The Girl Next Door

, do you mean

you-

le months and never told me about

the city, Janet. I wanted to tel

elve hours, and you never said

ince you arrived. You can't very well tell

ou know we've solemnly promised never to have any secrets

nest! It didn't begin till quite a while after I cam

ight away, then, and pe

me 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 t

it all happened. I've been just crazy to tell you, but I'm not good at letter-wr

illy-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

that way this minu

aid 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

too busy and interested and exc

t. "I had about one letter in two weeks from you, tho

ed 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,

ur neighbor that lives right across the hall. You don't know a soul in the house. And as far as I can see, you're not likely to if you lived here fifty years! Nobody calls on you as they do on a new family in the country.

ce to get acquainted with any one of my own age. Actually, it got so I didn't do much else but moon around and mark off the days till school

in, Aunt Minerva was out shopping. I hadn't a new book to read nor a blessed thing to do, so I sat down right here by the window and got to thinking and wondering why things were so unevenly divided-why you, Jan, should have

be back in Northam. And looking out of the window, I even thought I'd give anything to live in that big, rambling, d

it was a very strange-looking old place. And because I didn't have another mortal thing to do, I just sat and stared at it as if I'd

so many other things to see to-day that I didn't notic

in a sort of ragged, weedy garden, and there's a high brick wall around the whole place, except for a heavy wooden gate at the front covered with ironwork. That gate is alway

artment-house runs along close to the brick wall, and as we're three floors up, you get a good vi

g while you happen to see signs of it. For instance, that very afternoon I saw this: 'most all the shutters are tightly closed, but on the second floor they are usually just bowed. And that day the slats

can't explain just why. Anyhow, as I hadn't anything else to do, I concluded I'd sit there for a while longer and see if something els

d Janet, in an

dressed in dingy black clothes that looked as if they must have come out of the ark, they were so old-fashioned! Her hat was a queer little bo

s if she was afraid of being seen or watched. When she got to the gate, she had to put down her basket and umbrella and use both hands to u

t seemed as if there must be some story about it, or some explanation; for, you see, it's a big place, and evidently at

the city. It just seemed as if I must find some explanation. Then, all of a sudden, I thought of our new colored maid. Perhaps she might have heard something about it. I made up my mind I'd go right out to the kitchen. So I w

Of course she's been talking to him a lot, and he has told her all about the whole neighborhood, and es

queried

verybody thought he was awfully foolish, going so far, and building a handsome city house off in the wilderness. But he wasn't

tle old lady, who keeps herself shut up there all the time; some think she's alone, others say no, that some one else is there with her. No one seems to know definitely. Anyhow,

lly peculiar things about the way the house looked,-the furniture all draped and covered up, and even the pictures on the walls covered, too,-and not a single modern improv

edict's Folly,' but no one seems to be able to guess what it can be. Now,

on't see what this has to do with a secret. Where do you come

gine, I couldn't get the thing out of my mind, and I couldn't stop looking at the old place, either. I tried to talk to Aunt Minerva about it, but she wasn't a bi

the shade, when I thought I'd take another peep at my mysterious mansion across the fence. All I could see, however, were just some streaks of light through the chinks in the shutters in that one room on the second floor. All the res

g into your neighbor's affairs, and, of course, that's horrid. Finally, I concluded, that if I could do it without being meddlesome or prying, I'd ju

tening, and threw it back against the wall. And the next moment a figure hurried to the window, leaned out, and drew the shutter back

demand

een in the afternoon, either. I'm sure of that. I couldn't see her face, for it was in shadow, but she was looking down at something spread out on her lap. And she held her right hand ove

know what it all meant-what that strange old lady could be doing, sitting there in st

se, I guess. But what about the secre

e secret, because no one but you knows I'm the least interested in the

ere interrupted by a knock at

one to bed yet? I've heard y

swered Marcia, "we are

night. You won't either of you be fit for a thing

red, but heaved a sigh when A

ght. But there's lots more, and the most interesting part of i