THE NEXT DOOR APARTMENT

CHAPTER TWO

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he was to meet her mother at the Ritz for tea. Her nerves still all ajangle from

made it wholly impossible for her to do any

story of the tragic tableau of which she had been an accidental witness, when M

ff to luncheon and the ma

her mother had said. "Stay in bed and

obey her well-meant injunction. She rose and dressed, her mind busy all the while with the problem of what her

y in the street? Perhaps he had fled already? Not a sound was to be heard ther

two men dash around the corner, one in pursuit of the other. One of them had

in his heart. It mus

what she had seen? Mother, she knew, would be horrified and would caution her to

she had to tell. More than likely he would decide t

lanched at the thought.

otoriety that would necessaril

eard herself branded as "the witness in that murder case," she depi

tell a soul, not even her parents. In persistent si

not even sure that the man found dead had been

not be able to identify it. S

suspicious his actions may have appeared to her. Besides, he di

s unable to keep her thoughts from wandering. She sat down at the piano, but

summon up enough concentra

s from the unusual occurrences that had disturbed

me to keep her appointment.

alf an hour to kill, she went into a little specialty sh

" was her father's constant suggestion every time she

, Dad, so that I can go to France as a Red Cross nurse or

r going, insisting that France in wart

ould spiritedly answer, but several times recently the sight of such charmin

some toilet articles. As she made her purchases she noticed, almost subconsciously, a ma

said the girl, who ha

giving the number of the apar

y at her, but she thought nothing of it. Her father's name was well known and he had many acquaintances in

their offerings, and at last, with ten minutes left to reach the Ritz, emerged

iting to speak to her. As she attempted to pass him quickly, he steppe

Strong," he said, "may

flirtatious in his manner, and he seemed far too respectably dressed to be a beggar. He was almost old

unusual as his request appeared,

sume an air of hauteur but without be

can, aren't you?"

cour

d Amer

Red Cross fund "drive," or perhaps an overenthusiastic salesman for go

good American and you'd like to do your country a great service

d her. On it was written in pencil "Room 70

half indignantly, "a n

othing like that. It is a great opportuni

you know

ive it to the

ded to be withering sarcasm, "have i been s

ered. "That's what makes it so important that you s

d. "I am on my way now to m

sted. "I'll see Mr. Fleck mea

herself impressed by his evident sincerity, Jane turned the card nervously i

e figures mea

ck will explain everything. Pro

are

tell you

en, is M

xplain tha

I can't understand yet why you mak

an replied, "but it's because you live where you do yo

government. It is more impo

ccurrence she had witnessed the night before and the equally mysterious death

nown, the opportunity for adventure, called

mother," sh

your father and mother. Take my word for it, Miss Strong, that what I am asking you to do is right. I've two daughters of my own.

single living soul and you'll end your usefulness. Yo

ain everything to you. Pr

ing, even against her better judgme

oner, turning on his heel and vanishing speedily as

her own compliance with his request, Jane made her way slowly and thoughtfully

matinée, about their acquaintances, about other women in the tea-room and th

world, nations at war, men fighting and dying in the trenches of horror for the sake of an ideal, kings were being overthrown, dynasties totterin

n the lands where peace still reigned they were voting, speech-making, holding jobs, running offices, many of them wer

sterday, last week, last month--forever, it seemed to her. The vague protest that

er to submit to it. Courageously she was resolving that she would take the firs

unexpectedly made of her would prove to be

on. Seldom was she included in it, save when her mo

here is Mrs.

ople about them, aimless, pleasure-hunting drifters like themselves. Left to he

mysterious message that had been given to her. The man had said that it was a

en so secreti

harm could befall her in visiting an office building in the business district? At least it would be some

ng refused. The man certainly had seemed sincere, honest, and perfectly respectable, even if he was not of the sort one would ask to dinner. She made up her mind to go down-tow

ered her not at all. As in the case of most apartment-house families, she and he

ng l

cheons, to bridge parties, to matinées with her

hardly knew each other. Both she and her mother habitually breakfasted in bed,

e were no intimacies bet

y happened to go shopping, or go to the dressmaker's together, and then the su

her mother's more formal functions, but for the most part the

s head. Her face went white, and with diffic

her mother, noting her pertu

ralgia," she ma

rs," warned Mrs. S

. Strong. "As soon as I'v

Jane, controlling herself with eff

g toward the entrance a moment before she had been terrified to see enterin

and in a panic she was wondering how she should make

ion in having followed her there. Respectable enough though he was in appearance and garb, he did not seem in the least like the sort of man likely to be found at tea-time in an exclusive hotel. As she studied him s

man from the next apartment--the man whom she had felt sure, or at least al

aw. Chatting interestedly with him was another man, a

hy was the black-mustac

ack to him. He was still si

cker of concentration, his

s if he was trying to read t

alking

ent. The black-mustached m

s because she lived at the address she did that she w

de their apartment house? Was that the reason he was spying on her neighb

restedly to studying the faces of the two young men across the room. Neither

itter hate, now placid and smiling, was really an

military mustache lent emphasis to a clean-shaven, forceful jaw. His flaxen ha

his clothing, his manners, everything about him seemed American, yet there wa

ably either Swe

mportance his uniform gave him, it was palpable that he was the

racter and a fondness for

d Mrs. Strong, rising

dy of the two men that her mo

as the hint of annoyance in her mother's repeated remar

paused to look back at the scene that had interested her so strongly

le of what he was saying and sat there, his gaze fixed full on her. She let her eyes fall, abashed, and turned to hasten after her mother, but not so