Of course I am not cross at you because you have to obey your
mother. Our spirits can commune. I shall keep your lovely present
forever. Minnie Andrews is a very nice little girl--although she
has no imagination--but after having been Diana s busum friend I
cannot be Minnie s. Please excuse mistakes because my spelling
isn t very good yet, although much improoved.
Yours until death us do part
Anne or Cordelia Shirley.
P.S. I shall sleep with your letter under my pillow tonight.
A. _or_ C.S.
Marilla pessimistically expected more trouble since Anne had again begun
to go to school. But none developed. Perhaps Anne caught something of
the model spirit from Minnie Andrews; at least she got on very well
with Mr. Phillips thenceforth. She flung herself into her studies heart
and soul, determined not to be outdone in any class by Gilbert Blythe.
The rivalry between them was soon apparent; it was entirely good natured
on Gilbert s side; but it is much to be feared that the same thing
cannot be said of Anne, who had certainly an unpraiseworthy tenacity for
holding grudges. She was as intense in her hatreds as in her loves. She
would not stoop to admit that she meant to rival Gilbert in schoolwork,
because that would have been to acknowledge his existence which Anne
persistently ignored; but the rivalry was there and honors fluctuated
between them. Now Gilbert was head of the spelling class; now Anne, with
a toss of her long red braids, spelled him down. One morning Gilbert had
all his sums done correctly and had his name written on the blackboard
on the roll of honor; the next morning Anne, having wrestled wildly with
decimals the entire evening before, would be first. One awful day they
were ties and their names were written up together. It was almost as bad
as a take-notice and Anne s mortification was as evident as Gilbert s
satisfaction. When the written examinations at the end of each month
were held the suspense was terrible. The first month Gilbert came out
three marks ahead. The second Anne beat him by five. But her triumph was
marred by the fact that Gilbert congratulated her heartily before the
whole school. It would have been ever so much sweeter to her if he had
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