`` 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 nobody 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 The floor was spotted with round , braided mats , such as Marilla made at Green Gables , but which were considered out of date everywhere else , even in Avonlea .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 glass 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 XXXXX an inviting seat .
Except about along between by in of that through with