them. It saves me so much trouble in making myself love them.
Then, almost before anybody realized it, spring had come; out in
Avonlea the Mayflowers were peeping pinkly out on the sere barrens where
snow-wreaths lingered; and the mist of green was on the woods and in
the valleys. But in Charlottetown harassed Queen s students thought and
talked only of examinations.
It doesn t seem possible that the term is nearly over, said Anne.
Why, last fall it seemed so long to look forward to--a whole winter
of studies and classes. And here we are, with the exams looming up next
week. Girls, sometimes I feel as if those exams meant everything, but
when I look at the big buds swelling on those chestnut trees and
the misty blue air at the end of the streets they don t seem half so
important.
Jane and Ruby and Josie, who had dropped in, did not take this view
of it. To them the coming examinations were constantly very important
indeed--far more important than chestnut buds or Maytime hazes. It was
all very well for Anne, who was sure of passing at least, to have her
moments of belittling them, but when your whole future depended on
them--as the girls truly thought theirs did--you could not regard them
philosophically.
I ve lost seven pounds in the last two weeks, sighed Jane. It s no
use to say don t worry. I _will_ worry. Worrying helps you some--it
seems as if you were doing something when you re worrying. It would be
dreadful if I failed to get my license after going to Queen s all winter
and spending so much money.
_I_ don t care, said Josie Pye. If I don t pass this year I m coming
back next. My father can afford to send me. Anne, Frank Stockley says
that Professor Tremaine said Gilbert Blythe was sure to get the medal
and that Emily Clay would likely win the Avery scholarship.
That may make me feel badly tomorrow, Josie, laughed Anne, but just
now I honestly feel that as long as I know the violets are coming out
all purple down in the hollow below Green Gables and that little ferns
are poking their heads up in Lovers Lane, it s not a great deal of
difference whether I win the Avery or not. I ve done my best and I begin
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