are sat there together.

"But, Mother, is that really the same bench, and did Anne truly live
here?" questioned the all too matter-of-fact Barbara.

"My dear daughter," began Mrs. Pitt, feigning great severity; "banish
that thought immediately! Just for one little hour we are going to
know that Anne did live here,--that Will said 'Will you?' and Anne
said 'I will,' right on this very bench. I quite refuse to listen to
any doubts on the subject for to-day! You write our names in the book,
please, Philip. I'm going to rest myself here in Anne's
rocking-chair!"

The girl with the broom looked at her visitor in a puzzled way, and
began,--"But, lady, I brought that chair here with me only----" But
Mrs. Pitt quickly interrupted her, asking some trifling question. Her
illusions were not to be disturbed, it seemed, and the girl beat a
retreat.

"Well, Mother," said Philip, "you aren't the only one who has ever
believed in the house! Here in this old Visitors' Book are the names
of Dickens, Longfellow, Holmes, General Grant, Edwin Booth, Mary
Anderson, and----"

[Illustration: "DID ANNE TRULY LIVE HERE?"--_Page 164._]

"Never mind the rest, Phil; if General Grant said so, it's true! He
knew what he was talking about!" And so John settled the question.

A flag-stone floor is all this little room can boast of, and a low
ceiling of huge timbers, but it has an air of homelikeness and cosy
comfort, nevertheless. At the windows are flowers which nod to their
cousins out in the garden; some gray knitting usually lies on the
table; and there is the huge fireplace with all its cranes, different
hooks, pots and kettles; and the crowning glory of all, the old oak
settle, upon which every visitor religiously seats himself.

"Isn't there any upstairs?" demanded John, before many minutes.

"Oh, yes! May we go up, please?" Mrs. Pitt asked of the attendant.
"Yes, thank you; I know the way, and I'll be careful."

So they climbed the rickety stairs, and saw a little bedroom under the
eaves, in which stands an old, very forlorn-looking "four-poster."

"I'm so glad that tiresome, truthful person let us come up alone,"
said Mrs. Pitt, panting. "If she had come, too, I could not have
explained that this was Anne's bedroom. She used to sit by this
window and dream about Will, and watch for his coming, too. She----"

"Don't spoil it all, Mother," pleaded Barbara. "Perhaps it really was
her room!"

"And didn't I just say as much?" her mo