Anne and Gilbert exchanged many letters that fall. There was so much to discuss. Queen's Academy. The University of Toronto. Journalism. Medicine. Family, friends, independence. The list went on and on.

Of course, there were also many follow-up questions that needed answering. Why hadn't Gilbert responded to Anne's letter confessing her love? Why, he hadn't received it. Why hadn't Anne responded to Gibert's letter confessing his love? Why, she'd tore it up in a fit of rage and then accidentally misinterpreted it. Why had Gilbert pursued a relationship with Winnifred when his heart belonged to Anne?

"You can only know something when you know it, and not a minute before," Gilbert repeated with his finest penmanship, recalling the guilt he'd felt that day he'd revealed his true feelings to Winnifred.

The letters Anne and Gilbert exchanged that September and October were deep and rich and candid and heartfelt and all things beautiful and honest. In short, they were perfect. But, rather than let their longing for one another and their homesickness get the better of them, the two scholars threw themselves into their studies. Anne joined the College newspaper and was noticed almost immediately by the faculty for her outspoken opinion pieces. Gilbert buckled down in the University's libraries, spending countless hours reading, writing, and wrestling with old and new theories of wellness and preventative medicine.

Still, Anne and Gilbert couldn't manage the thought of waiting until Christmas break to see one another again and so they hatched a plan. Anne would take an extra long weekend mid-November and make her way to Toronto by train. Gilbert would rather have traveled to Charlottetown but his labs were scheduled for Friday evenings, Monday mornings, and Thursday afternoons and he couldn't risk an absence in a program as competitive as his. He disliked the idea of Anne travelling alone unchaperoned but he knew she could handle it; she was a seasoned voyager after all!

Anne awoke Wednesday morning beside herself in anticipation.

"Today's the day!" she said aloud, almost waking Diana.

The train was scheduled to depart at 1:00 pm that afternoon and it would be over a day before she arrived at Toronto's Union Station so provisions were a must. Not food so much as fuel for the imagination. She packed some of her required reading from school and a few plays she'd checked out of the library: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde and Shakespeare's Hamlet. Both were being performed by the College's drama society the next semester and Anne had been mulling over the possibility of auditioning. She'd tried to convince Diana to sign up too but she was already in over her head preparing for her piano examinations. Diana was very talented, but it turns out that wasn't particularly well trained. She simply had to do well as her parents' permission to attend Queen's was contingent on a strong standing in first year and her peers were already so very far ahead of her.

Anne also packed some note paper and her fountain pen. She'd decided to write a feature story about the surprising lack of female teachers at the College and she was looking forward to the quiet of the ride to really puzzle out her arguments.

Unfortunately, the train was anything but quiet. Right off the hop, Anne was seated with an exhausted mother and a pair of twin toddlers. The girls screamed and cried and fought and, despite Anne's previous experience in child care, it was simply too much to bear. Some issue with the ventilation had closed the observation car so she had no choice but to set up shop in the dining car. The wait staff were less than impressed when she spread her books across the white linen table cloth and set to work on her article.

"Huh hem." The waiter cleared his throat.

"Yes?," said Anne.

"May I take your order?"

"My order? Oh, yes, of course … um, I'm really not that hungry. What is the smallest item on the menu?"

"The smallest? I suppose that would be the tomato soup."

"Ok, sure, I'll have that. Thank you," said Anne, not even looking up from her pages.

"Is that all?" asked the waiter, not afraid to reveal his annoyance.

"Yes, thank you," said Anne, not noticing. The task at hand was much more important. Why was it that 95% of the teaching staff at the College were male? Was there a lack of qualified female applicants and, if so, why was that? What sort of systemic barriers were standing in the way of the great female minds of Prince Edward Island, Canada, and the world? So caught up in the anticipation of the discoveries that lie ahead, Anne didn't notice when the waiter returned with her soup.

She was reading some remarks by the College's founder when she stumbled across a particularly chauvinist passage.

"That pig!" she exclaimed, slamming her fist on the table. Before she knew it, she'd knocked over the tomato soup and drenched her outfit in thick red broth. Her favourite cream coloured blouse she'd worn specifically for the big reunion was ruined, and she hadn't packed a spare. "Blast!" she exclaimed.

"Excuse me, Miss. I am going to have to ask you to leave," said the waiter.

"What?! Oh fine!" Anne pulled some money from her purse, grabbed her soggy books and pages, and stormed off.

Not keen on returning to the scene of the crime, Anne avoided the dining car for the rest of the trip. It was mid-afternoon when she realized she hadn't thought to pack any snacks. A friendly older woman sitting a few rows away had put the pieces together by around dinner time and shared her sandwich with Anne, for which Anne was very grateful.

The night was long and uncomfortable. Determined not to spend too much of the travel allowance Matthew had given her, Anne had opted for a seat in economy class for the 30 hours trip instead of sleeper cabin, a decision she now deeply regretted. By the morning, she was sore all over. Making things worse, something about the sandwich she'd eaten wasn't sitting right and by around 11:00 am Anne was holed up in the water closed sick to her stomach.

It was 7:00 pm by the time the train rolled into Toronto. Anne was desperate to get off but weak from dehydration and slow to advance. It seemed to take forever to make her way down the platform, up the stairs, and down the long corridor to the arrivals area. As she walked, she seemed to draw the attention of passer-bys. Maybe it was the mess of red hair strewn about all over her head or the big red stain down the front of her clothes. Or maybe it was the mild odor. Or maybe still is was the crazed look in her eyes. It was hard to say for sure.

She couldn't see Gilbert waiting at first. She scanned the crowd a few times, worried that perhaps they'd gotten their wires crossed. And then she saw him at the furthest end of the station, sitting cross-legged with his hat in his hands talking to a raven-haired girl. The two of them were laughing hysterically. Anne watched them for a moment, trying to figure out exactly what she was looking at. She was so tired in that moment that she accidentally dropped her suitcase and the echo of it slamming against the marble floors rang throughout the station.

"Anne!" called Gilbert, running toward her. She tried to stop him for fear of repulsing him but he was entirely unphased. He scooped her into his arms and twirled her around.

"Oh, I've missed you so!"

"I've missed you too, Gil …" Anne's stomach leapt into her throat and she lurched for a nearby garbage can, lucky not to have tossed her cookies onto the marble floor.

"Anne, are you alright?"

"Yes. I wish there was something tragical or poetic about the state I find myself in the evening but, alas, I'm afraid it's as simple and pathetic as this: I've eaten a bad tuna salad sandwich and I've been sick all day." She sighed. "Gilbert, please take me somewhere to lie down."

"Of course," said Gilbert, smiling a little. "Anne, this is Christine. She's studying medicine with me. She's the only woman in our class, can you believe that?"

"Remarkable," said Anne unconvincingly, observing how stunningly beautiful and put together Christine was.

"Christine has kindly arranged a room for you at her women's boarding house," offered Gilbert.

"Much appreciated."