And now , this crisp September morning , Anne and Diana were tripping blithely down the Birch Path , two of the happiest little girls in Avonlea . `` I guess Gilbert Blythe will be in school today , '' said Diana . `` He 's been visiting his cousins over in New Brunswick all summer and he only came home Saturday night . He 's AW ` FLY handsome , Anne . And he teases the girls something terrible . He just torments our lives out . '' Diana 's voice indicated that she rather liked having her life tormented out than not . `` Gilbert Blythe ? '' said Anne . `` Is n't his name that 's written up on the porch wall with Julia Bell 's and a big ` Take Notice ' over them ? '' `` Yes , '' said Diana , tossing her head , `` but I 'm sure he does n't like Julia Bell so very much . I 've heard him say he studied the multiplication table by her freckles . '' `` Oh , do n't speak about freckles to me , '' implored Anne . `` It is n't delicate when I 've got so many . But I do think that writing take-notices up on the wall about the boys and girls is the silliest ever . I should just like to see anybody dare to write my name up with a boy 's . Not , of course , '' she hastened to add , `` that anybody would . '' Anne sighed . She did n't want her name written up . But it was a little humiliating to know that there was no danger of it .
`` Nonsense , '' said Diana , whose black eyes and glossy tresses had played such havoc with the hearts of Avonlea schoolboys that her name figured XXXXX the porch walls in half a dozen take-notices .
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