"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!"
But Anne had never liked Josie more. It was the very question she herself had been longing to ask.
"Of course I am," said Ruby with a tight smile.
"Well, you don't seem like you are," said Josie, still eyeing Ruby suspiciously.
Ruby giggled nervously. "I'll probably cry about it when I get home."
But that didn't add up in Anne's mind. Ruby usually had no qualms whatsoever about crying in public. Why start now?
Her mind now so occupied with Ruby, Anne forgot all about Jerry until she arrived home to Green Gables and found him extremely absent.
"You didn't happen to see Jerry along the way, did you?" asked Marilla, greeting Anne on the porch with hands on her "No! You mean he isn't here? I'll go look for him right away, Marilla."
Anne stopped on the steps."There's no need for that—" started Marilla, but Anne was already depositing her school things onto the porch.
"It will be no trouble whatsoever," insisted Anne. "In fact my mind will not be able to rest until I discover what that boy is up to."
"At least put your things away—"
But Anne's ears were already so full of wind as she bolted across the yard, she didn't even hear Marilla.
Marilla shook her head as she watched the skinny, red-haired creature disappear into the woods. She picked up Anne's school things and brought them inside herself.
It did not take Anne — who had once again become Editha Sharpe — long to find her suspect. She was still running when she stumbled straight into Jerry.
"Aha!" Anne cried, her face red with exertion and her eyes alight with excitement. "I caught you!"
Jerry stopped in his tracks, utterly nonplussed. He'd heard Anne running through the forest long before their paths met therefore he was unsurprised to see her.
"You what?" He asked.
"I caught you!" Anne repeated.
"Caught me doing what? Gathering firewood? What is so exciting about that?"
"Don't lie to me Jerome Brooke—"
"Who?" demanded Jerry incredulously.
"I mean — don't lie to me Jerry Baynard! I know you weren't doing anything of the kind!"
"Then why do I have an armful or firewood?"
Anne paused, looked Jerry over, and realized he did indeed have a armful of wood.
"Oh," said Anne with a weak laugh. "That is firewood."
"What was all that about you catching me?" asked Jerry.
"Never mind," said Anne. "I was just imagining things. That's all."
Since Jerry only seemed disappear while Anne was on her way home from school, there was no way for her to track him down unless she skipped school, which Marilla would not allow. Curiosity growing stronger and stronger, Anne decided she might as well solve the mystery behind Ruby's odd behavior. While in most circumstances friends do not spy on each other, Editha Sharpe felt fully justified in pursuing potential evidence, and followed Ruby home from school that day without a thread of guilt.
What with one thing and another, Ruby and Jerry ended up meeting after school everyday for the rest of the week and into the next after their first encounter.
First it was so Ruby could give him the apple pie she'd baked especially for him. After that it was a series of excuses on Jerry's part. Some of the excuses were less than clever and far from believable, but Ruby believed them because she wanted to.
If Ruby had been honest with herself it would've became increasingly obvious that Jerry Baynard liked her. But Ruby was not honest with herself and managed to become convinced that Jerry liked Diana (despite his claim that maybe he "never liked her anyway" and that all evidence suggested otherwise) and that therefore there was no harm in her walking her home.
Despite these convictions, Ruby kept the meet-ups a secrete. She wouldn't let Jerry accompany her all the way home for fear her parents might see, and even Anne and Diana didn't know.
"If they knew they would only say I like Jerry — which I do not," Ruby told herself firmly.
That afternoons excuse was that Rachel Lynde's husband, Thomas, had seen a pack of coyotes nearby and informed Jerry and Mr. Cuthbert. Worried about the livestock, Jerry had gone out to scope out any signs of them. These were not exactly lies. Mr. Lynde really had scene a pack of coyotes — but it was unlikely Jerry wouldn't been quite so concerned about the livestock if he hadn't had hopes of seeing Ruby, especially as coyotes rarely bothered the animals other than snatching the occasional stray chicken.
After Jerry gave his explanation as to why he was there that day, they walked down the path together cheerfully chatting, and completely unaware that a pair of gray eyes were watching them disappear through the trees.
"Jerry!"
Jerry practically jumped out of his skin when he heard someone call his name unexpectedly from the trees on his way home. He looked around, and saw Anne ducked under a tree branch before catching up with him.
"What are you doing here?" Jerry asked.
"A simple hello would've sufficed," said Anne. "As a matter of fact, I was looking for you."
"Why would you be worried about me?" asked Jerry as the continued walking, autumn leaves crunching beneath their feet.
"Truth be told, you've been acting very strangely lately," said Anne, glancing at Jerry fervently.
"And that's coming from you, the strangest person I know," said Jerry.
"Marilla has said so as well," said Anne. "And I know why."
Jerry raised his eyebrows skeptically. "Why?"
"Because you like Ruby Gillis," said Anne with great satisfaction.
Jerry footstep stumbled. "I have told you, Anne." He shook his head. "I do not like her."
"Then why have you been meeting her after school in secrete?" countered Anne.
"How do you —"
"I followed Ruby home from school today."
"I haven't been meeting her because I like her, I've just been meeting her because —" red-faced Jerry stammered himself to a stop. He sighed. There was no use in making more excuses. "Maybe I do like her a little."
"I knew it!" Anne clapped her hands together in excitement, then she said rapturously, "Your heart has been touched upon by the enchantment of love."
"Enchantment of wha — no! I only said a little bit!" Jerry shook his head. "I should never have told you."
"Are you going to ask her to the dance?" asked Anne hopefully.
"No, I am not going to the dance, remember?"
"Oh, Jerry, you should!" said Anne. "Prove to everyone that hired workers deserve the same enjoyment and treatment as everyone else."
"Ruby wouldn't want to go—"
"I beg to differ." Anne smiled at the boy. "Jerry, if Ruby is allowing you to walk her home, I am certain she would at least consider saying yes. You should ask her."
The two were silent for a while as Jerry mulled this over. Finally he said, "Maybe I will."