ladies, both of whom were also grim and ancient. Except that one looked
to be about seventy and the other fifty, there seemed little
difference between them. Each had amazingly big, light-blue eyes behind
steel-rimmed spectacles; each wore a cap and a gray shawl; each was
knitting without haste and without rest; each rocked placidly and looked
at the girls without speaking; and just behind each sat a large white
china dog, with round green spots all over it, a green nose and green
ears. Those dogs captured Anne's fancy on the spot; they seemed like the
twin guardian deities of Patty's Place.

For a few minutes nobody spoke. The girls were too nervous to find
words, and neither the ancient ladies nor the china dogs seemed
conversationally inclined. Anne glanced about the room. What a dear
place it was! Another door opened out of it directly into the pine grove
and the robins came boldly up on the very step. The floor was spotted
with round, braided mats, such as Marilla made at Green Gables, but
which were considered out of date everywhere else, even in Avonlea. And
yet here they were on Spofford Avenue! A big, polished grandfather's
clock ticked loudly and solemnly in a corner. There were delightful
little cupboards over the mantelpiece, behind whose glass doors
gleamed quaint bits of china. The walls were hung with old prints and
silhouettes. In one corner the stairs went up, and at the first low turn
was a long window with an inviting seat. It was all just as Anne had
known it must be.

By this time the silence had grown too dreadful, and Priscilla nudged
Anne to intimate that she must speak.

"We--we--saw by your sign that this house is to let," said Anne faintly,
addressing the older lady, who was evidently Miss Patty Spofford.

"Oh, yes," said Miss Patty. "I intended to take that sign down today."

"Then--then we are too late," said Anne sorrowfully. "You've let it to
some one else?"

"No, but we have decided not to let it at all."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," exclaimed Anne impulsively. "I love this place so. I
did hope we could have got it."

Then did Miss Patty lay down her knitting, take off her specs, rub them,
put them on again, and for the first time look at Anne as at a human
being. The other lady followed her example so perfectly that she might
as well have been a reflection in a mirror.

"You LOVE it," said Miss Patty with emphasis. "Does that mean that
you really LOVE it? Or that you merely like the l