to
  all the girls all over the world
  who have "wanted more" about
                                 ANNE

                    All precious things discovered late
                    To those that seek them issue forth,
                    For Love in sequel works with Fate,
                    And draws the veil from hidden worth.
                                              -TENNYSON
 
  Chapter I
  The Shadow of Change

    "Harvest is ended and summer
        is gone," quoted Anne Shirley,
           gazing across the shorn
               fields dreamily.

    She and Diana Barry
        had been
              picking apples
                   in the Green Gables orchard,
           but were now
             resting from their
            labors in a sunny corner,
         where airy fleets of thistledown
              drifted by
                   on the wings
                       of a wind
             that was
                  still summer-sweet
                       with the incense of ferns
                     in the Haunted Wood.

    But everything in the landscape
           around them spoke of autumn.

    The sea
        was roaring hollowly
               in the distance,
           the fields were
             bare and sere,
         scarfed with golden rod,
           the brook valley
               below Green Gables
            overflowed with asters
                   of ethereal purple,
         and the Lake
               of Shining Waters
            was blue
         -- blue --
            blue;
        not the changeful blue
               of spring,
           nor the pale azure
               of summer,
         but a clear,
           steadfast,
         serene blue,
           as if the water
            were past all moods
                   and tenses of emotion
            and had
                  settled down
                       to a tranquility unbroken
                     by fickle dreams.

    "It has been
           a nice summer,"
          said Diana,
           twisting the new ring
               on her left hand
             with a smile.

    "And Miss Lavendar's wedding
        seemed to come
               as a sort
                   of crown to it.

    I suppose Mr.
           and Mrs. Irving
        are on
               the Pacific coast now."

    "It seems to me
      they have been gone
             long enough
              to go around the world,"
                  sighed Anne.

    "I can't believe it
        is only a week
         since they were married.

    Everything has changed.

    Miss Lavendar
           and Mr.
         and Mrs. Allan gone
         how lonely the manse looks
               with the shutters all closed!

    I went past it
          last night,
           and it made me feel
             as if everybody in it
                had died."

    "We'll never
          get another minister
               as nice
             as Mr. Allan,"
              said Diana,
           with gloomy conviction.

    "I suppose
        we'll have
               all kinds
                   of supplies this winter,
           and half the Sundays no
              preaching at all.

    And you and Gilbert gone
          -- it
            will be awfully dull."

    "Fred will be here,"
          insinuated Anne slyly.

    "When is Mrs. Lynde
          going to move up?"

    asked Diana,
           as if
             she had not
                  heard Anne's remark.

    "Tomorrow.

    I'm glad she's coming
          -- but
             it will be another change.

    Marilla and
         I cleared everything
               out of
                   the spare room yesterday.

    Do you know,
           I hated to do it?

    Of course,
           it was silly
          -- but it did seem
             as if
                 we were committing sacrilege.

    That old spare room
        has always seemed
             like a shrine to me.

    When
         I was a child
           I thought it the
               most wonderful apartment
             in the world.

    You remember
         what a consuming desire
             I had
                  to sleep
                       in a spare room bed
         but not
               the Green Gables spare room.

    Oh,
           no,
         never there!

    It would have been
           too terrible
          -- I
            couldn't have slept
                   a wink from awe.

    I never WALKED through
         that room
           when Marilla
              sent me
                   in on an errand
          -- no,
           indeed,
         I tiptoed through it and
              held my breath,
           as if