`` It 's a nice old burg , they tell me , and has the finest natural park in the world . I 've heard that the scenery in it is magnificent . '' `` I wonder if it will be -- can be -- any more beautiful than this , '' murmured Anne , looking around her with the loving , enraptured eyes of those to whom `` home '' must always be the loveliest spot in the world , no matter what fairer lands may lie under alien stars . They were leaning on the bridge of the old pond , drinking deep of the enchantment of the dusk , just at the spot where Anne had climbed from her sinking Dory on the day Elaine floated down to Camelot . The fine , empurpling dye of sunset still stained the western skies , but the moon was rising and the water lay like a great , silver dream in her light . Remembrance wove a sweet and subtle spell over the two young creatures . `` You are very quiet , Anne , '' said Gilbert at last . `` I 'm afraid to speak or move for fear all this wonderful beauty will vanish just like a broken silence , '' breathed Anne . Gilbert suddenly laid his hand over the slender white one lying on the rail of the bridge . His hazel eyes deepened into darkness , his still boyish lips opened to say something of the dream and hope that thrilled his soul . But Anne snatched her hand away and turned quickly . The spell of the dusk was broken for her . `` I must go home , '' she exclaimed , with a rather overdone carelessness . `` Marilla had a headache this afternoon , and I 'm sure the twins will be in some dreadful mischief by this time . I really should n't have stayed away so long . '' She chattered ceaselessly and inconsequently until they reached the Green Gables lane . Poor Gilbert hardly had a chance to get a word in edgewise . Anne felt rather relieved when they parted . There had been a new , secret self-consciousness in her heart with regard to Gilbert , ever since that fleeting moment of revelation in the garden of Echo Lodge . Something alien had intruded into the old , perfect , school-day comradeship -- something that threatened to mar it .
`` I never felt glad XXXXX see Gilbert go before , '' she thought , half-resentfully , half-sorrowfully , as she walked alone up the lane .
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