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When Gilbert picked up the hat that flew off the lady hurrying down the high street of charlotte town he had no reason to suspect who it belonged to. He brushed off the dust and looked down at the hat, looking up swiftly when Miss Rose grasped his arm to point further ahead. He was just in time to see her. It was a woman with an outstandingly colourful head of head pinned up most elegantly. It reminded Gilbert of someone but he hardly had time to dwell on it before he had to suppress a laugh at the comical display this stranger was now putting on.
First, she reached her gloved hat up to her intricate hairdo and when she didn’t find the hat there she stopped most abruptly and comically started patting her head more frantically. Almost as if she expected it to have shrunk down and to be hiding between two of her locks. She swung round almost violently and seemed incredibly taken aback to find herself face to face with Gilbert.
‘Gilbert!’ She gasped whilst snatching her hat reflexively out of his hands. She clutched it to her chest in a way reminiscent of a soldier putting up his shield.
Gilbert was so startled a fair few seconds had ticked by before he collected his wits and replied.
‘Anne?’ He knew his eyebrows were furrowed and he slowly returned his hand to his side.
A lifetime could have passed as the three of them stood there. Anne shocked, Gilbert confused, Miss Rose positively mystified yet amused. It had gone on too long before Winifred took it upon herself to take the inevitable next step in this interaction.
‘My name is Winifred Rose, I work with Dr Ward. What a pleasure to make your acquaintance.’ The dainty hand pushed between the two friends finally alerted them to the rest of the world.
Gilbert immediately began introducing Anne but this was quite drowned out by Anne’s enthusiastic response to Miss Rose. She loudly proclaimed how pleased she was to meet her and how beautifully dark her hair was and how her eyes positively sparkled with mischief and how marvellous it must be to work for a doctor. She shook her hand equally enthusiastically and Gilbert had to wait for a long time before he could interject for long enough to speak.
‘Anne, why are you dressed like this?’ Anne suddenly seemed to remember herself and simultaneously become a bit self-conscious and equally self-righteous. She battled internally with those two emotions until she settled on self-deprecating. Perhaps wishing to avoid a scene in front of her new acquaintance.
‘I know I must look like a child playing dress-up! I fooled who I had to fool though so my disguise worked.’ She seemed to get more animated talking about it. ‘Oh Gilbert I’ve been on the most marvellous adventure today and yes there were tears but…’
Anne was interrupted by the bell in the square tolling the hour. Her eyes widened and she brought her hand up to cover her gasp as she started with her other hand reaching out to rest on Gilbert's arm.
‘I must go! I have to meet Cole at his house and he will have to rush if he is going to help me get all the pins out of my hair in time. It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Rose, I DO hope we can be friends’
Then, just as suddenly as they had bumped into her, she had turned and gone.
Gilbert was standing there trying to process everything. How grown-up Anne had looked. Not only grown up but grown-up and beautiful. He was trying to figure out how he felt about Anne meeting Winifred but that was a confusing mess of thought and emotion that he couldn’t untangle. He had also become incredibly aware of his arm. More specifically the square inch of arm where Anne had rested her gloved hand for less than a second. He wondered what made her cry. He thought about how nice her hair looked all pinned up.
He would have carried on in this way for God knows how long if Miss Rose hadn’t started laughing. Her laugh was a pretty, ladylike laugh but completely genuine.
‘What a strange girl’ Gilbert tensed slightly at this ‘She seems like such a lovely friend to have.’ This mollified Gilbert a little bit but he was still wary.
‘Gilbert, I understand now, I was surprised that a man of your age didn’t understand the unspoken rules of courting but I see now that the problem must lie in how you’ve grown up in Avonlea. I wish I could be as bold as your friend Anne! Announcing to half of Charlottetown about her beau unpinning her hair for her. I doubt even married women would speak like that in public’ Miss Rose said all of this quite merrily and completely sincerely and she was so amused by the whole scene that she didn’t even notice Gilbert going completely still beside her. If she was watching she might have described him as having a peculiar facial expression. Sort of as if he was sick, perhaps with a dawning realisation.
The walk back to Dr Ward’s clinic carried on in much the same way. Miss Rose would remember another aspect of the encounter that she thought was amusing and Gilbert would say little to nothing.
The afternoon was quiet and this allowed Gilbert plenty of time to think as he organised the bookshelf. Perhaps this wasn’t a good thing as the longer he thought about things the angrier he became. He started slamming medical textbooks into place one by one. SLAM The laughing smile in Anne’s eyes as she declared that Cole was going to unpin her hair. SLAM. The fact that he needed Miss Rose of all people to point out what had been so obvious for so long. SLAM. Right now Cole was probably sliding a hairpin gently out of Anne’s hair. SLAM. Letting her beautiful hair fall around her shoulder. SLAM. Cole might be feeling her soft hair. SLAM. He could certainly smell it. SLAM.
He ran out of books to place in the bookshelf but he certainly didn’t run out of imagination or anger. He sat down on a nearby box, covered in dust and smothered in frustration. He tried to be logical about it. He thought about everything that Cole and Anne had in common. How close they’d become when he went away to work on the steamship. How clearly they cared for and relied on each other. How Cole was attending a fancy art school and had the support from Diana Barry’s aunt. He’d soon be an influential member of society and able to offer Anne everything she has ever wanted and always deserved.
Gilbert Blythe sat there in the dimly lit office, alone, and for the first time in a long time he didn’t know what he was going to do next.