01x15 - I’ll Come From the Ends of the Earth If Necessary

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Life is a series of departures.

I'm sorry, Rachel.

Sorry I ain't leaving you better off.

Don't be silly, Thomas!

I'm happy enough for anyone!

Children, look after your mother.

Thomas!

You've been a good mother, Rachel,

and a better wife than I deserved.

Come in!

Did we have a visitor?

Who would come calling so late?

Thomas Lynde is gone.

I'm going right down to Rachel.

You see to things here.

Yes, all right.

At the time, I could not even imagine

that this day marked the start

of so many departures

lying in wait for us all.

Chapter 15

I'll Come from

the Ends of the Earth

If Necessary

Come in.

Can you spare a moment?

Yes. How is Mrs. Lynde?

She's feeling calmer and more composed

after the funeral, but she's very lonely.

Yes, I suppose she must be.

When I've finished these exercises,

I'll run down and chat awhile with Mrs. Lynde.

Good. I think she'd like that.

Now tell me, Anne.

Yes?

I suppose Gilbert Blythe is

going to college in the fall.

Yes.

How would you like to go too, Anne?

Why ask me now? It's so sudden.

I've always felt that you should go.

I've never felt easy to think you

were giving it all up on my account.

But I've never been sorry for

a moment that I stayed home.

I've been so happy.

Oh, these past two years

have just been delightful.

I know you've been contented enough.

But we've saved up some money, and there's

scholarships and things you might win.

Yes, but I can't go.

Your eyes are better, of course;

but I can't leave you alone with the twins.

They need so much looking after.

That's what I wanted to talk over with you.

I'm thinking of asking Rachel

to come and live with me.

What, Mrs. Lynde would

come to live with you here?

Only if you like the idea, of course.

If she comes, she'll be company for me and

she'll do for the twins what I can't do,

so you can go to college as well as not.

Marilla

Rachel's the only close

friend I've got here,

and it's breaking her heart

to think of leaving Avonlea.

I think this would be a help to all of us.

So, Anne, I want you to have a real

think about going to college.

I've put out a lot of little roots these

two years, both on the island and at school.

When I'm pulled up,

they're going to hurt a great deal.

But perhaps it's best to go.

Must I get out all my ambitions and dust them?

Did you hear?

They say Miss Shirley's leaving the school.

Why?

She's going off to college.

I don't believe it!

Miss Shirley wouldn't up and leave us!

That's right! Stop spreading silly rumors!

What do you know?!

Tell me, Matthew,

what should I do?

What would you say to me now?

It will be horribly lonesome

here next winter.

The Allans will be gone, too.

I haven't made up my mind to go yet.

I'm afraid the Improvement Society will

go down when you and Gilbert are both gone.

Not a bit of fear of it,

especially since the older people are

becoming so enthusiastic about it.

I suppose you'll make heaps of lovely

new friends if you go off to college.

No matter how many friends

I make, they'll never be

as dear to me as the old ones,

especially a certain girl

with black eyes and dimples.

Anne

There's nobody like my own Diana.

Do you remember that evening we first met?

Of course I do.

We "swore" eternal friendship

in your garden.

Yes, we did.

We've kept that "oath," I think.

We've never had a quarrel nor even a coolness.

I shall never forget the thrill that went

over me the day you told me you loved me.

I'm just beginning to realize how

starved and lonely my heart really was

all through my childhood.

I should have been miserable

if I had never met you.

And I shall never love anybody

any girl half as well as I love you.

If I ever do marry and have a little girl

of my own, I'm going to name her Anne.

Oh, Diana!

Well then, I'll be going.

You take care now.

Where are you going, Anne?

To Echo Lodge.

Take me with you!

Me, too!

I will the next time I drive there.

Aww!

Besides, Paul is going with me,

and I fear you don't enjoy

yourself in his company, Davy.

Oh, I like Paul lots better'n I did.

Do you really?

Since I've got pretty good myself,

I don't mind his being gooder so much.

If I can keep on, I'll catch up with him

some day, both in legs and goodness.

A boy who makes such a mess of syrup all

over his face when he is eating his pudding

will never catch up with Paul Irving.

But I'll wash it when I'm done eating.

And I'll wash behind my ears

too, without being told.

I don't forget half as often as I did.

What about the bottoms of your feet?

There's so many corners about a fellow

that it's awful hard to remember them all.

Well, if I can't go to Miss Lavendar's,

I'll go over and see Mrs. Harrison.

Mrs. Harrison's an awful

nice woman, I tell you.

And Mr. Harrison's twice as nice

since he got married over again.

I guess getting married makes folks nicer.

Why don't you get married, Marilla?

I suppose it's because nobody would have me.

But maybe you never asked

anybody to have you.

Oh, Davy, it's the men that

have to do the asking.

But why? Why do they have to do it always?

I want to know.

I can't tell you how glad I am that

Miss Lavendar will be my new mother.

Mrs. Lynde says she thinks it's likely

Miss Lavendar will be like other people,

now that she's going to be married.

I heard the same thing.

But I don't want her to be

like other people, teacher.

And why is that?

There are too many other

people around as it is.

That's true. I'd like Miss Lavendar

to remain a free spirit.

You know, teacher

Yes, Paul?

No, it's nothing at all.

Good day!

Goodness!

Anne, Diana, thank you so much for coming.

And good day to you, Paul.

Good day.

Can we hear the echoes today?

Yes, it's a fine day for echoes.

Hello!

It has all turned out so beautiful!

I'm to go up to Boston and live

with Mr. Irving and Miss Lavendar.

Will you really?!

I'm so happy for you, Charlotta.

Ain't Mr. Irving splendid?

I'm awful thankful they're

so fond of each other.

And I'm glad that I'll get

to live with Charlotta!

Why, Master Paul, sir!

Oh, it's all so romantic!

If I hadn't taken the wrong path that day,

and if I hadn't taken Paul

to meet Miss Lavendar

So you want all the credit

for everything coming right?

No, I was an instrument of predestination!

Everything is foreordained!

Yes indeed, it's very romantic.

I can't see that it's so

terribly romantic at all.

Now, what are you going to do about college?

I'll tell you once I've decided.

Now, they're to be married the last Saturday

in June, under the honeysuckle trellis

the very spot where Mr. Irving proposed

to her twenty-five years ago!

That is romantic, even in prose.

I still can't see it.

Well, I can!

Miss Lavendar decided that she would

get married and go to the States.

While, nearer to home

Diana and Fred are in love with each other.

It's as if, somehow, Diana has

gone forward into a new world.

Things are changing so fast,

it almost frightens me.

And I'm afraid that this can't help

make some difference between Diana and me.

It almost feels as though

she's left me behind.

Anne! Anne!

Wake up, Anne!

Diana?

Listen, I I have some news to tell you.

I'm so happy, but it does seem ridiculous

to think of me being engaged.

What is it really like?

Well, it's perfectly lovely

to be engaged to Fred

but I think it would be simply horrid

to be engaged to anyone else.

There's not much comfort

for the rest of us in that,

seeing that there is only one Fred.

Oh, Anne!

Never mind, you'll understand sometime,

when your own turn comes.

Bless you, dearest of Dianas,

I understand now.

What else is an imagination for?

But something frightens me a little as well.

It will mean going forward, away from you.

Going forward down the road

of life is a wonderful thing.

Pick out your own way and stick to it!

I'd like to say just the same to you.

You must be my bridesmaid, you know, Anne.

Wherever you may be when I'm married.

I'll come from the ends

of the earth if necessary.

I'll hold you to that!

Of course, it won't be

for ever so long yet.

Mother says no daughter of hers shall

be married before she's twenty-one.

I think it's perfectly lovely of you to be

planning already for your home o' dreams.

I suppose.

A home o' dreams

What's wrong, Anne?!

Are you hurt?!

I-It was nothing.

I only stepped into the wrong house.

What? You can be so silly.

I suppose, Anne, you must think it's funny.

Fred is so different from the kind of

man I've always said I would marry.

You did always imagine a man who

acts a little wicked, didn't you?

Yes, but I wouldn't want

to make Fred that way,

because, don't you see,

he wouldn't be Fred then.

Well, I am glad Diana is

so happy and satisfied.

It looks ready to pour at any moment.

I only hope it will wait

until after the ceremony.

She does look sweet.

Lovely.

for richer, for poorer,

in sickness and in health,

to love and to cherish,

until death do you part?

I swear.

Then, you may kiss the bride.

What a lovely omen.

As though God were giving them His blessing.

Yes!

Oh, I want my wedding to be just like this!

Congratulations! Really and truly.

Thank you, Anne!

Wasn't that a lovely wedding?

I'll go back with them to Boston, once

they get home from their honeymoon.

Yes, you will, won't you?

I can hardly wait to go,

but I will feel lonely leaving here.

I know what you mean.

I think I've come to a

bend in my road as well.

But I don't know if I really

ought to go round it.

If you have dreams, don't give up on them.

I'm sure we will all miss you,

teacher, and cry when you're gone.

But doesn't crying make you feel better?

Paul

I'll do my level best to

get on in the States,

so please, teacher,

stick to the road you believe in.

That's what I'd like best!

Paul!

Thank you for all your help,

Miss Shirley, ma'am.

And thank you, Charlotta.

But oh, dear me,

don't it look lonesome?

It does that.

Now, if you'll excuse me, ma'am.

Take care.

And you, ma'am.

Have you made up your mind?

Gilbert.

Do you have a moment?

What are you thinking of, Anne?

Of so many things.

Of Miss Lavendar and Mr. Irving, of course.

Isn't it beautiful to think how

everything has turned out

how they have come together again

after all the years of separation

and misunderstanding?

Yes, it's beautiful,

but wouldn't it have been

more beautiful still, Anne,

if there had been no separation

or misunderstanding

if they had come hand in hand all the way

through life, with no memories behind them

but those which belonged to each other?

I've decided.

These past two years,

I've learned so many things with all of you,

but you've taught me more

than I ever taught you.

You've taught me lessons of

tenderness and innocent wisdom.

Please live your lives

finely and graciously,

holding fast to truth and

courtesy and kindness.

Keep aloof from all that savors of

falsehood and meanness and vulgarity.

Every one of you will be

always in my thoughts.

It was so very hard to say goodbye.

I'll never love any teacher

as much as you, Miss Shirley,

never, never.

And now,

I will close the page on my girlhood and

begin a new chapter as a grown woman.

This fall, I set out for Redmond College.

Next Time

It's Nicer Not to Know