The house was a very old-fashioned one , situated on a slope , which fact had necessitated the building of a stone basement under one end . The house and out-buildings were all whitewashed to a condition of blinding perfection and not a weed was visible in the prim kitchen garden surrounded by its white paling . `` The shades are all down , '' said Diana ruefully . `` I believe that nobody is home . '' This proved to be the case . The girls looked at each other in perplexity . `` I do n't know what to do , '' said Anne . `` If I were sure the platter was the right kind I would not mind waiting until they came home . But if it is n't it may be too late to go to Wesley Keyson 's afterward . '' Diana looked at a certain little square window over the basement . `` That is the pantry window , I feel sure , '' she said , `` because this house is just like Uncle Charles ' at Newbridge , and that is their pantry window . The shade is n't down , so if we climbed up on the roof of that little house we could look into the pantry and might be able to see the platter . Do you think it would be any harm ? '' `` No , I do n't think so , '' decided Anne , after due reflection , `` since our motive is not idle curiosity . '' This important point of ethics being settled , Anne prepared to mount the aforesaid `` little house , '' a construction of lathes , with a peaked roof , which had in times past served as a habitation for ducks . The Copp girls had given up keeping ducks ... `` because they were such untidy birds '' . . . and the house had not been in use for some years , save as an abode of correction for setting hens . Although scrupulously whitewashed it had become somewhat shaky , and Anne felt rather dubious as she scrambled up from the vantage point of a keg placed on a box .
`` I 'm afraid it wo n't bear my weight , '' she said XXXXX she gingerly stepped on the roof .
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