The Hired Boy |Ruby Gillis & Jerry Baynard|

Fourteen | Editha Sharpe

"Every morning he rushes through his chores, then bolts off to heaven knows where!" Marilla told Anne on the morning of the next weekend.

They were discussing Jerry while setting the table for breakfast. The boy had been behaving quite oddly all week long. He disappeared after chores, and if someone addressed him, he rarely heard so lost was he in a world of his own.

Ever since she'd found out Jerry wanted to learn, Anne had been giving him lessons in the hayloft. Though he didn't know very much, Jerry was very smart and normally he easily picked up what Anne was teaching him, but all that week Jerry hadn't seemed to understand a single word that came out of her mouth.

"I will find out, Marilla, I swear on it." Anne's face lit up at the very prospect. "I've always wanted to be a spy! Espionage has always been my dream career."

Marilla paused in the middle of gathering the utensils. "Anne Shirley-Cuthbert! Espionage is not a career! In fact it's quite rude, and will not have you spying for a living!"

Anne's smile vanished. "Oh." She added, "but don't you want me to spy on Jerry?"

"I don't want you to spy on him!" said Marilla. "I just want you to . . . " She nodded "Keep an eye on him."

Anne took up with task with great enthusiasm. Despite Marilla's aversions to Anne becoming involved with espionage, Anne decided it would hurt no one if she pretended. Soon the renowned spy Editha Sharpe was following the tracks of the potential murderer, Jerome Brook.

But Editha Sharpe's adventures were far less exciting than anticipated. Jerry did nothing out of the ordinary. He still remained a little out of it, but he didn't disappear anywhere that day, or the next.

However Editha (or Anne) went undaunted. But even as she investigated further, she did not uncover any evidence of Jerome Brook taking part in suspicious activity (except for an unfamiliar pie-plate lurking in the hayloft ) — until the next day of school when Editha made the connection that Jerry Baynard was not the only one of her friends acting oddly.

That morning Anne walked in to school to find that her and Gilbert's names had been written up on the school blackboard together. The students of Avonlea often did this to the great embarrassment of whoever the boy and girl were, and to the general amusement of the rest of the class.

Anne was furious (especially as she believed Gilbert might have been the one to do it) and tried to wipe it away before anyone could see, but was not fast enough. Anne had been certain that when Ruby saw she would go into hysterics like she usually did. But she barely seemed to notice.

Even odder was what occurred during lunch that day.

"My mother needs to borrow a dress pattern from yours," said Tillie, addressing Ruby.

Ruby looked up at Tillie, suddenly tense and alert like a rabbit waiting for some predator to pounce.

"So I think I might walk home with you—"

"No!" cried Ruby, loudly, 'causing all her friends to stare. She quickly composed herself. "I mean, that's quite alright. I will bring it with me to school tomorrow."

"Oh, alright," said Tillie, clearly bewildered.

It seemed Anne was not the only who picked up on Ruby's almost imperceptible change in behavior.

"Ruby, aren't you sad about what happened this morning?" Josie asked Ruby when lunch was almost over.

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby, staring.

"You know, when someone wrote up her —"Josie jerked her head in Anne's direction "— and Gilbert's name up on the board?"

Diana gave Josie a look. "Josie! Don't be insensitive!"