Accordingly they went house-hunting, but to find just what they wanted proved even harder than Priscilla had feared. Houses there were galore, furnished and unfurnished; but one was too big, another too small; this one too expensive, that one too far from Redmond. Exams were on and over; the last week of the term came and still their "house o"dreams,"
as Anne called it, remained a castle in the air.
"We shall have to give up and wait till the fall, I suppose," said Priscilla wearily, as they rambled through the park on one of April"s darling days of breeze and blue, when the harbor was creaming and shimmering beneath the pearl-hued mists floating over it. "We may find some shack to shelter us then; and if not, boardinghouses we shall have always with us."
"I"m not going to worry about it just now, anyway, and spoil this lovely afternoon," said Anne, gazing around her with delight. The fresh chill air was faintly charged with the aroma of pine balsam, and the sky above was crystal clear and blue--a great inverted cup of blessing. "Spring is singing in my blood today, and the lure of April is abroad on the air.
I"m seeing visions and dreaming dreams, Pris. That"s because the wind is from the west. I do love the west wind. It sings of hope and gladness, doesn"t it? When the east wind blows I always think of sorrowful rain on the eaves and sad waves on a gray sh.o.r.e. When I get old I shall have rheumatism when the wind is east."
"And isn"t it jolly when you discard furs and winter garments for the first time and sally forth, like this, in spring attire?" laughed Priscilla. "Don"t you feel as if you had been made over new?"
"Everything is new in the spring," said Anne. "Springs themselves are always so new, too. No spring is ever just like any other spring. It always has something of its own to be its own peculiar sweetness. See how green the gra.s.s is around that little pond, and how the willow buds are bursting."
"And exams are over and gone--the time of Convocation will come soon--next Wednesday. This day next week we"ll be home."
"I"m glad," said Anne dreamily. "There are so many things I want to do.
I want to sit on the back porch steps and feel the breeze blowing down over Mr. Harrison"s fields. I want to hunt ferns in the Haunted Wood and gather violets in Violet Vale. Do you remember the day of our golden picnic, Priscilla? I want to hear the frogs singing and the poplars whispering. But I"ve learned to love Kingsport, too, and I"m glad I"m coming back next fall. If I hadn"t won the Thorburn I don"t believe I could have. I COULDN"T take any of Marilla"s little h.o.a.rd."
"If we could only find a house!" sighed Priscilla. "Look over there at Kingsport, Anne--houses, houses everywhere, and not one for us."
"Stop it, Pris. "The best is yet to be." Like the old Roman, we"ll find a house or build one. On a day like this there"s no such word as fail in my bright lexicon."
They lingered in the park until sunset, living in the amazing miracle and glory and wonder of the springtide; and they went home as usual, by way of Spofford Avenue, that they might have the delight of looking at Patty"s Place.
"I feel as if something mysterious were going to happen right away--"by the p.r.i.c.king of my thumbs,"" said Anne, as they went up the slope.
"It"s a nice story-bookish feeling. Why--why--why! Priscilla Grant, look over there and tell me if it"s true, or am I seein" things?"
Priscilla looked. Anne"s thumbs and eyes had not deceived her. Over the arched gateway of Patty"s Place dangled a little, modest sign. It said "To Let, Furnished. Inquire Within."
"Priscilla," said Anne, in a whisper, "do you suppose it"s possible that we could rent Patty"s Place?"
"No, I don"t," averred Priscilla. "It would be too good to be true. Fairy tales don"t happen nowadays. I won"t hope, Anne. The disappointment would be too awful to bear. They"re sure to want more for it than we can afford. Remember, it"s on Spofford Avenue."
"We must find out anyhow," said Anne resolutely. "It"s too late to call this evening, but we"ll come tomorrow. Oh, Pris, if we can get this darling spot! I"ve always felt that my fortunes were linked with Patty"s Place, ever since I saw it first."
Chapter X
Patty"s Place
The next evening found them treading resolutely the herring-bone walk through the tiny garden. The April wind was filling the pine trees with its roundelay, and the grove was alive with robins--great, plump, saucy fellows, strutting along the paths. The girls rang rather timidly, and were admitted by a grim and ancient handmaiden. The door opened directly into a large living-room, where by a cheery little fire sat two other 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 n.o.body 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 gla.s.s 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 looks of it? The girls nowadays indulge in such exaggerated statements that one never can tell what they DO mean. It wasn"t so in my young days. THEN a girl did not say she LOVED turnips, in just the same tone as she might have said she loved her mother or her Savior."
Anne"s conscience bore her up.
"I really do love it," she said gently. "I"ve loved it ever since I saw it last fall. My two college chums and I want to keep house next year instead of boarding, so we are looking for a little place to rent; and when I saw that this house was to let I was so happy."
"If you love it, you can have it," said Miss Patty. "Maria and I decided today that we would not let it after all, because we did not like any of the people who have wanted it. We don"t HAVE to let it. We can afford to go to Europe even if we don"t let it. It would help us out, but not for gold will I let my home pa.s.s into the possession of such people as have come here and looked at it. YOU are different. I believe you do love it and will be good to it. You can have it."
"If--if we can afford to pay what you ask for it," hesitated Anne.
Miss Patty named the amount required. Anne and Priscilla looked at each other. Priscilla shook her head.
"I"m afraid we can"t afford quite so much," said Anne, choking back her disappointment. "You see, we are only college girls and we are poor."
"What were you thinking you could afford?" demanded Miss Patty, ceasing not to knit.
Anne named her amount. Miss Patty nodded gravely.
"That will do. As I told you, it is not strictly necessary that we should let it at all. We are not rich, but we have enough to go to Europe on. I have never been in Europe in my life, and never expected or wanted to go. But my niece there, Maria Spofford, has taken a fancy to go. Now, you know a young person like Maria can"t go globetrotting alone."
"No--I--I suppose not," murmured Anne, seeing that Miss Patty was quite solemnly in earnest.
"Of course not. So I have to go along to look after her. I expect to enjoy it, too; I"m seventy years old, but I"m not tired of living yet.
I daresay I"d have gone to Europe before if the idea had occurred to me.
We shall be away for two years, perhaps three. We sail in June and we shall send you the key, and leave all in order for you to take possession when you choose. We shall pack away a few things we prize especially, but all the rest will be left."
"Will you leave the china dogs?" asked Anne timidly.
"Would you like me to?"
"Oh, indeed, yes. They are delightful."
A pleased expression came into Miss Patty"s face.
"I think a great deal of those dogs," she said proudly. "They are over a hundred years old, and they have sat on either side of this fireplace ever since my brother Aaron brought them from London fifty years ago.
Spofford Avenue was called after my brother Aaron."
"A fine man he was," said Miss Maria, speaking for the first time. "Ah, you don"t see the like of him nowadays."