They were both nice , manly fellows , but Anne would not be drawn into any opinion as to which was the nicer . `` And I depended so on you to help me make up my mind which of them I should promise to marry , '' mourned Phil . `` You must do that for yourself . You are quite expert at making up your mind as to whom other people should marry , '' retorted Anne , rather caustically . `` Oh , that 's a very different thing , '' said Phil , truly . But the sweetest incident of Anne 's sojourn in Bolingbroke was the visit to her birthplace -- the little shabby yellow house in an out-of-the-way street she had so often dreamed about . She looked at it with delighted eyes , as she and Phil turned in at the gate . `` It 's almost exactly as I 've pictured it , '' she said . `` There is no honeysuckle over the windows , but there is a lilac tree by the gate , and -- yes , there are the muslin curtains in the windows . How glad I am it is still painted yellow . '' A very tall , very thin woman opened the door . `` Yes , the Shirleys lived here twenty years ago , '' she said , in answer to Anne 's question . `` They had it rented . I remember 'em . They both died of fever at onct . It was turrible sad . They left a baby . I guess it 's dead long ago . It was a sickly thing . Old Thomas and his wife took it -- as if they had n't enough of their own . ''
`` It did n't die , '' said XXXXX , smiling .
Anne Bolingbroke Phil Shirleys Thomas left mind muslin street years