Far out along the horizon was the crinkled gray ribbon of a passing steamer 's smoke . `` Oh , beautiful , beautiful , '' murmured Anne . `` I shall love Four Winds , Gilbert . Where is our house ? '' `` We ca n't see it yet -- the belt of birch running up from that little cove hides it . It 's about two miles from Glen St. Mary , and there 's another mile between it and the light-house . We wo n't have many neighbors , Anne . There 's only one house near us and I do n't know who lives in it . Shall you be lonely when I 'm away ? '' `` Not with that light and that loveliness for company . Who lives in that house , Gilbert ? '' `` I do n't know . It does n't look -- exactly -- as if the occupants would be kindred spirits , Anne , does it ? '' The house was a large , substantial affair , painted such a vivid green that the landscape seemed quite faded by contrast . There was an orchard behind it , and a nicely kept lawn before it , but , somehow , there was a certain bareness about it . Perhaps its neatness was responsible for this ; the whole establishment , house , barns , orchard , garden , lawn and lane , was so starkly neat . `` It does n't seem probable that anyone with that taste in paint could be VERY kindred , '' acknowledged Anne , `` unless it were an accident -- like our blue hall . I feel certain there are no children there , at least . It 's even neater than the old Copp place on the Tory road , and I never expected to see anything neater than that . '' They had not met anybody on the moist , red road that wound along the harbor shore .
But just before they came to the belt of birch which hid their home , XXXXX saw a girl who was driving a flock of snow-white geese along the crest of a velvety green hill on the right .
Anne Copp Gilbert Mary Tory accident affair bareness garden light-house