Chapter I: Front Matter

OUR NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBORS

By Belle K. Maniates

AMARILLY OF CLOTHES-LINE ALLEY

MILDEW MANCE

OUR NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBORS

OUR NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBORS

By

Belle Kanaris Maniates

With illustrations by

Tony Sarg

Boston

Little, Brown, and Company

1917

Copyright, 1917,

By Little, Brown, and Company.

All rights reserved

Published February, 1917

Norwood Press

Set up and electrotyped by J. S. Cushing Co., Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

Presswork by The Colonial Press, Boston, Mass., U.S.A.

CONTENTS

I ABOUT SILVIA AND MYSELF 1
II INTRODUCING OUR NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBORS 9
III IN WHICH WE ARE PESTERED BY POLYDORES 28
IV IN WHICH WE TAKE BOARDERS 45
V IN WHICH WE TAKE A VACATION 61
VI A FLIRT AND A WOMAN-HATER 77
VII IN WHICH NOTHING MUCH HAPPENS 90
VIII PTOLEMY DISAPPEARS AND I VISIT A HAUNTED HOUSE 99
IX IN WHICH WE SEE GHOSTS 123
X IN WHICH WE MAKE SOME DISCOVERIES 138
XI A BAD MEANS TO A GOOD END 152
XII "TOO MUCH POLYDORES" 164
XIII ROB'S FRIEND THE REPORTER 173
XIV A MIDNIGHT EXCURSION 195
XV WHAT MISS FRAYNE FOUND OUT 203
XVI PTOLEMY'S TALE 213
XVII ALL ABOUT UNCLE ISSACHAR'S VISIT 229
XVIII IN WHICH I DECIDE ON EXTREME MEASURES 254
XIX WHICH HAS TO DO WITH SOME LETTERS 267
XX "THE MONEY WE EARNT FOR YOU" 276

ILLUSTRATIONS

"What's your rush?" I asked, when I had overtaken
him. _Frontispiece_
Uncle Issachar 10
Dr. Felix Polydore 23
"Lucien Wade!" she gasped. "Here are our letters to
Beth and Rob." 80
He pleaded eloquently to be taken with us. 102
I babbled aimlessly to myself and then managed to
pull together and beat it to the lake 126
The landlady intears waylaid me 132
I had to carry Diogenes most of the way 168
Now and then above his howls, I heard Silvia's
plaintive protests outside the door 192
I held out my hand, which he shook solemnly, but
with an injured air 224
"He went to the front window and dropped a young
kitten down on the old gent's head." 242
"We heard a suppressed sneeze, and Rob pulled
Emerald from underneath." 256

OUR NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOURS