



Produced by Annie R. McGuire. This book was produced from
scanned images of public domain material from the Google
Print archive.









[Illustration: Book Cover]




THE GIRL NEXT DOOR




[Illustration: Marcia turned to stare out of the window at the house
opposite]




THE GIRL NEXT DOOR


BY
AUGUSTA HUIELL SEAMAN

Author of "The Sapphire Signet," "The
Boarded-Up House," etc.


ILLUSTRATED BY
C. M. RELYEA


[Illustration]


NEW YORK
THE CENTURY CO.




Copyright, 1917, by
THE CENTURY CO.




TO
HOA-SIAN-SIN-NIU
(Margaret Gillespie Fagg)

AND TO THE MEMORY OF
HOA-SIAN-SIN
(John Gerardus Fagg, D.D.)

THIS BOOK IS
AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
      I MARCIA'S SECRET                                                3
     II THE FACE BEHIND THE SHUTTER                                   20
    III THE GATE OPENS                                                32
     IV THE BACKWARD GLANCE                                           43
      V THE HANDKERCHIEF IN THE WINDOW                                54
     VI CECILY REVEALS HERSELF                                        62
    VII SURPRISES ALL AROUND                                          72
   VIII AT THE END OF THE STRING                                      81
     IX FOR THE SAKE OF CECILY                                        94
      X THE FILIGREE BRACELET                                        111
     XI THE LIFTED VEIL                                              119
    XII MISS BENEDICT SPEAKS                                         129
   XIII VIA WIRELESS                                                 141
    XIV THE WRITING ON THE BRACELETS                                 149
     XV PUZZLING IT OUT                                              160
    XVI ONE MYSTERY EXPLAINED                                        170
   XVII MAJOR GOODRICH ASSISTS                                       183
  XVIII THE MAJOR HAS A FURTHER INSPIRATION                          192
    XIX THE UNEXPECTED                                               206
     XX AUNT MINERVA TAKES COMMAND                                   227
    XXI SIX MONTHS LATER                                             251




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                                    PAGE
  Marcia turned to stare out of the window at the house
      opposite                                            _Frontispiece_
  Cecily Marlowe passed them by without a look                        49
  They heard Cecily's light footsteps                                 83
  "I'm going to ask Miss Benedict if we can't open these
      shutters," cried Janet, suddenly                               105
  In the sudden light of the open door she stood revealed            125
  "Words on two bracelets are identical," replied Lee Ching,
      precisely                                                      157
  "Child, I suppose you wonder very much at this queer life
      I lead"                                                        171
  "Sydney must have come in again; I hear him practising!"           257




THE GIRL NEXT DOOR




CHAPTER I

MARCIA'S SECRET


"Marcia Brett, do you mean to tell me--"

"Tell you--what?"

"That you've had a secret two whole months and never told me about it
yet? And I'm your _best_ friend!"

"I was waiting till you came to the city, Janet. I wanted to _tell_ you;
I didn't want to _write_ it."

"Well, I've been in the city twelve hours, and you never said a word
about it till just now."

"But, Janet, we've been sight-seeing ever since you arrived. You can't
very well tell secrets when you're sight-seeing, you know!"

"Well, you might have given me a hint about it long ago. You know we've
solemnly promised never to have any secrets from each other, and yet
you've had one _two whole months_?"

"No, Jan, I haven't had it quite as long as that. Honest! It didn't
begin till quite a while after I came; in fact, not till about three or
four weeks ago."

"Tell me all about it right away, then, and perhaps I'll forgive you!"

The two girls cuddled up close to each other on the low couch by the
open window and lowered their voices to a whisper. Through the warm
darkness of the June night came the hum of a great city, a subdued,
murmurous sound, strangely unfamiliar to one of the girls, who was in
the city for the first time in all her country life. To the other the
sound had some time since become an accustomed one. As they leaned their
elbows on the sill and, chins in hand, stared out into the darkness,
Marcia began:

"Well, Jan, I might as well commence at the beginning, so you'll
understand how it all happened. I've been just crazy to tell you, but
I'm not good at letter-writing, and there's such a lot to explain that I
thought I'd wait till your visit.

"You know, when we first moved to this apartment, last April, from 'way
back in Northam, I was all excitement for a while just to be living in
the city. Everything was _so_ different. Really, I acted so _silly_--you
wouldn't believe it! I used to run down to the front door half a dozen
times a day, just to push the bell and see the door open all by itself!
It seemed like something in a fairy-story. And for the longest while I
couldn't get used to the dumb-waiter or the steam-heat or the electric
lights, and all that sort of thing. It _is_ awfully different from our
old-fashioned little Northam--now isn't it?"

"Yes, I feel just that way this minute," admitted Janet.

"And then, too," went on Marcia, "there were all the things outside to
do and see--the trolleys and stores and parks and museums and the zoo!
Aunt Minerva said I went around 'like a distracted chicken' for a while!
And beside that, we used to have the greatest fun shopping for new
furniture and things for this apartment. Hardly a bit of that big old
furniture we brought with us would fit into it, these rooms are so much
smaller than the ones in our old farm-house.

"Well, anyhow, for a while I was too busy and interested and excited to
think of another thing--"

"Yes, too busy to even write to _me_!" interrupted Janet. "I had about
one letter in two weeks from you, those days. And you'd _promised_ to
write every other day!"

"Oh well, never mind that now! You'd have done the same, I guess. If you
don't let me go on, I'll never get to the _secret_! After a while,
though, I got used to all the new things, and I'd seen all the sights,
and Aunt Minerva had finished all the furnishing except the curtains and
draperies (she's at that, yet!), and all of a sudden everything fell
flat. I hadn't begun my music-lessons, and there didn't seem to be a
thing to do, or a single interest in life.

"The truth is, Jan, I was frightfully lonesome--for _you_!" Here Marcia
felt her hand squeezed in the darkness. "Perhaps you don't realize it,
but living in an apartment in a big city is the _queerest_ thing! You
don't know your neighbor that lives right across the hall. You don't
know a soul in the house. And as far as I can see, you