Given that Lucas Jade Zumann will be back for Season 2, we can count on Gilbert returning to Avonlea at some point to hopefully resume his friendship with Anne.
Meanwhile, the orphaned Gilbert left Avonlea to work on the docks, and he seemed to be leaving the story for a while.
Anne and the Cuthberts are none the wiser.
Unfortunately, the lodgers just happen to be two people who beat up young farmhand Jerry and robbed him while he was selling livestock for the Cuthberts.