Chapter 17 Summary

Anne is given ten minutes to say goodbye at Dryad's Bubble to her bosom friend the next day. Each pledges to love the other devotedly, Diana offering a clip of her raven curls to console Anne during their tortured separation. That Monday Anne bravely returns to school, telling Marilla "That is all there is left in life for me, now that my friend has been ruthlessly torn from me." Anne's return to school is met with poems and plums and a yellow pansy cut from a catalogue: all of which she heartily enjoys save the strawberry apple from the Blythe orchard, scorning all things having relation to Gilbert Blythe. Like two star-crossed lovers, Diana and Anne pass notes expressing their undying affection for one another. Throwing herself into her studies, Anne proves herself to be a star pupil, rivaled only by Gilbert Blythe...