been spiteful cats I would n't have minded them . But they are all nice , kind , motherly souls , who like me and whom I like , and that is why what they said , or hinted , had such undue weight with me . They let me see they thought I was crazy going to Redmond and trying to take a B.A. , and ever since I 've been wondering if I am . Mrs. Peter Sloane sighed and said she hoped my strength would hold out till I got through ; and at once I saw myself a hopeless victim of nervous prostration at the end of my third year ; Mrs. Eben Wright said it must cost an awful lot to put in four years at Redmond ; and I felt all over me that it was unpardonable of me to squander Marilla 's money and my own on such a folly . Mrs. Jasper Bell said she hoped I would n't let college spoil me , as it did some people ; and I felt in my bones that the end of my four Redmond years would see me a most insufferable creature , thinking I knew it all , and looking down on everything and everybody in Avonlea ; Mrs. Elisha Wright said she understood that Redmond girls , especially those who belonged to Kingsport , were ` dreadful dressy and stuck-up , ' and she guessed I would n't feel much at home among them ; and I saw myself , a snubbed , dowdy , humiliated country girl , shuffling through Redmond 's classic halls in coppertoned boots . '' Anne ended with a laugh and a sigh commingled . With her sensitive nature all disapproval had weight , even the disapproval of those for whose opinions she had scant respect . For the time being life was savorless , and ambition had gone out like a snuffed candle . `` You surely do n't care for what they said , '' protested Gilbert .
`` You know exactly how narrow their outlook XXXXX life is , excellent creatures though they are .
as because for of on over than through till to