If they had been spiteful cats I wouldn't have minded them. But they are
all nice, kind, motherly souls, who like me and whom I like, and that is
why what they said, or hinted, had such undue weight with me. They let
me see they thought I was crazy going to Redmond and trying to take
a B.A., and ever since I've been wondering if I am. Mrs. Peter Sloane
sighed and said she hoped my strength would hold out till I got through;
and at once I saw myself a hopeless victim of nervous prostration at the
end of my third year; Mrs. Eben Wright said it must cost an awful lot
to put in four years at Redmond; and I felt all over me that it was
unpardonable of me to squander Marilla's money and my own on such a
folly. Mrs. Jasper Bell said she hoped I wouldn't let college spoil me,
as it did some people; and I felt in my bones that the end of my four
Redmond years would see me a most insufferable creature, thinking I knew
it all, and looking down on everything and everybody in Avonlea; Mrs.
Elisha Wright said she understood that Redmond girls, especially those
who belonged to Kingsport, were 'dreadful dressy and stuck-up,' and she
guessed I wouldn't feel much at home among them; and I saw myself, a
snubbed, dowdy, humiliated country girl, shuffling through Redmond's
classic halls in coppertoned boots."

Anne ended with a laugh and a sigh commingled. With her sensitive nature
all disapproval had weight, even the disapproval of those for whose
opinions she had scant respect. For the time being life was savorless,
and ambition had gone out like a snuffed candle.

"You surely don't care for what they said," protested Gilbert. "You know
exactly how narrow their outlook on life is, excellent creatures though
they are. To do anything THEY have never done is anathema maranatha. You
are the first Avonlea girl who has ever gone to college; and you
know that all pioneers are considered to be afflicted with moonstruck