Marilla had sent a big box of preserves , and darkly hinted at a hamper for Thanksgiving , and Mrs. Lynde gave Anne a patchwork quilt and loaned her five more . `` You take them , '' she said authoritatively . `` They might as well be in use as packed away in that trunk in the garret for moths to gnaw . '' No moths would ever have ventured near those quilts , for they reeked of mothballs to such an extent that they had to be hung in the orchard of Patty 's Place a full fortnight before they could be endured indoors . Verily , aristocratic Spofford Avenue had rarely beheld such a display . The gruff old millionaire who lived `` next door '' came over and wanted to buy the gorgeous red and yellow `` tulip-pattern '' one which Mrs. Rachel had given Anne . He said his mother used to make quilts like that , and by Jove , he wanted one to remind him of her . Anne would not sell it , much to his disappointment , but she wrote all about it to Mrs. Lynde . That highly-gratified lady sent word back that she had one just like it to spare , so the tobacco king got his quilt after all , and insisted on having it spread on his bed , to the disgust of his fashionable wife . Mrs. Lynde 's quilts served a very useful purpose that winter . Patty 's Place for all its many virtues , had its faults also . It was really a rather cold house ; and when the frosty nights came the girls were very glad to snuggle down under Mrs. Lynde 's quilts , and hoped that the loan of them might be accounted unto her for righteousness . Anne had the blue room she had coveted at sight . Priscilla and Stella had the large one . Phil was blissfully content with the little one over the kitchen ; and Aunt Jamesina was to have the downstairs one off the living-room . Rusty at first slept on the doorstep . Anne , walking home from Redmond a few days after her return , became aware that the people that she met surveyed her with a covert , indulgent smile . Anne wondered uneasily what was the matter with her . Was her hat crooked ? Was her belt loose ?
Craning her head to investigate , Anne , XXXXX the first time , saw Rusty .
about at for near of off on over so to