Chapter Text
‘Miss Shirley, there was a letter addressed to you mixed up with my correspondence,’ said Doctor Gilbert Blythe, holding out an official-looking envelope.
Twenty-six years old Anne Shirley, who had started working as a receptionist at Gilbert’s and Doctor Ward’s surgery two months before, glanced up from her desk with surprise.
‘A letter? To me?’ She took it from him and looked at it with lifted eyebrows. ‘Thank you, Doctor Blythe.’
She had no idea what it could possibly be. The paper was thick and expensive, the address typewritten.
She began to read it, and as she read it she felt her hands begin to tremble.
‘Are you all right, Miss Shirley?’
Anne looked up with a start and realised that Gilbert had not gone back to his surgery, but was standing leaning against the door and regarding her with an anxious frown.
He was always like that, kind and caring even about people whom he barely knew. Anne liked him very much and respected him even more, and his friendliness towards her was something which made the tediousness of her work at the reception desk much less onerous than it would have been otherwise.
But she could not possibly tell him what the letter was about.
‘I’m fine,’ she said, sending him a pale smile. ‘Would you mind very much if I went out for - for, let’s say, half an hour? An hour at the most? I have something very urgent to do.’
Gilbert looked even more worried. ‘Are you sure everything is all right? If I can help you in any way–’
‘No, no,’ she cut him off. ‘But there is someone I must see. Can I count on you not to mention my absence to the boss, Doctor Blythe?’ she added with an attempt at impishness meant to lighten up the situation.
Gilbert nodded. Anne sent him another smile and, gathering up her things, shot out of the room.
***
Gilbert stood looking after her for a moment with a frown forming slowly on his face. He knew very well who that someone she had to see in such a hurry was - Royal Gardner, the man who came to pick her up at the end of her shift on some of the days and whom Gilbert, without any specific reason at all, had disliked at first sight from the very bottom of his heart. Or, if he were to be honest with himself, it was not without a reason - it was because Roy was in no way deserving of the sweet smiles Anne directed his way. He was heir to the most prosperous finance company in Charlottetown, and for this reason he seemed to regard the affection Anne apparently bore him as something which was his by right. At least, that was how Gilbert saw it. All right, perhaps he was simply jealous. Perhaps he wished it was at him that Anne Shirley looked with such sweet adoration, that it was he who could walk her home at the end of her shift, that it was with him that she went out on Sunday afternoons. But it wasn’t, and it never would be, for, though he was reasonably well-off and knew himself to be moderately handsome and not unintelligent, he could not compete with the practiced charm and vast wealth of Royal Gardner.
***
‘Anne, calm down. I don’t understand a single word you’re saying.’
She and Roy were sitting on a park bench, after she had called at his office and asked him to spare her a few moments. He had been visibly annoyed by it, and now he was getting visibly confused as well.
Anne took a deep breath. ‘I am under threat of being deported back to Germany,’ she said, her voice a little shaky. ‘Imminently.’
‘Yes, but why? Why on Earth would they want you back there? You came away with your parents when you were only a little baby, didn’t you?’
‘Yes. My mother was German, and my father was Canadian, and he knew we had a better chance at a good life here than over there. But - but it doesn’t change the fact that I am a German citizen. And - and now my uncle - my mother’s brother - has been arrested for suspicious political activity, and they are trying to take their revenge on him by causing problems to the whole family.’
‘And what do you expect me to do about it?’ Roy asked, equal parts befuddled and irritated. ‘My family has no influence and no contacts at the German embassy. If we did, I’d try to intervene on your behalf, but we simply don’t.’
‘No. But you could do something else.’ It was awful to Anne that she had to be the one to say it. Roy should have come out with the suggestion himself, without any pressuring on her part. But that was not the way things seemed to be shaping, and she was desperate enough to throw her pride to the winds. Anything, rather than coming back to that place her parents had fled from, and which now, under the new regime, would surely become even less alluring. And living there as the relative of a man suspected of subversion would certainly not be pleasant. ‘Roy, they could not deport me if - if I had a Canadian citizenship.’
His expression, which had been tense, relaxed a little. ‘Well, then all you have to do is apply for it, and at once.’
Anne shook her head. ‘It takes weeks, perhaps even months for it to be granted, if it’s granted at all. And you’ve seen what it says in the letter. The repatriation is to come into effect immediately.’ She gulped. ‘But there is something else I can do. Something which will obtain me the citizenship on the spot, so to speak.’
He looked at her expectantly.
‘I could - I could get married to a Canadian. Then they could not touch me.’
Roy stared, as though he did not understand. Then, as the meaning of her words dawned on him, his expression became horrified, almost comically so, and an icy hand closed around Anne’s heart. She knew what he would say before he had even opened his mouth.
‘But - but Anne, it’s impossible. Surely, surely you can see yourself that it’s utterly impossible, in my position.’
Rigid, she withdrew her hand from his. ‘Are you telling me you had no intention of ever marrying me? That I was just- just a pastime?’
‘Yes - No,’ he stammered. ‘I didn’t think about it at all. It’s too early. We’ve only known each other for a few months.’
Anne’s cheeks felt very hot as she said, ‘But it’s an emergency, Roy.’
‘Yes, and that’s one more reason why– I mean, that makes it all the more impossible. Anne, I need to have a spotless reputation. You know I want to go into politics myself, perhaps even take part in the next municipal election. A wife with a threat like that hanging over her head would simply–’
‘Don’t say anything more,’ Anne cut in, icily, getting up and not looking at him. The shame she was feeling was so overwhelming she wondered how she was able to keep herself from being sick. ‘I understand. I shouldn’t have asked you. I think it’s better if we don’t see each other again. I would hate for your relationship with me to - to stain your spotless reputation.’
‘Oh, come on, Anne–’
But she had heard enough. Turning on her heel, she walked away from him, tears of anger and humiliation streaming down her face.
***
Anne was glad that Gilbert wasn’t around when she reentered the surgery reception. He would notice that something was wrong at once - and, as she could not possibly tell him the truth, she would have to invent some plausible lie, which at the moment felt simply beyond her powers of concentration.
She did her work mechanically through the rest of the afternoon, and when five o’clock struck she was exhausted with the effort it had taken her to keep herself together. She gathered her things quickly, thinking that with luck she might escape before Gilbert came out into the reception room. Her hand was already on the handle when she heard his voice behind her.
‘Miss Shirley?’
She turned, not meeting her eyes. ‘Yes?’
‘Did you manage to–’ he cleared his throat, and then started again. ‘I mean, I hope there wasn’t any bad news contained in that letter.’
She pressed her lips together. ‘No. Nothing too bad, I mean. It’s just a little problem with - with my permit to stay here. In Canada, I mean.’
‘A permit?’
‘Yes. You see,’ she finally lifted her eyes to his, ‘I’m not Canadian, not really. I was born in Germany. I need a permit to stay here, or else I’d have to go back - there.’
‘And you don’t want to?’
‘No.’ She said it so quickly and emphatically Gilbert lifted his eyebrows. ‘I mean, you know what they say about how things are getting to be over there.’
‘I do.’ He was silent for a moment, and she had some difficulty not dropping her gaze under his scrutiny. Then he said, seemingly out of the blue, ‘Would you allow me to walk you home?’
She looked so surprised at this that he hastened to add, by way of explanation: ‘I hope you won’t be offended when I tell you you don’t look well. I just want to make sure you get home safe.’
‘Oh.’ She hardly knew what she had meant to convey, but Gilbert took this as agreement, and coming up to her, opened the door and gestured for her to step out into the street. She did, and he came out after her, closing the door with a key.
They walked in silence, and Anne was so taken up with gloomy thoughts that when Gilbert said something she did not reply, and did not even realise that she hadn’t. When they finally reached the building where her little flat was situated she turned to thank him, and was startled when he put his hand on her sleeve to stop her from going in.
‘Miss Shirley, I don’t wish to intrude,’ he said, looking at her very earnestly. ‘But I can see that you are seriously preoccupied with something. If you tell me what it is, perhaps I will be able to help you. I would not badger you,’ he added hurriedly, ‘only I know you have no family here in town and perhaps - perhaps no one who could advise you.’
Anne opened her mouth to refuse his offer as politely as she could. She certainly didn’t mean to invite his pity. But the way he was looking at her, pleading and reassuring at the same time, made her change her mind.
So she told him about the contents of the letter, and he listened with a deepening furrow between his brows.
‘So, as you see, you’ll probably have to look for a new receptionist soon,’ she finished, trying hard to sound as if she was making light of the situation. ‘And I will have to brush up on my mastery of the German language.’
Gilbert did not smile. Instead, he reached out once more and, to Anne’s great surprise, took her hand in his. ‘Miss Shirley, please try not to worry about it too much, tonight,’ he said, warmly. ‘I - I promise I will find a way to help you.’
Anne was so taken aback by the way his fingers felt around hers that she merely looked back mutely. There was no way he could help her and she knew that, unless he married her himself, which, obviously, he could not and certainly would not want to do. She knew him to be kind, but marrying someone only to be helpful was a whole different affair, and not to be thought of. Obviously. Before she could gather her thoughts enough to form a response, Gilbert sent her a lopsided smile and then, letting go of her hand, turned abruptly and walked away down the street.