Mrs. Rachel Lynde did not call living in such a place LIVING at all . `` It 's just STAYING , that 's what , '' she said as she stepped along the deep-rutted , grassy lane bordered with wild rose bushes . `` It 's no wonder Matthew and Marilla are both a little odd , living away back here by themselves . Trees are n't much company , though dear knows if they were there 'd be enough of them . I 'd ruther look at people . To be sure , they seem contented enough ; but then , I suppose , they 're used to it . A body can get used to anything , even to being hanged , as the Irishman said . '' With this Mrs. Rachel stepped out of the lane into the backyard of Green Gables . Very green and neat and precise was that yard , set about on one side with great patriarchal willows and the other with prim Lombardies . Not a stray stick nor stone was to be seen , for Mrs. Rachel would have seen it if there had been . Privately she was of the opinion that Marilla Cuthbert swept that yard over as often as she swept her house . One could have eaten a meal off the ground without overbrimming the proverbial peck of dirt . Mrs. Rachel rapped smartly at the kitchen door and stepped in when bidden to do so . The kitchen at Green Gables was a cheerful apartment -- or would have been cheerful if it had not been so painfully clean as to give it something of the appearance of an unused parlor . Its windows looked east and west ; through the west one , looking out on the back yard , came a flood of mellow June sunlight ; but the east one , whence you got a glimpse of the bloom white cherry-trees in the left orchard and nodding , slender birches down in the hollow by the brook , was greened over by a tangle of vines . Here sat Marilla Cuthbert , when she sat at all , always slightly distrustful of sunshine , which seemed to her too dancing and irresponsible a thing for a world which was meant to be taken seriously ; and here she sat now , knitting , and the table behind her was laid for supper . Mrs. Rachel , before she had fairly closed the door , had taken a mental note of everything that was on that table . There were three plates laid , so that Marilla must be expecting some one home with Matthew to tea ; but the dishes were everyday dishes and there was only crab-apple preserves and one kind of cake , so that the expected company could not be any particular company . Yet what of Matthew 's white collar and the sorrel mare ? Mrs. Rachel was getting fairly dizzy with this unusual mystery about quiet , unmysterious Green Gables .
`` Good evening , XXXXX , '' Marilla said briskly .
Cuthbert Gables Irishman Lombardies Lynde Marilla Matthew Rachel flood left