Chapter IV: Part 4

The girls loved to watch the lights and to listen to the pound of the waves on the rocks near by. They would have liked to stay and watch a long time, but Mrs. Merrill led them back toward the cottage by dark and, to tell the truth, beds didn't feel so very bad after such a big day and, soon after the stars peeped out, two tired travelers were sound asleep.

Sunday morning the girls slept late and almost missed breakfast; then after a short walk to the beach they slipped on fresh frocks and went with Mrs. Merrill to a quaint little church about a mile away. The walk there was charming, past the biggest hotel they had seen the night before, along the beach, through a wood and to the edge of a meadow where the little church, all vine-covered and rose-laden, came to view.

After dinner at noon, the girls sat on the beach a long time, watching the tide and talking over the good times they had had and were going to have. They persuaded their mother that because the water was too cold for bathing that day, they ought to stay over till afternoon of Monday so that they might have a chance to bathe in the ocean.

"We'll do better than that," decided Mrs. Merrill, when she saw how the girls were enjoying the sea air and the quiet, "I'll wire Hal and we'll stay till afternoon Tuesday. That will give him time to finish his visit leisurely and we will still have all of Wednesday in Boston and you may go in bathing twice--if the water isn't too terribly cold."

"I'm a-going in to-morrow even if it's freezing!" said Mary Jane.

"So'm I," agreed Alice, "we're not afraid of cold and it's such fun to jump in those big waves!" But they little guessed what was really going to happen when they went in bathing in that heavy surf!

The next morning, promptly at eleven, the whistle on the bathhouse blew 5-8.

"Fifty-eight," said Mrs. Merrill thoughtfully, "that's pretty cold, girlies."

"Oh, we don't mind," Alice assured her. "The sun's good and hot and if the water seems cold we don't need to stay in long--we can come out and sit in the hot sand."

So they took their suits and walked down to the bathhouse.

The tide was high that morning and the beach was narrow because the great waves washed up, higher and higher. Heavy posts driven into the bed of the ocean supported great ropes stretched where folks would want to stand in the waves, and if one watched and went out between waves and then held tightly to the rope while a wave broke over, there wasn't a fraction as much real danger as there appeared to be from the noise and foam. Mrs. Merrill, grasping a hand of each girl, made a quick dash for the nearest rope and warned them to hold fast when the big wave came. Alice could manage herself very well, as she had a good strong grip and people were round about near to lend a hand if a wave should make her lose her footing for a second, but Mrs. Merrill held tightly to Mary Jane and together they jumped through the waves as the foamy crests of cold water broke just over them.

"Burr, it _is_ cold, isn't it!" said Mary Jane gayly as she shook the salt water out of her eyes.

"Plenty cold and you're getting blue," replied Mrs. Merrill with a keen look at her little girl. "Let's go up and sit in the warm sand for a while. Alice, you come up the line, here, nearer to shore, and then as soon as I get Mary Jane settled in the sand snug and warm, I'll come back and take you out farther."

Left by herself a few minutes later, Mary Jane dug herself into the sand and buried her feet, her legs, and tossed the sand over her chest. Then, tiring of that amusement, she shook herself free of the sand, stood up and looked around and--but--after that nobody seemed to know just what Mary Jane did do.

Ten minutes after she left her so comfortably settled with her play, Mrs. Merrill and Alice, flushed and laughing with their fun in the waves, ran up the beach to where Mary Jane had been playing. But no Mary Jane was there to greet them!

Quickly Mrs. Merrill looked over the many bathers along the edge of the waves--there was no little girl with bobbed brown hair. Hurriedly she ran and questioned the life-guard; no, he hadn't seen any little girl in a blue and white suit.

The word passed along from one person to another but not a soul could tell where the little girl was. Several had seen her playing and watching her mother and sister but no one had seen her get up and go away.

There was lost, one Mary Jane; and a distracted mother and sister together with a beach full of interested people started on a hunt for the missing child.

*TEA ON THE TERRACE*

Questions and answers flew thick and fast as, one after another, the many bathers at Rye Beach learned that a little girl was lost.

"Are you sure she didn't follow you and go into the water?" asked one.

"Awful undertow," whispered another, "if she lost her footing even near the shore--" but Mrs. Merrill turned away so as not to hear any more.

"Maybe she went up the beach a way," suggested another.

"We looked up there first thing," was the reply.

"I don't know what to think," cried Mrs. Merrill in distraction as the police officer questioned her. "Mary Jane never ran away and I feel sure she wouldn't now. I don't think she would disobey me and go into the water--and yet, where is she?"

Alice, poor child, forgot about being wet, and ran up and down the beach, hunting and calling her sister.

At last, when there seemed nothing else to do, the officer said, "I am sorry to say, madam, that it looks very much as though--" but he never finished his sentence. For at that minute Mary Jane's voice close by her mother said, "Look, Mother, what I got for you! And there are a lot more too so Alice can pick some."

There stood Mary Jane, rosy and dry from the warm sun, her hand full of wild flowers she had picked--somewhere.

Mrs. Merrill gathered her up in her arms and hugged her so tight Mary Jane thought she never would get her breath again, then, when she could talk, she asked, "My dear child! Where _were_ you? We've hunted and hunted!"

"Why I was right there," answered Mary Jane, much surprised that they should have been anxious. "I stood up to shake off the sand and I saw some wild flowers back there--see 'em?" she added, pointing to the end of the bath-houses where some sand flowers bloomed on a low lying sand hill back of the beach. "And I thought, 'now I'll just get some of those and see if Alice wants 'em for her collection.' So I ran up there and there were so _many_--see how many kinds? And--that's all! I just picked 'em and then here I am!"

Mrs. Merrill thanked all the kind people who had helped hunt for Mary Jane and made a firm resolve (which she likely as not wouldn't keep) that next time Mary Jane was "lost" she would sit still and wait for the child to come back by herself.

For an hour Mary Jane played on the sand. They dug ditches, they "buried" each other and their mother, and finally they shook off the sand and ran to the beach for a final plunge before leaving. After they were dressed, Mary Jane led them up to the sand hill where she had found the flowers, and Alice picked a bloom or two of each kind to press and add to her collection.

Dinner never did taste so good as it did that day--surf bathing certainly makes girls hungry and they both enjoyed every bite of the good food Mrs. Bryan set before them.

"Now I think we'll all take a rest for an hour," suggested Mrs. Merrill, "and then, with some folks I met before you girlies woke up this morning, we'll drive to Portsmouth so you can see the harbor and the beautiful drive along the shore."

Promptly at three o'clock they set out, and Mary Jane thought it would take a whole book to tell all the beautiful and wonderful things they saw on that drive. The pine woods that smelled so sweet and good, the rolling golf links here and there, the glimpses of the Isle of Shoals that seemed no distance away, so clear was the air in the afternoon sunshine.

"I 'most could reach out and touch 'em!" exclaimed Mary Jane once, and it was hard to believe that the picturesque group of islands were miles away, out in the ocean.

The river at Portsmouth, dotted with boats, big and little, the view across into the state of Maine, and the beautiful grounds of a great hotel set high on the bluff overlooking the ocean, all seemed very wonderful. Everywhere were lovely gardens brilliant with bloom and grass so green and fresh, Mary Jane declared it made her want to get out and feel it, for it looked like soft velvet.

At Portsmouth they stopped at an old curiosity shop and bought an old-fashioned "knocker" for a souvenir of the drive.

"We'll put it on the door to your room," said Mrs. Merrill, "and then, when you shut the door, folks can knock before they come in. And every time you look at it, you will think of your trip to Rye Beach and to Portsmouth."

The next morning the Merrills took their ocean dip early, as they had decided to get to Boston in the afternoon instead of evening. The water was "freezing" cold, but the sun was good and warm and the dip was most refreshing as well as lots of fun.

It wasn't easy to leave Rye Beach. There was so much to do that would be fun, and so many nice people to meet and such good things to eat, that Mary Jane had to think hard about her father off home alone to make herself willing to leave so soon. But once away, she was quite happy, especially when she found that they could have their luncheon in a diner--Mary Jane would go anywhere--almost--to eat on a train!

Uncle Hal met them at the station in Boston and his smiling face assured them a surprise was in store.

"Too tired riding to do a little more?" he asked, as they walked out of the great station.

"Well," asked Mary Jane determined not to be tricked into anything, "is it a nice thing we would do, if we weren't too tired to do it?"

"_Very_ nice, I'd say, my young lady," replied Uncle Hal.

"Then I'm not a bit tired," Mary Jane assured him.

It was a good thing that was her answer, for the surprise was ready and waiting at the station door.

"This is my sister and her two daughters, Miss Burn," said Hal as he stepped up to a waiting car, "and they say they will enjoy the ride you so kindly planned for them." Miss Burn was a charming young lady with whom Mary Jane and Alice promptly made friends, and her car was a beautiful big touring car in which the Merrills were whisked away before they quite realized what had happened to them.

Through the parks of Boston they went, out the boulevards along the north shore where the roadway borders the ocean for miles and miles. Beautiful homes flashed passed them, parks, suburbs, playgrounds, amusement places--all like a wonderful living moving picture show. Mary Jane was interested in the great shoe factories they passed in Lynn and she tried to peek into the windows and see which factory made shoes for little girls her age. Rows and rows of red brick buildings--all shoe factories Uncle Hal told her--seemed enough to make shoes for everybody in the whole country!

On they went till they could see the houses on Marblehead and the famous Marblehead lighthouse that can be seen from such a distance at night, then, back they went, mostly over a different route, toward Boston.

"Couldn't you stop at our house for a cup of tea?" invited Miss Burn, "mother would love to meet you but she didn't feel up to a ride to-day."

Mrs. Merrill said they had nothing to hurry them, so Miss Burn drove them to her pretty home on one of the tree-covered streets in Winchester.

"We'll go through the house," said Miss Burn as they left the car, "but I want you two girls to go to the garden. You'll like to see my pet goldfishes."

"Pet goldfishes!" exclaimed Mary Jane, "do you keep 'em in a bowl?"

"Wait a minute, and I'll show you where I keep them," replied Miss Burn, and she led them through the hallway of her beautiful home and out, through French doors, into the loveliest garden the girls had ever seen. It was in the middle of the house--almost--for the house went around three sides. French doors opened from the hallway, on the north, from the dining-room on the east, and from a long, low library living-room on the west, while on the south side a rose covered pergola connected the ends of the house making the garden appear to be surrounded with the house. The edge of the garden, near the house, was filled with bay trees, privet and vining roses, next, on a lower terrace, were flowers with brilliant bloom, hollyhocks, delphiniums and marigolds, while around the fountain in the center was a great bed of gorgeous roses making a mass of fragrant bloom.

"Oh!" cried Alice, "think of living here!"

"It's like a palace!" echoed Mary Jane.

"I thought you'd like it," said Miss Burn, much pleased with their frank enjoyment, "we love it. I do a lot of the work in the garden myself. I love the flowers so, and mother and I would rather be out here than anywhere else in the world."

She led them over dainty gravel paths to the center of the garden where, peering into the white fountain, the girls saw dozens of goldfish swimming about in the sunshine.

"See?" said Miss Burn, pointing into the water, "I have one silver fish--that's for luck they say," she added laughingly. "Don't you think it's better to have fish here than in a bowl on a table?"

"I think everything's better here--if you have a 'here' like this," agreed Alice. "I suppose Mary Jane feels like a princess again, now. She always feels that way when she sees something wonderful."

"'Deed I do," admitted Mary Jane who had been too busy looking around and pretending that all this was her own private palace, to talk with mere folks! "I love it here!"

"Let's go over and meet mother," suggested Miss Burn, "and see if tea is ready. Then you may walk around the garden all you like and pick as many flowers as you want to."

They found Mrs. Burn waiting for them under the rose-covered terrace, and tea was all ready but the hot water which came in a few minutes. Mary Jane was very glad that the grown folks were too busy talking to count the number of lobster salad sandwiches she ate--they were so good--even better than the nut sandwiches which were usually her favorites. After tea, the girls wandered up and down the little paths in the garden and picked a few flowers; not many, for the flowers looked so lovely there that it seemed a shame to take them away.

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Mary Jane later as she saw her mother rise to go, "now it's going to be late and we'll have to go and--and I'd just love to stay in this garden forever and ever! I would!"

"I wish you could, dear," said Mrs. Burn, "because I like to have little girls around me--especially little girls who love flowers as you two do. But I'll tell you," she added comfortingly, "you've found the way out here now and the next time you come to Boston, which will be some time soon, let's hope, you come and see me the very first day and stay as long as ever you can."

Mary Jane promised and then she took a last glimpse at the fountain of goldfish before Miss Burn took them back to Boston and their hotel.

"When I have a house," she said as she dropped off to sleep that evening, "I'm going to have a garden just like Miss Burn's with goldfish and one silver fish and tea and lobster salad sandwiches and everything!"

*THE LAST DAY IN BOSTON--AND HOME*

The last morning in Boston! Mary Jane blinked at the bright sunshine that streamed in at the window and asked sleepily, "What are we going to do to-day, Mother?"

"_Mother!_" exclaimed Alice, suddenly wide awake, "we forgot to go to Concord! And my teacher told me surely, surely we must take that ride up through Sleepy Hollow and Concord."

"Don't you worry a minute, dear," said Mrs. Merrill, "I'm as anxious to take that ride as you are. In fact I had Hal get the seats in the automobile yesterday evening, so there would be no doubt about our being able to go this morning. I've never taken it either, you know, so we'll be seeing things together. Now everybody up and see who can beat getting dressed and ready for breakfast."

When they stepped up to the big sightseeing car, an hour and a half later, they found that Uncle Hal had bought their seats for the front row which pleased them very much. Mary Jane liked to see things without dodging the head of somebody in front, and Alice and Mrs. Merrill liked to be close to the man who tells about the historic scenes on the way, so they could ask questions and could hear everything that was said.

The car soon filled up with interested sightseers and the journey was begun.

Alice eagerly listened to all that was told and fitted it into what she knew of early American history. The old church where the lights were hung to give the signal to Paul Revere; the road he dashed across on his long journey--marked now, by a big bronze tablet which the girls got out of the car to read; the "green" where one of the early battles was fought--Alice had read all the stories and seemed to live over the scenes as she saw the famous sites.

Of course Mary Jane didn't know as much history as her sister did, but she knew something of the historical stories, as all American girls should even if they are only in first grade, and she learned more history in that two hours of riding than she would have learned in a month of reading. It didn't seem like history out of a book, it seemed like really truly--as it was.

The car turned down a long, shady road and came to a stop by a tiny wooden bridge.

"There," said the driver, "is the Concord bridge and you may get out and walk across if you like. There's no hurry."

"The Concord bridge?" exclaimed Alice, "why I thought it was a _big_ bridge--I've heard so much about it."

"Size doesn't count for everything," laughed the driver; "it's what happens that counts."

They climbed out of the automobile and walked across the tiny bridge. It was a low, wooden foot bridge, so narrow that one had to walk carefully to pass anybody coming from the other direction. On one side was a hand rail, on the other nothing but the clear water of the little creek so close below.

The girls stood in the center of the bridge and Mrs. Merrill took their picture so Alice could show it to her teacher at school, then they sat down in the shade close by and Mrs. Merrill told Mary Jane the story that made that little bridge so famous; how the brave farmers stood there waiting--right there on the spot Mary Jane could see; how the Redcoats crept up through the darkness to the very tree (no doubt it was the very tree for its wide spreading branches and great trunk told of its old age), the very tree under which they were sitting, and then there was fired the shot "for freedom," the shot which the poet said was "heard 'round the world."

Reluctantly leaving the interesting spot that charmed them so, the Merrills climbed back into the big auto and drove away; through Concord, through Sleepy Hollow and to the house where Louisa M. Alcott had lived. There Mary Jane felt at home immediately. She saw the lilac bushes, the old trees and the quaint old house she had heard about. They went through the rooms, upstairs and down, and saw the very books and dishes and kettles and clothes that the girls in Miss Alcott's story had used and worn.

"Why they were just regular girls like we are, weren't they, Mother?" she exclaimed in surprise. "And they didn't know they were going to be in a story and everybody read about them, did they?"

"To be sure," said Mrs. Merrill, "and that's what makes them so interesting. They did all the things that real folks do, and we like to hear about such things in books."

"Wouldn't it be funny if we'd get into a story book," said Mary Jane, laughing at the ridiculous idea, "and somebody'd read about how we came to see Miss Alcott's house? I'd laugh if we did!"

"Well, you never can tell what'll happen," said Alice as they wandered out through the yard. "I expect Meg and Beth never thought of being in a book either. I wonder if they picked roses from this same old bush?" she added as she looked at a rose-bush that rambled high overhead, "it looks old enough to have been here then."

It was hard to leave the quaint old house with its interesting associations, but the honking of a horn out in front warned them that they had lingered long enough, so they hurried out to finish the drive.

"When I get back home," said Mary Jane as she snuggled down in her front seat again, "I'm going to read all about Concord and all about everything--if you'll read it to me, Mother, I am." Mrs. Merrill promised, so Mary Jane tried to look very hard at everything they saw so she could remember it a long, long time.

"Now then," said Mrs. Merrill briskly, as they got out of the auto at Copley Square, "we'll just have time to hurry up and pack our things and get our lunch before the train leaves. And we won't have a bit of time to spare, so it's a mighty good thing we haven't left anything else to do. That Wolverine leaves on time whether we are on it or not."

"Won't we have time but just only to pack and to get lunch?" asked Mary Jane disappointedly.

"Why Mary Jane!" exclaimed Mrs. Merrill, "haven't you seen enough of Boston?"

"Oh, yes," replied Mary Jane, "I've seen enough but I haven't done enough."

"What more is there to do, child?" asked Mrs. Merrill. "Seems to me you've done about everything a person could think of already."

"Yes, I guess I have," admitted Mary Jane, "but I wanted to do some of it over again. I wanted to take another ride in my swan boat, I did."

"My dear child!" exclaimed Mrs. Merrill sympathetically, "and you shall if I can get you down there. Hurry now and we'll get our packing done in a jiffy and then before we eat we'll go to the Commons and let you take a ride."

Up in their room Mary Jane helped all she could with the packing. She stuffed the tips of all the shoes, she folded hair ribbons that had been mussed and put clothes in neat piles on the bed. Alice took everything from the drawers, picked up personal belongings from the bathroom, and brought the clothes that had been hanging in the closet. With such good help Mrs. Merrill packed in a very short time, and sooner than she had supposed possible the trunk was ready to go, and they were dressed in traveling frocks ready for the journey home.

"Now a wire to Dad," she said as she took a careful look over the room to be certain that they were leaving nothing behind, "and I believe we are ready to go."

"Let's not stop for a big lunch," suggested Alice, "because we can have early dinner on the diner. Let's get sandwiches and milk some place and then let Mary Jane have two rides on the swan boats."

Mrs. Merrill telephoned Hal and he promised to call for their bags at the hotel and then to come for them at the entrance of the Commons nearest the lagoon.

A very happy little girl bought tickets for six rides and, with Alice and her mother, Mary Jane took two last blissful rides on her favorite boat.

"When I grow up to be a big lady and have a little girl of my own," she observed between rides, "I'm going to bring her to Boston and let her ride 'n ride 'n ride."

"Seems to me that's about what I am doing with my little girl," laughed Mrs. Merrill. "I believe you like the swan boats better than anything you have seen or done on the trip."

"I do," agreed Mary Jane, "unless," she added, thoughtfully, "unless eating in the garden or seeing the goldfishes or swimming or playing with John or--well, we've done a lot of nice things, Mother, but swan boats are my favorite, I guess."

Hal's taxi was chugging briskly when they reached the street and they dashed off to take their train for home.

"Now there's a whole day to ride without getting off or hurrying or anything," said Mary Jane luxuriously, as she settled herself in the comfortable sleeper and leaned back against the cushions with a deep sigh of satisfaction. "I just _love_ riding on a train, I do, Mother."

It _was_ fun to sit quietly and watch the towns dash by. For ten busy days Mary Jane had been the one to do the going, hurrying from one good time to another and now it seemed the best fun of all to sit still and think about all the fun she had had.

In an hour though, she began to want something to do. Alice, deep in a book, was close by, while her mother and Uncle Hal, who seemed to have an endless amount to say to each other, were just across the aisle. Should she bother them--or what should she do?

Suddenly she remembered! She had brought something for just such a time, and so busy had she been all the days in New England that she hadn't once thought of what she had carried around. She slipped her hand back of her till she touched her own little handbag that was on the seat between herself and Alice, opened it and spread out on her lap her precious paper dolls.

Mrs. Merrill, glancing across to see that her little girl was all right, saw what she was doing and said, "Press the button there between the windows, dear, and the porter will bring you a table to spread the dolls out on."

Five minutes later Mary Jane had a table all to herself and on it spread her whole paper doll family. All the time the great train sped through Massachusetts, she played with them, acting over again the Harvard Class Day parties, the tea party in Mrs. Burn's pretty garden and many other things that she herself had done on her trip.

At five-thirty they went to the diner for dinner, and Mary Jane had some good chicken and hashed-brown potatoes and apple dumplings with ice cream, before she went back to finish playing with her dolls.

"I think paper dolls are the nicest dolls for on a train, I do," she told her mother, as together they neatly tucked the dolls away for a night's rest in the handbag, "'cause they don't break and they don't take up a lot of room, and I can have them all along--every one of them."

Mr. Merrill met his family at the station the next day, and there was a happy reunion and a lot of talk about the fun they had had since they last saw him.

"But nobody asks me what _I've_ been doing?" he exclaimed with mock grief at the first pause in the conversation.

"Oh, Daddah," cried Mary Jane, "I'm so sorry! But you see we had so much to do--graduating Uncle Hal and seeing everything, we did. Now _you_ talk--it's your turn."

Then Mr. Merrill told his surprise. The builder who was to do their house in the woods had been able to get to work sooner than he had promised, and the house, while it wouldn't be finished for some little time yet, was well on the way.

"The roof's on," he told them, "and that's a lot, for it means we can go out there and picnic and not worry about rain. And if all goes well, we can pack our trunks and move into the shack in a very few days."

"Oh, goody!" cried Mary Jane clapping her hands gleefully, "and I'm going to make garden and keep house and hunt flowers and _everything_!"

* * * * * * * *

*THE MARY JANE SERIES*

By CLARA INGRAM JUDSON

Take a trip with Mary Jane. She is the heroine of this popular series for young girls. You'll find her a charming traveling companion. Her good nature, her abounding interest in her friends and surroundings, and her fascinating adventures both at home and abroad have endeared her to thousands all over the country.

MARY JANE--HER BOOK MARY JANE--HER VISIT MARY JANE'S KINDERGARTEN MARY JANE DOWN SOUTH MARY JANE'S CITY HOME MARY JANE IN NEW ENGLAND MARY JANE'S COUNTRY HOME MARY JANE AT SCHOOL MARY JANE IN CANADA MARY JANE'S SUMMER FUN MARY JANE'S WINTER SPORTS MARY JANE'S VACATION MARY JANE IN ENGLAND MARY JANE IN SCOTLAND MARY JANE IN FRANCE MARY JANE IN SWITZERLAND MARY JANE IN ITALY

GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK

* * * * *

_There is the high, happy spirit of youth in these famous_

*BOOKS FOR GIRLS*

by JANE D. ABBOTT

BARBERRY GATE

A boy flyer opened the Barberry Gate, closed since the day great-grandfather Colfax locked it, and Winsome learned the romantic story behind it all.

LAUGHING LAST

Sidney finds adventure in Provincetown--she takes part in the capture of modern pirates, and much to her surprise plays an unexpected part in her sister's romance.

APRILLY

The charming story of a young girl, child of the circus, and the adventures which led to her goal of happiness.

HIGHACRES

A school story of Jerry Travis and her chum Gyp Westley. A thread of romance and mystery in Jerry's life runs through the tale.

KEINETH

How Keineth Randolph kept a secret--a war secret--for a whole year makes one of the best stories ever written for girls.

RED ROBIN

In attempting to bring happiness into the lives of mill workers, Robin Forsythe, heir to a fortune, has many strange adventures.

HEYDAY

Twenty-three! The heyday of life. Jay, a small town girl, finds happiness in New York.

LARKSPUR

Especially interesting to any Girl Scout because it is the story of a Girl Scout who is poor and has to help her mother.

HAPPY HOUSE

How an old family quarrel is healed through a misunderstanding and an old homestead becomes a "happy house" in reality.

GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK

* * * * *

*THE NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES*

By CAROLYN KEENE

Illustrated. Every Volume Complete in Itself.

Here is a thrilling series of mystery stories for girls. Nancy Drew, ingenious, alert, is the daughter of a famous criminal lawyer and she herself is deeply interested in his mystery cases. Her interest involves her often in some very dangerous and exciting situations.

THE SECRET OF THE OLD CLOCK

Nancy, unaided, seeks to locate a missing will and finds herself in the midst of adventure.

THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE

Mysterious happenings in an old stone mansion lead to an investigation by Nancy.

THE BUNGALOW MYSTERY

Nancy has some perilous experiences around a deserted bungalow.

THE MYSTERY AT LILAC INN

Quick thinking and quick action were needed for Nancy to extricate herself from a dangerous situation.

THE SECRET AT SHADOW RANCH

On a vacation in Arizona Nancy uncovers an old mystery and solves it.

THE SECRET OF RED GATE FARM

Nancy exposes the doings of a secret society on an isolated farm.

THE CLUE IN THE DIARY

A fascinating and exciting story of a search for a clue to a surprising mystery.

NANCY'S MYSTERIOUS LETTER

Nancy receives a letter informing her that she is heir to a fortune. This story tells of her search for another Nancy Drew.

THE SIGN OF THE TWISTED CANDLES

Nancy, as mediator in a generation-old feud, divulges an unknown birthright.

THE PASSWORD TO LARKSPUR LANE

A carrier pigeon furnishes Nancy with a clue to a mysterious retreat.

THE CLUE OF THE BROKEN LOCKET

Nancy's sympathy for adopted twins leads her into a surprising mystery.

THE MESSAGE IN THE HOLLOW OAK

In Canada, Nancy protects her new property from a crooked promoter.

THE MYSTERY OF THE IVORY CHARM

Nancy solves an Indian mystery by means of a lucky elephant charm.

GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK

* * * * *

*Melody Lane Mystery Stories*

By LILIAN GARIS

Thrills, secrets, ghosts--adventures that will fascinate you seem to surround pretty Carol Duncan. A vivid, plucky girl, her cleverness at solving mysteries will captivate and thrill every mystery fan.

The author has written many popular mystery stories for girls and in this new series Mrs. Garis is at her best.

THE GHOST OF MELODY LANE

Mystery surrounds the great organ in the home of the "Cameo Lady"--beloved friend of Carol and sponsor of the girls' Coral Club. Three people see the "ghost" that wanders in the grove carrying a waxy white rose. And Carol finds the rose! In the end she finds the ghost too!

THE FORBIDDEN TRAIL

There was a tradition at "Splatter Castle" on Melody Lane, and Marah Splartier, eccentric aunt of Veronica Flint determined to protect Vera from following the long line of family tragedies that had had their beginning on the "forbidden trail." Carol has several bad frights before she clears up the mystery that keeps the little family at Splatter Castle unhappy and afraid.

THE TOWER SECRET

The winking lights flashing from the old tower on the grounds of the Bonds' new home defy explanation. There is no one in the tower--and no electric power or connections! Had the engaging circus family that Carol befriended anything to do with the mystery? And what interest had Parsnips, the queer old farmer, in the "ghost" tower?

THE WILD WARNING

What power did the strange, wild warning in the woods have over Polly Flinders? And why was she so desperately anxious to earn money? Carol brings happiness to three families when she solves this exciting mystery.

THE TERROR OF MOANING CLIFF

No tenant would stay in the great, bleak house on "moaning cliff" that belonged to Carol's aunt. But Carol, courageous and determined, finally tracks the uncanny "haunts" to their source.

THE DRAGON OF THE HILLS

When Carol runs a tea shop for a friend, a baffling mystery comes to her with her first customer. Who has the limping man's lost package--the gypsies, the oriental or the neighbor's boy who ran away?

GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK

* * * * *

*The MARY and JERRY MYSTERY STORIES*

By FRANCIS HUNT

THE MESSENGER DOG'S SECRET

The big police dog Flanders carried a strange message in his collar. By following its directions, Mary and Jerry Denton were able to bring a lost fortune to someone in need.

THE MYSTERY OF THE TOY BANK

Jerry Denton was saving for a bicycle, but when his little bank strangely disappeared he had a big mystery to solve. With the aid of Mary, several chums and a queer old sailor, this eager lad brought about a happy solution.

THE STORY THE PARROT TOLD

A fire in a pet shop started a long chain of adventures for Mary and Jerry Denton. The tale the talking parrot told caused plenty of excitement and mystery before the bird was restored to its rightful owner.

THE SECRET OF THE MISSING CLOWN

Mary and Jerry have many happy adventures at the circus while searching for the missing clown and his beautiful pony, Silverfeet.

GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK

* * * * *

*THE BOBBSEY TWINS BOOKS*

FOR LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN

By LAURA LEE HOPE

ILLUSTRATED. _Every volume complete in itself_.

These books for boys and girls between the ages of three and ten stand among children and their parents of this generation where the books of Louisa May Alcott stood in former days. The haps and mishaps of this inimitable pair of twins, their many adventures and experiences are a source of keen delight to imaginative children.

THE BOBBSEY TWINS THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN WASHINGTON THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CEDAR CAMP THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE COUNTY FAIR THE BOBBSEY TWINS CAMPING OUT THE BOBBSEY TWINS AND BABY MAY THE BOBBSEY TWINS KEEPING HOUSE THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CLOVERBANK THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CHERRY CORNER THE BOBBSEY TWINS AND THEIR SCHOOLMATES THE BOBBSEY TWINS TREASURE HUNTING THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SPRUCE LAKE THE BOBBSEY TWINS WONDERFUL SECRET THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE CIRCUS THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON AN AIRPLANE TRIP THE BOBBSEY TWINS SOLVE A MYSTERY THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A RANCH THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN ESKIMO LAND

GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK

* * * * *

*Three Stories of Fun and Friendship*

*THE MAIDA BOOKS*

by INEZ HAYNES IRWIN

MAIDA'S LITTLE SHOP

In a darling little shop of her own Maida makes many friends with the school children who buy her fascinating wares.

MAIDA'S LITTLE HOUSE

All of her friends spend a happy summer in Maida's perfect little house that has everything a child could wish for.

MAIDA'S LITTLE SCHOOL

Three delightful grownups come to visit and the children study many subjects without knowing that they are really "going to school."

GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK

* * * * *

*DANA GIRLS MYSTERY STORIES*

BY CAROLYN KEENE

_Author of the_
NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES

Impetuous, delightful Jean Dana and her charming serious minded sister Louise find themselves in the midst of several mysteries, when they attempt to aid people who are in trouble. Thrilling moments come to the girls as they follow up clue after clue in an endeavor to untangle the knotty problems in which they become enmeshed.

BY THE LIGHT OF THE STUDY LAMP

A stolen study lamp, a fortune teller, and a distressed schoolmate provide plenty of excitement for the Dana girls before they locate the persons responsible for many mysterious happenings.

THE SECRET AT LONE TREE COTTAGE

While the girls are at Starhurst School, they learn that their beloved English teacher has vanished in a strange manner. In tracing her, Jean and Louise are able to aid the frantic relatives of a dear little curly-haired tot, but not before they themselves are in danger of disappearing.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE TOWER

The mingling of unusual characters, who have life interests very different from one another, lends excitement and intrigue to a Christmas vacation of the Dana girls. Their ability to fit together the pieces of a strange puzzle brings happiness to several persons!

A THREE-CORNERED MYSTERY

There were three strange corners which the Dana girls successfully rounded in their search for clues to clear up a mystery, involving property and an international spy of many aliases.

THE SECRET AT THE HERMITAGE

When Louise is mistaken for a runaway prisoner, strange things begin to happen, which lead the Danas to uncover the secret of a talented girl and her crippled charge.

GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK