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THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR


By William Johnston
THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
THE HOUSE OF WHISPERS
LIMPY
THE BOY WHO FELT NEGLECTED
THE YELLOW LETTER



ARTHUR WILLIAM BROWN
She could not bring herself to tell him, the man she loved, the
thing she knew he was. Frontispiece. See page 221.








THE APARTMENT
NEXT DOOR
BY
WILLIAM JOHNSTON
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
ARTHUR WILLIAM BROWN
NON REFERT

BONOS.HABEASZ
EQVAM.MVLTOS
WVD.at
LITTLE, Move
BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
1919
o company


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Copyright, 1919,
BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
All rights reserved.


To THAT MARVELLOUS SCHEHERAZADE
CAROLYN WELLS HOUGHTON
THE AUTHOR, IN ENVIOUS ADMIRATION,
DEDICATES THIS VOLUME





CONTENTS
PAGE
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
CHAPTER
I. THE FACE OF HATE . .
II. THE ADDRESS ON THE CARD
III. “MR. FLECK” . .
IV. THE CLUE IN THE BOOK
V. ON THE TRAIL . . .
VI. THE MISSING MESSAGE
VII. THE WOMAN ON THE ROOF.
VIII. THE LISTENING EAR . .
IX. THE PURSUIT . . .
X. CARTER'S DISCOVERY.
XI. JANE'S ADVENTURE
XII. PUZZLES AND PLANS .
XIII. THE SEALED PACKET . .
XIV. THE MOUNTAIN'S SECRET .
XV. THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS .
XVI. THE ATTACK ON THE HOUSE
XVII. SOMETHING UNEXPECTED .
XVIII. WHAT THE PACKET CONTAINED
.
. .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
244
260
. 275
.
.
.





LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
She could not bring herself to tell him, the
man she loved, the thing she knew he
was . . . . . . Frontispiece
More than likely, she alone in all the world
-knew who the murderer was . PAGE 14
Had he been standing there listening? How
much had he heard ? . . . " 85
"Thank God,” he cried. “Jane, dear,
tell me you are not hurt!" .
on
191





THE APARTMENT
NEXT DOOR
CHAPTER I
THE FACE OF HATE
It was three o'clock in the morning. Along
a deserted pavement of Riverside Drive strode
briskly a young man whose square-set shoulders
and erect poise suggested a military training.
His coat, thrown carelessly open to the cold night
wind, displayed an expanse of white indicative
of evening dress. As he walked his heels clicked
sharply on the concrete with the forceful firm
tread of the type which does things quickly and
decisively. The intense stillness of the early
morning hours carried the sound in little staccato
beats that could be heard blocks away. A few
yards behind him, moving furtively and noise-
lessly, almost as if he had been shod with rubber,
crept another figure, that of a stalky, broad-


2 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
shouldered man, who despite his bulk and weight
moved silently and swiftly through the night, a
soft brown hat drawn low over his eyes as if he
desired to avoid recognition.
All at once the man ahead paused suddenly
and stood looking out over the river. Between
the Drive and the distance-dimmed lights of the
Jersey shore there rose like great silhouettes the
grim figures of several huge steel-clad battle-
ships, their fighting-tops lost in the shadows of
the opposite hills. Beside them, obscure, with
no lights visible, lay the great transports that in
a few hours, or in a few days—who knew—they
would be convoying with their precious cargo of
fighting men across the war-perilled Atlantic.
It was on the forward deck of one of these
great battleships that the eyes of the man ahead
were riveted. His shadower, evidently much
concerned in his actions, crept slowly and
stealthily forward, approaching nearer and still
nearer without being observed.
A dim light became visible on the warship's
deck and then vanished. Still the man stood
there watching, a puzzled, anxious look coming
into his face. Quickly the light reappeared-


THE FACE OF HATE
3
two flashes, a pause, two flashes, a pause, and
then a single flash. It was such a light as might
have been made by a pocket torch, a feeble ray
barely strong enough to carry to the adjacent
shore, a light that if it had been flashed from
some sheltered nook by the boat davits might
not even have attracted the attention of the
officer on the bridge nor of the ship's watchmen.
Manifestly it was a signal intended for the eyes
of some one on shore.
A muttered imprecation escaped the lips of
the watcher on the Drive. He stood there,
straining his eyes toward the ship as if expect-
ing a following signal, then he turned and gazed
aloft at the windows of the apartment houses
lining the driveway to see if some answering
signal flashed back.
And in the shadow of the buildings, hardly ten
feet away but half sheltered by a doorway, stood
his sinister pursuer, motionless but alert.
For perhaps a quarter of an hour they held
their positions. At last the man who was being
followed shrugged his shoulders impatiently and
set off again down the Drive, from time to time
turning his head to watch the spot from which


4 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
the signal had been flashed. Behind him, as
doggedly as ever and now a little closer, crept
the man with the hat over his eyes.
Regardless of the lateness of the hour, at a
third-floor window of one of the great apart-
ment houses lining the Drive sat a young girl in
her nightrobe, with her two great black braids
flung forward over her shoulders, about which
she had placed for warmth's sake a quilted
negligee. Jane Strong was far too excited to
sleep. An hour before she had come in from
a wonderful party. The music still was playing
mad. tunes in her ears. The excitement, the
coffee, the spirited tilts at arms with her many
dancing partners had set her brain on fire. Sleep
seemed impossible as yet.
Looking out at the river-a favorite occupa-
tion of hers—the sight of the warships looming
up through the darkness reminded her once
more that nearly all of the men with whom she
had been dancing had been in uniform, bringing
into prominence in the jumble of ideas in her
over-stimulated brain, almost as a new discovery,
the fact that her country was really engaged in
war, that the men, the very men whom she knew


THE FACE OF HATE
best, were most of them fighting, or soon going
to fight in a foreign land. Suddenly she found
herself vaguely wishing that there was some-
thing she might do, something for the war,
something to help. Would it not be splendid,
she thought, to go to France as a Red Cross
nurse, to be over there in the middle of things,
where something exciting was forever going on.
Life—the only life she knew about, existence as
the petted daughter of well-to-do parents in a
big city—had, ever since the war had begun,
seemed strangely flat and uninteresting. Parties,
to be sure, were fun but hardly any one was giv-
ing parties this year. The Stantons had enter-
tained only because their lieutenant son was
going abroad soon, and they wished him to have
a pleasant memory to carry with him. Most of
the interesting men she knew already were gone,
and now Jack Stanton was going. How she
wished she could find some way of getting into
the war herself.
The sound of approaching footsteps caught
her ear. Wondering who was abroad at that
hour of the night she pushed up the window
softly and looked out. In the distance she saw


6 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
a man approaching, striding briskly toward her.
As she stood idly watching him and wondering
about him, suddenly she caught her breath. She
had sighted the other figure behind, the man
creeping stealthily after him. Nearer and nearer
they came. In tense expectation she waited,
sensing some unusual development. They had
reached her block now. Almost directly under
her window the man in advance paused to light
a cigarette. His shadow paused, too, but some
incautious movement on his part must have
betrayed him.
Match in hand, the man in advance stood
stock-still, his whole figure taut, poised, alert, in
an attitude of listening. All at once he wheeled
about, discovering the man close behind him.
He sprang at once for his pursuer. The latter
took to his heels, dashing around the corner, the
man whom he had been following now hot at
his heels.
All trembling with nervous excitement Jane
leaned out the window to listen and watch. She
could hear the running feet of both men just
around the corner: What was happening? The
running feet came to an abrupt stop. There was


THE FACE OF HATE
a half-smothered cry, a sharp thud, like a body
striking the pavement, and then came silence.
Puzzled, vaguely alarmed, a hundred questions
came pouring into her brain and lingered there
disturbingly. Why had one of these men been
shadowing the other? Why had the pursuer
suddenly become the pursued? Why had the
running footsteps come to such an abrupt stop?
What was the noise she had heard? What was
happening around the corner? Her fears rapidly
growing, she was on the point of arousing her
family. But what excuse should she give?
What could she tell them? After all she had
merely seen two men run up the side street.
More than likely they would only laugh at her,
and she did not like being laughed at. Besides,
Dad was always cross when suddenly awakened.
Undecided what to do she stood at the window,
peering into the night.
Five minutes, ten minutes she stood there in
tremulous perplexity. A sense of impending
tragedy seemed to have laid hold of her. A
black horror seized her and held her at the win-
dow. Something terrible, something tragic, she
was sure must have happened. Mustering up


8 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
her strength and trying to calm her fears she
was about to put down the window when she
heard footsteps once more approaching. Strain-
ing her ears to listen she discovered the sound
was that of the steps of a man-one man-ap-
proaching from around the corner. As she
watched he turned into the Drive and came on
toward her. She shrank back a little, fearful of
being seen even though her room was in dark-
ness. It was the first man. She recognized him
at once by his top-hat and his evening clothes.
He was walking even more briskly than before,
almost running. There was no sign anywhere
of the shorter thick-set man who had been fol-
lowing him. Something in the appearance of
the figure in the street below struck her all at
once as vaguely familiar. She wondered if it
could be any one she knew.
Presently he came directly opposite the light
on the other side of the Drive so that it shone
for an instant full on his face. Jane looked and
shuddered. Never in all her life had she seen
any man's countenance so convulsed, not with
pain, but with a soul-terrifying expression of
hate, of virulent, murderous hate.


THE FACE OF HATE
9
man
Distorted though the man's face was with
such bitter frightfulness, she recognized him,
not as any one she knew, but merely as one of
the tenants in the same apartment building.
“It's one of the people next door,” she said
to herself and in verification of her identifica-
tion, as he approached the building, the young
man cast a swift glance over his shoulder, and
then, as if satisfied that he was unobserved,
dashed hurriedly in at the entrance.
Jane, more than ever wrought up with fear
and dread of she knew not what, sprang hastily
into bed and drew the covers about her shoul-
ders. As yet she did not lie down but shiver-
ingly waited. Presently she heard the elevator
stop. She heard the key opening the door of
the next apartment. In a few minutes she heard
the man moving about his bedroom, separated
from her own room by a mere six inches of
plaster and paper, or whatever it is that apart-
ment-house walls are made of.
What could have happened? She was certain
that something terrible had occurred in which
the young man next door had played a tragic,
perhaps even a criminal part. She tried in vain


10 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
to conjecture what circumstance could have
been responsible for the look of hatred she had
seen on his face. She wondered what had been
the fate of the man who had been following him.
Had they quarrelled and fought? What could
have been the subject of their quarrel?
She tried to summarize what she knew about
the people next door, and was amazed to dis-
cover how little she had to draw upon. As in
most New York apartment houses so in Jane's
home all the tenants were utter strangers to
each other, one family not even knowing the
names of any of the others. Occasionally, to be
sure, one rather resentfully rode up or down in
the elevator with some of the other tenants but
always without noticing or speaking to them.
Jane's family had been living in the building for
five years, and of the twenty other families they
knew the names of only two, having learned
them by accident rather than intention. About
the people next door Jane now discovered that
she really knew nothing at all. There was a
man with a gray beard who never took off his
hat in the elevator, and there was the handsome
young chap whom she had just seen entering.


THE FACE OF HATE
But what their names were, or their business, or
how long they had lived there, or whether they
were father and son, what servants they kept, or
whether either or both of them was married
these were questions she could have answered
as readily as if they had been living in Dallas,
Texas, or Seattle, Washington, as in the next
apartment. Quickly she found that she really
knew nothing at all about them except-she
could not recall that any one had told her or how
she had got the impression-she was almost cer-
tain they were some sort of foreigners.
Just when it was that her troubled thoughts
were succeeded by even more troubled dreams
she was not aware, but it was noon the next day
when she was awakened by the maid bringing in
her breakfast tray.
“Terrible, Miss Jane, wasn't it,” said the
servant, “about that suicide last night, almost
under our noses, you might say.”.
“Suicide!” cried the girl, at once wide-awake
and interested. “What suicide?".
"A man was found dead in the side street right
by our building with a revolver in his hand.”
“What sort of a looking man was he?”


12 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
“I didn't see him," said the maid, almost re-
gretfully. “He was taken away before I was
up. Cook tells me it was the milkman found
him and notified the police."
“Who was he?”
“Nobody round here knows a thing about
him. He shot himself through the heart and us
sleeping here an' not knowing anything at all
about it."
“But didn't any one know who he was?”
“Never a soul. The superintendents from all
the buildings round took a look at the body, but
none of them knew him. It wasn't anybody
that lived around here. There's a piece in the
afternoon papers about it.”
“Get me a paper at once," directed the girl.
Eagerly she read the paragraph the maid
pointed out. It really told very little. The
body of a plainly dressed man had been found on
the sidewalk. There was a revolver in his hand
with one cartridge discharged, and the bullet had
penetrated his heart. He had been a short
stalky man and had worn a brown soft hat.
There was nothing about his clothing to identify
him, even the marks where his suit had been


14 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
to have removed all possible means of identifica-
tion from the man's clothing.
It was not suicide, Jane felt certain. It was
murder! Slowly but oppressingly, overwhelm-
ingly, it dawned on her not only that in all
probability a murder had been committed, but
also that she-more than likely, she alone in all
the world-knew who the murderer was, who
it must have been—the young man next door.



RTHUR WILLIAM BICYwN-
More than likely, she alone in all the world-knew who the mur-
derer was. Page 14.





CHAPTER II
nerves
er
THE ADDRESS ON THE CARD
IMPATIENTLY Jane looked at her wrist watch.
It lacked an hour of the time when she was to
meet her mother at the Ritz for tea. Her nerves
still all ajangle from excitement and worry over
the morning's tragedy, and her own accidental
secret knowledge of certain aspects of the case
had made it wholly impossible for her to do any-
thing that day with even simulated interest.
She had been debating with herself whether
or not to confide to her mother the story of the
tragic tableau of which she had been an acci-
dental witness, when Mrs. Strong had dashed
into her bedroom to give her a hurried peck on
the cheek and to say that she was off to luncheon
and the matinée with Mrs. Starrett.
“ You're not looking well to-day, dear,” her
mother had said. “Stay in bed and rest and
join us for tea if you like.”


16 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
Before she had opportunity to tell what she
had seen, her mother was gone, but Jane had
found it impossible to obey her well-meant in-
junction. She rose and dressed, her mind busy
all the while with the problem of what her duty
was. As she donned her clothing she paused
from time to time to listen for sounds from the
next apartment.
What was her neighbor doing now? Had he
read of the discovery of the man's body in the
street? Perhaps he had fled already? Not a
sound was to be heard there. He did not look
in the least like what Jane imagined a murderer
would, yet certainly the circumstances pointed
all too plainly to his guilt. She had seen two
men dash around the corner, one in pursuit of
the other. One of them had come back alone.
Not long afterward a body—the body of the
other man-had been found with a bullet in his
heart. It must have been a murder.
What ought she to do about it? Was it her
duty to tell her mother and Dad about what she
had seen? Mother, she knew, would be horri-
fied and would caution her to say nothing to any
one, but Dad was different. He had strict ideas


18 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
In an effort to put the whole thing out of her
mind she tried to read, but was unable to keep
her thoughts from wandering. She sat down at
the piano, but music failed to interest or soothe
her. She mussed over some unanswered notes
in her desk but could not summon up enough
concentration of mind to answer them. Rest-
less and fidgety, unable to keep her thoughts
from the unusual occurrences that had disturbed
her ordinarily too peaceful life, she decided to
take a walk until it was time to keep her appoint-
ment. Something—force of habit probably-led
her to the shopping district. With still half an
hour to kill, she went into a little specialty shop
to examine some knitting bags displayed in the
window.
“Why don't you knit as all the other girls are
doing? ” was her father's constant suggestion
every time she asserted her desire to be doing
something in the war.
“There's no thrill in knitting,” she would an-
swer. “Fix it, Dad, so that I can go to France
as a Red Cross nurse or as an ambulance driver,
won't you? I want some excitement."
Always he had refused to consent to her go-


THE ADDRESS ON THE CARD 19
ing, insisting that France in wartime was no
place for an untrained girl.
"If I can't go myself, I certainly am not going
to send any knitting," she would spiritedly an-
·swer, but several times recently the sight of such
charming looking knitting bags had tempted her
into almost breaking her resolution.
Inside the shop she found nothing that ap-
pealed to her, and contented herself with buying
some toilet articles. As she made her purchases
she noticed, almost subconsciously, a man stand-
ing near, talking with one of the shopgirls—a
middle-aged man with a dark mustache.
“ The address, please," said the girl, who had
been waiting on her.
“Miss Strong,” she answered, giving the num-
ber of the apartment house on Riverside Drive.
She recalled afterward that as she mentioned
the number the man standing there had turned
and looked sharply at her, but she thought noth-
ing of it. Her father's name was well known
and he had many acquaintances in the city.
More than likely, she supposed, this man was
some friend of her father who had recognized
the name.


THE ADDRESS ON THE CARD 21
16
“ You are an American, aren't you?” he asked
abruptly.
“Of course."
“A good American?”
“I hope so.” She decided now that he must
be one of the members of some Red Cross fund
“ drive," or perhaps an overenthusiastic sales-
man for government bonds. “But I don't quite
understand what it is that you wish.”
“I can't explain," said her questioner, “but if
you really are a good American and you'd like
to do your country a great service—an im-
portant service-go at once to the address on
this card.”
She took the slip of white pasteboard handed
her. On it was written in pencil “ Room 708.”
The building was a skyscraper down-town.
“What is it? ” she asked half indignantly, “a
new scheme to sell bonds ? ”
“No, no, Miss Strong,” he cried, “it is noth-
ing like that. It is a great opportunity to do an
important service for America.”
“How did you know my name?”
“I heard you give it to the clerk just now.”
“And why," she inquired with what she in-


22 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
tended to be withering sarcasm, “have I been
selected so suddenly for this important work? ”
"I heard the address you gave, that's why,"
he answered. “That's what makes it so im-
portant that you should go to that number at
once. Ask for Mr. Fleck.”
“I can't go,” she temporized. “I am on my
way now to meet my mother at the Ritz.”
“Go to-morrow, then,” he insisted. “I'll
see Mr. Fleck meanwhile and tell him about
you.”
Puzzled at the man's unusual and wholly pre-
posterous request, yet in spite of herself im-
pressed by his evident sincerity, Jane turned the
card nervously in her hand and discovered some
small characters on the back; “K-15 " they
read.
“What do those figures mean? ” she asked.
"I can't tell you that. Mr. Fleck will ex-
plain everything. Promise me you will go to
see him."
“Who are you?”
“I can't tell you that, yet.”
“ Who, then, is Mr. Fleck?”
“He will explain that to you."


THE ADDRESS ON THE CARD 23
man
n
“ What has my address to do with it? I can't
understand yet why you make this preposterous
request of me."
“I tell you I can't explain it to you, not yet,”
the man replied, “but it's because you live
where you do you must go to see Mr. Fleck.
It's about a matter of the highest importance to
your government. It is more important than
life and death." .
His last words startled her. They brought to
her mind afresh the mysterious occurrence she
had witnesed the night before and the equally
mysterious death near her home. Had this
man's odd request any connection, she won-
dered, with what had happened there? The
lure of the unknown, the opportunity for ad-
venture, called to her, though prudence bade
her be cautious.
"I'll ask my mother,” she temporized.
“ Don't,” cried the man. “You must keep
your visit to Mr. Fleck a secret from everybody.
You mustn't breathe a word about it even to
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. The


24 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
thing I'm urging you to do I'd be proud and
honored to have either of them do if they could.
There is no one else in the world but you that
can do this particular thing. A word to a single
living soul and you'll end your usefulness. You
must not even tell any one you have talked with
me. See Mr. Fleck. He'll explain everything
to you. Promise me you'll see him.”
“I promise,” Jane found herself saying, even
against her better judgment, won over by the
man's insistence.
“Good. I knew you would,” said her mys-
terious questioner, turning on his heel and
vanishing speedily as if afraid to give her an
opportunity of reconsidering.
Puzzled beyond measure not only at the man's
strange conduct but even more at her own com-
pliance with his request, Jane made her way
slowly and thoughtfully to the Ritz, where she
found her mother and Mrs. Starrett had already
arrived.
As they sipped their tea the two elder women
chatted complacently about the matinée, about
their acquaintances, about other women in the
tea-room and the gowns they had on, about
leasure


THE ADDRESS ON THE CARD 25
bridge hands--the usual small talk of afternoon
tea.
To Jane, oppressed with her two secrets, all
at once their conversation seemed the dreariest
piffle. Great things were happening every-
where in the world, nations at war, men fighting
and dying in the trenches of horror for the sake
of an ideal, kings were being overthrown, dynas-
ties tottering, boundaries of nations vanishing.
Women, she realized, too, more than ever in
history, were taking an active and important
part in world affairs. In the lands of battle they
were nursing the wounded, driving ambulances,
helping to rehabilitate wrecked villages. In the
lands where peace still reigned they were voting,
speech-making, holding jobs, running offices,
many of them were uniting to aid in movements
for civic improvement, for better children, for
the improvement of the whole human race.
And here they were—here she was, idling use-
lessly at the Ritz as she had done yesterday, last
week, last month-forever, it seemed to her.
The vague protest that for some time had been
growing within her against the senselessness
and futility of her manner of existence crystal-


26 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
lized itself now into a determination no longer
to submit to it. Courageously she was resolv-
ing that she would take the first opportunity to
escape from this boresome routine of pleasure-
seeking. She was wondering if the request that
had been so unexpectedly made of her would
prove to be her way out from her prison of
desuetude.
The talk of the two women with her drifted
aimlessly on. Seldom was she included in it,
save when her mother, nodding to some one she
knew, would turn to say:
“ Daughter, there is Mrs. Jones-Lloyd."
What did she care about Mrs. Jones-Lloyd ?
What did she care about any of the people about
them, aimless, pleasure-hunting drifters like
themselves. Left to her own devices for mental
activity her thoughts kept recurring to the sur-
prising adventure she had had a few minutes
before. Thoughtfully she pondered over the
mysterious message that had been given to her.
The man had said that it was a wonderful oppor-
tunity for her to do her country a great service.
She wondered why he had been so secretive
about it. She decided that she would investi-


THE ADDRESS ON THE CARD 27
gate further and made up her mind to carry out
his instructions. What harm could befall her
in visiting an office building in the business dis-
trict? At least it would be something to do,
something new, something different, something
surely exciting and, perhaps, something use-
ful.
It would be better, she decided, for the pres-
ent at least, to keep her intentions entirely to
herself. Any hint of her plans to her mother
would surely result in permission being 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-town to the address given
the very first thing to-morrow morning. If any-
thing should happen to her, she felt that she
could always reach her father. His office was in
the next block.
The problem of making the mysterious jour-
ney without her mother's knowledge bothered
her not at all. As in the case of most apart-
ment-house families, she and her mother really
saw very little of each other, especially since she
had become a "young lady.” Mrs. Strong went


28 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
constantly to lectures, to luncheons, to bridge
parties, to matinées with her own particular
friends. Jane's engagements were with another
set entirely, school friends most of them, whose
parents and hers hardly knew each other. Both
she and her mother habitually breakfasted in
bed, generally at different hours, and seldom
lunched together. At dinner, when Mr. Strong
was present, there were no intimacies between
mother and daughter. The only times they
really saw each other for protracted periods
were when they happened to go shopping, or go
to the dressmaker's together, and then the
subject always uppermost in the minds of both
of them was the all-important and absorbing
topic of clothes. Occasionally, Jane poured at
one of her mother's more formal functions, but
for the most part the time of each was taken up
in a mad, senseless hunt for amusement.
Suddenly every thought was driven from
Jane's head. Her face went white, and with
difficulty she managed to suppress an alarmed
cry.
“What is it, daughter? ” asked her mother,
noting her perturbation. "Are you feeling ill?"


THE ADDRESS ON THE CARD 29
“A touch of neuralgia,” she managed to an-
swer.
“ Too many late hours," warned Mrs. Starrett
reprovingly.
" I'm afraid so,” said Mrs. Strong. “As soon
as I've paid my check we'll go.”
“I'm perfectly all right now,” said Jane, con-
trolling herself with effort, though her face was
still white.
The danger that she had feared had passed,
for the present at least. Glancing toward the
entrance a moment before she had been terrified
to see entering the black-mustached man who
had accosted her a few moments before. Her
one thought now had been that he had followed
her here, and in a panic she was wondering how
she should make explanations if he came up to
their table and spoke. To her great relief he
gave no intimation of having seen her, but
settled himself into a chair near the door where
he was half hidden from her by a great palm.
Furtively she watched him, trying to divine his
intention in having followed her there. Re-
spectable enough though he was in appearance
and garb, he did not seem in the least like the


30 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
sort of man likely to be found at tea-time in an
exclusive hotel. As she studied him she soon
saw that his attention seemed to be riveted on
some one sitting at the other side of the room.
Wonderingly she let her eyes follow his, and
once more it was with difficulty that she sup-
pressed an excited gasp.
There, across the room, calmly sipping some
coffee, was the handsome young man from the
next apartment—the man whom she had felt
sure, or at least almost sure, was a murderer,
about whom she had been wondering all day
long, picturing him as a hunted criminal fleeing
from the law. Chatting interestedly with him
was another man, a young man in the uniform of
a lieutenant in the navy.
What did it all mean? Why was the black-
mustached man watching them so intently?
Her eyes turned back to him. He was still
sitting there, leaning forward a little, his brows
in a pucker of concentration, his eyes still fixed
on the pair opposite. It looked almost as if he
was trying to read their lips and tell what they
were talking about.
Jane thrilled with excitement. The black-


THE ADDRESS ON THE CARD 31
W
du
mustached man, she decided, must be a de-
tective. She recalled that he had said to her it
was because she lived at the address she did that
she was available for the mission for which he
wanted her. Did he, she wondered, know about
the mysterious death in the street outside their
apartment house? Was that the reason he was
spying on her neighbor? But what could be his
motive in seeking to involve her in the matter?
Unable to find satisfactory answers to her
questions she gave herself up interestedly to
studying the faces of the two young men across
the room. Neither of them, she decided, could
be much more than thirty. The face that only
a few hours before she had seen utterly con-
vulsed with bitter hate, now placid and smiling,
was really an attractive one, not in the least like
a murderer's. Frank, alert blue eyes looked
out from under an intellectual forehead. A small
military mustache lent emphasis to a clean-
shaven, forceful jaw. His flaxen hair was neatly
trimmed. His linen and clothing were immacu-
late, and the hand that curved around his cup
had long, tapering, well-manicured fingers. The
cut of his clothing, his manners, everything


32 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
about him seemed American, yet there was an
indefinable something in his appearance that
suggested foreign birth or parentage, probably
either Swedish or German. The man with him
was smaller and slighter. Despite the air of
importance his uniform gave him, it was palpable
that he was the less forceful of the two, his
handsome face, it seemed to Jane, betraying
weakness of character and a fondness for the
good things of life.
“ Come, daughter," said Mrs. Strong, rising,
“we must be going."
So intent was Jane on her study of the two
men that her mother had to speak twice to her.
"Yes, mother,” she answered obediently, ris-
ing hastily as the hint of annoyance in her
mother's repeated remark brought her to a
realization of having been addressed.
Letting her mother and Mrs. Starrett precede
her in the doorway she paused to look back at
the scene that had interested her so strongly.
What could it mean? What was going on?
How was she involved in it?
Her glance moved quickly from the watcher
to the watched. The blond young man caught


THE ADDRESS ON THE CARD 33
her eye. Amazedly, it seemed to her, he stopped
right in the middle 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 quickly did she turn but
that she observed he had hastily seized his cup
and appeared to be drinking to her, not so much
impudently as admiringly.


CHAPTER III
“MR. FLECK"
TWICE after the elevator had deposited her on
the floor Jane had approached the door of Room
708, and twice she had walked timorously past
it to the end of the hall, trying to muster up
courage to enter. A visit to a man's office in
the business district was a novelty for her. On
the few previous excursions of the sort she had
made she always had been accompanied by one
of her parents. She found herself wishing now
that she had taken her father into her confidence
and had asked him to go with her. Making
shopping her excuse she had come down-town
with Mr. Strong but had gotten off at Astor
Place, and waited over for another train.
In her hand she held the card given to her by
the black-mustached man the afternoon before.
As she studied it now her curiosity came to the
rescue of her fast-oozing courage. She must
find out what it all meant, whatever the risk or


“MR. FLECK"
35
peril that might confront her. Boldly she re-
turned to Room 704 and opened the door. An
office boy seated at a desk looked up inquiringly.
“ Is Mr. Fleck in? ” she inquired timidly.
“ Who wishes to see him?"
"Just say there's a lady wishes to speak to
him,” she faltered, hesitating to give her name.
“Are you Miss Strong ?” asked the boy ab-
ruptly, “because if you are, he's expecting you."
She nodded, and the boy, jumping up, escorted
her into an inner room. As she entered nerv-
ously an alert-looking man, with graying hair
and mustache, rose courteously to greet her.
In the quick glance she gave at her surround-
ings she was conscious only of the great mahog-
any desk at which he sat and behind it some
filing cabinets and a huge safe, the outer doors
of which stood open.
“Sit down, won't you, Miss Strong," he said,
placing a chair for her.
His manner and his cultured tone, everything
about him, reassured her at once. They con-
veyed to her that he was what she would have
termed “a gentleman," and with a little sigh of
relief she seated herself.


36 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
" I'm afraid," said Mr. Fleck, smiling, “ that
Carter's method of approaching you must have
alarmed you."
“ Carter — Oh, the black-mustached man.”
“Yes, that describes him. You see, he did
not wish to act definitely without consulting his
chief, yet the unexpected opportunity seemed
far too vital not to be utilized. He did not ex-
plain, did he, what it was we wanted of you?”
“Indeed he didn't,” said Jane, now wholly
herself. “He was most mysterious about it."
Mr. Fleck smiled amusedly.
“ Carter has been an agent so long that being
mysterious is second nature to him.”
"An agent-I don't understand.”
“A Department agent,” explained Mr. Fleck,
adding, “ engaged in secret service work for the
government.”
: “Oh!”
Jane's exclamation was not so much of sur-
prise as of delighted realization, and the satis-
faction expressed in her face was by no means
lost on Mr. Fleck.
“Would you object,” he asked, moving his
chair a little closer to hers, “if, before I explain
e
W
O means


“MR. FLECK"
37
why you are here, I ask you a few questions
very personal questions? "
“ Certainly not,” said Jane.
“You are American-born, of course?”
“Oh, yes."
“And your parents?”.
"American for ten or twelve generations."
“How long have you lived in that apartment
house on Riverside Drive? ”
“For about five years."
“ Do you know any of the other tenants in
the house? ”
“No—that is, none personally.”
“Is your time fully occupied ?”
“No, indeed it isn't. I've nothing to do at
all, nothing except to try to amuse myself.”
“Good,” said Mr. Fleck. “Now would you
be willing to help in some secret work for the
United States Government, some work of the
very highest importance?”
“Would I?” cried Jane, her eyes shining.
“Gladly! Just try me.”
“Don't answer too quickly," warned Mr.
Fleck. “Remember, it will be real work, seri-
ous work, not always pleasant, sometimes pos-


38 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
sibly a little perilous. Remember, too, it must
be done with absolute secrecy. You must not
let even your parents know that you are work-
ing with us. You must pledge yourself to
breathe no word of what you are doing or are
asked to do to a living soul. Everything that
we may tell you is to be buried forever from
everybody. No one is to be trusted. The
minute one other person knows your secret it
will no longer be a secret. Can we depend upon
you?”
“ You may absolutely depend on me," said
Jane slowly and soberly. “I give you my word.
I have been eager for ever so long to do some-
thing to help, to really help. My father is doing
all he can to aid the government. He's on the
Shipping Board.”
Mr. Fleck nodded. Evidently he was aware
of it already.
“My brother, my only brother," Jane con-
tinued, with a little catch in her throat, “is Over
There—somewhere Over There-fighting for
his government. If there is anything I can do
to help the country he is fighting for, the coun-
try he may die for, I pledge you I will do it
was aware


“MR. FLECK"
39
gladly with my heart, my soul, my body-every-
thing."
“ Thank you,” said Mr. Fleck softly, taking
her hand. “I felt sure you were that sort of a
girl. Now listen.” He moved his chair still
closer to hers, and his voice became almost a
whisper. “In the apartment next to you there
live two men,-Otto Hoff and his nephew, Fred.
They have an old German servant, but we can
leave her out of it for the present. The old man
is a lace importer. Apparently they are both
above suspicion, yet - "
He stopped abruptly.
“You think they are spies—spies for Ger-
many," questioned Jane excitedly. “They're
Germans, of course?”
“Otto Hoff is German-born, but he has been
here for twenty years. Several years ago he took
out papers and became an American citizen.”
"And the young man?”
Jane's tone was vibrant with interest. It
must be the man she had seen from her window
whom they suspected most.
“He professes to be American-born.”
“Oh," said the girl, rather disappointedly.


40 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
“ But,” continued Mr. Fleck, “there's some-
thing queer about it all. He arrived in this
country only three days before we went into
the war. He had a certificate, properly en-
dorsed, giving his birthplace as Cincinnati. He
arrived on a Scandanavian ship. He speaks
German as well and as fluently as he speaks
English, both without accent."
“ Perhaps he was educated abroad,” sug-
gested Jane, rather amazed at finding herself
seeking to defend him.
“He must have been,” said Fleck, “yet I find
it hard to believe that Germany at this time is
letting any young German-American come home
if he's soldier material—and young Hoff's ap-
pearance certainly suggests military training."
“It surely does.”
“Unless,” continued Fleck, “there was some
special object in sending him here."
“ You think,” said Jane slowly, “they sent
him here-to this countrymas a spy."
“In our business we dare not think. We
cannot merely conjecture. We must prove,”
said Mr. Fleck. “Maybe the Hoffs are 0. K.
I do not know. Nobody knows yet. Let me
as
car


“MR. FLECK"
41
tell you some of the circumstances. This much
we do know. Von Bernstorff is gone. Von
Papen is gone. Scores of active German sympa-
thizers and propagandists have been rounded up
and interned or imprisoned, yet, in spite of all
we have done, their work goes on. A vast
secret organization, well supplied with funds, is
constantly at work in this country, trying to
cripple our armies, trying to destroy our muni-
tion plants, trying to corrupt our citizens, trying
to disrupt our Congress. Every move the United
States makes is watched. As you probably
know, every day now large numbers of Amer-
ican troops are embarking in transports in the
Hudson.”
“Yes,” said Jane, “ you can see them from
our windows."
“Now then,” said Mr. Fleck, lowering his
voice impressively, “here is the fact. Some one
somewhere on Riverside Drive is keeping close
and constant tab on the warships and transports
there in the river. We have managed recently
to intercept and decipher some code messages.
These messages told not only when the trans-
ports sailed but how many troops were on each


42 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
and how strong their convoy was. Where these
messages originate we have not yet learned.
We are practically certain that some one in our
own navy, some black-hearted traitor wearing
an officer's uniform-perhaps several of them,
is in communication with some one on shore,
betraying our government's most vital secrets."
“I can't believe it,” cried Jane, “our own
American officers traitors!”
“Undoubtedly some of them are," said Mr.
Fleck regretfully. “The German efficiency, for
years looking forward to this war, carefully built
up a far-reaching spy system. Years ago, long
before the war was thought of-or at least be-
fore we in this country thought of it-many
secret agents of Wilhelmstrasse were deliber-
ately planted here. Many of them have been
residents here for years, masking their real oc-
cupation by engaging in business, utilizing their
time as they waited for the war to come by
gathering for Germany all of our trade and com-
mercial secrets. Some of these spies have even
become naturalized, and they and their sons pass
for good American citizens. In some cases they
have even Americanized their names. Insidi-


“MR. FLECK"
43
ously and persistently they have worked their
way into places, sometimes into high places in
our chemical plants, our steel factories, yes, even
into high places in our army and navy and into
governmental positions where they can gather
information first-hand. In no other country has
it been so easy for them, because of this one fact:
so large a proportion of Uncle Sam's population
is of German birth or parentage. Why here in
New York City alone there are more than three-
quarters of a million persons, either German-
born themselves or born of German parents.
Many of them, the vast majority of them, prob-
ably, are loyal to America, but think how the
plenitude of German names makes it easy for
spies to get into our army and navy. Besides
that, they employ evil men of other nationalities
as spies, the criminal riffraff,-Danes, Swedes,
Spaniards, Italians, Swiss and even South Amer-
icans,all of whom are free to go and come as
they choose in this country.”
“I never realized before," said Jane, “how
many Germans there were all about us.”
"In an effort to locate this particular band of
naval spies," continued Mr. Fleck, “we have


“ MR. FLECK"
45
“All a good detective needs," said Mr. Fleck,
“is, let us say, three things-observation, addi-
tion and common sense. You must observe
everything closely, be able to put two and two
together and use your common sense. Do you
know the Hoffs by sight? ”
“ Only by sight.”
“ They live in the next apartment on your
floor, do they not?”
“ Yes. Young Mr. Hoff's bedroom is the
room next to mine."
“Good,” cried Mr. Fleck. “Can you hear
anything from the next apartment, any conver-
sations?”
“No, only muffled sounds."
“ The windows overlook the river and the
transports, do they not?”
“Yes, the windows of Mr. Hoff's bedroom and
the room next. Their apartment is a duplicate
of ours.”
Mr. Fleck sprang up and crossed to the big
safe. Opening an inner drawer he took out a
small metal disk and handed it to her. Jane
looked at it curiously. It bore no wording save
the inscription" K-19.”


46 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
“That,” said Mr. Fleck, “is the only thing I
can give you in the way of credentials. Keep it
somewhere safely concealed about your cloth-
ing and never exhibit it except in case of
extreme necessity. If ever you are in peril
any police officer will recognize it at once and
will promptly give you all the assistance possi-
ble.”
“But,” protested the girl, “I don't know yet
what I am to do.”
“For the present I am trusting to your re-
sourcefulness to make opportunities to help us.
We are watching the house closely from the out-
side. Carter will identify you to the other
operatives. Once a day I will expect you to call
me up, not from your home but from a public
'phone. Here is my number. Say 'this is Miss
Jones speaking, and I will know who it is. I
can communicate with you by note without
arousing suspicion?”
“Oh, yes, certainly."
“If at any time I have to call you on the
'phone, or if any of the other operatives want to
communicate with you the password will be ‘I
am speaking for Miss Jones.'”


“MR. FLECK"
47
“Isn't that exciting—a secret password,”
cried Jane enthusiastically.
“If you can manage it without compromising
yourself too seriously, I wish you would make
the young man's acquaintance.”
“That will be simple,” said Jane, remember-
ing the admiring way in which he had raised his
cup in her direction as she left the hotel.
"If possible find out who their visitors are in
the apartment and keep your eyes open for any
sort of signalling to the transports. If ever
there is an opportunity to get hold of notes or
mail delivered to either of them, don't hesitate to
steam it open and copy it.”
"Must I?” said Jane. "That hardly seems
“ Of course it's right,” cried Mr. Fleck warmly.
“ Think of the lives of our soldiers that are at
stake. The devilish ingenuity of these German
spies must be thwarted at all costs. They seem
to be able to discover every detail of our plans.
Only two days ago one of our transports was
thoroughly inspected from stem to stern. Two
hours later twenty-six hundred soldiers were put
aboard her on their way to France. Just by


48 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
accident, as they were about to sail, a time-bomb
was discovered in the coal bunkers, a bomb that
would have sent them all to kingdom come.”
“How terrible!”
“Somebody aboard is a traitor. Somebody
knew when that inspection was made. Some-
body put that bomb in place afterward. That
shows you the kind of enemies we are fighting."
Jane shuddered. She was thinking of the sail-
ing of another transport, the one that had car-
ried her brother to France.
“Anything seems right after that,” she said
simply.
“Yes," said Mr. Fleck, “there is only one
effective way to fight those spying devils. We
must stop at nothing. They stop at nothing-
not even murder—to gain their ends."
“I know that,” said Jane hastily. “I saw
something myself you ought to know about.”
As briefly as she could she described the scene
she had witnessed in the early morning hours
from her bedroom window, the man following
the younger Hoff, Hoff's discovery and pursuit
of him around the corner and of his return alone.
"And in the morning," she concluded, “they


CHAPTER IV
THE CLUE IN THE BOOK
SUBWAY passengers sitting opposite Jane
Strong as she rode up-town from Mr. Fleck's
office, if they observed her at all—and most of
them did-saw only a slim, good-looking young
girl, dressed in a chic tailormade suit, crowned
with a dashing Paris hat tilted at the proper
angle to display best the sheen of her black,
black hair, which after the prevailing fashion
was pulled forward becomingly over her ears.
Outwardly Jane was unchanged, but within her
nerves were all atingle at the thought of the
tremendous and fascinating responsibility so un-
expectedly thrust upon her. Her mind, too,
was aflame with patriotic ardor, but coupled
with these new sensations was a persisting sense
of dread, an intangible, unforgettable feeling of
horror that kept cropping up every time her
fingers touched the little metal disk in her purse.
The man who had carried it yesterday, the


THE CLUE IN THE BOOK
51
other “ K-19” who had undertaken to shadow
those people next door, now lay dead with a
bullet through his heart. Was there, she won-
dered, a similar peril confronting her? Would
her life be in danger, too? Was that the reason
Mr. Fleck had told her of her predecessor's
fate—to warn her how desperate were the men
against whom she was to match her wits? Yet
no sense of fear that projected itself into her
busy brain as she cogitated over the task before
her held her back. If anything she was rather
thrilled at the prospect of meeting actual danger.
What bothered her most was how she could best go
about aiding Mr. Fleck and his men in their work.
Her opportunity came far more quickly than
she had anticipated. She had gotten off the
train at the 96th Street station, purposing to
walk the twenty odd blocks to her home as she
pondered over the work that lay ahead of her.
Busy with a horde of struggling new thoughts
she proceeded along Broadway, for once in her
life unheeding the rich gowns and feminine
dainties so alluringly displayed in the shop win-
dows. Suddenly she pulled herself together
with a start. Directly ahead of her, plodding


52 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
along in the same direction, was a figure that
from behind seemed strangely familiar. She
quickened her step until she caught up suffi-
ciently with the man ahead to get a good glimpse
of his side face. Nervously she caught her
breath. Without any doubt it was the gray Van
Dyke beard of old Otto Hoff.
Where was he going? What was he doing?
She paused and looked behind her, scanning the
pavement on both sides of the street. She was
half-hoping that she would discover Carter or
some of his men shadowing their quarry, but her
hope was vain. There was no one in the block
at the moment but herself and Mr. Hoff. If
Fleck's men had been watching his movements,
the old man certainly seemed to have eluded
them.
What should she do? Vividly there flashed
into her mind her chief's parting words.
“Watch everything," he had charged her.
“Remember everything, report everything. No
detail is too unimportant. If you see one of the
Hoffs leave the house, don't merely report to me
that the old man or the young man left the house
about three o'clock. That won't do at all. I


THE CLUE IN THE BOOK
53
want to know the exact time. Was it six min-
utes after three or eleven minutes after three?
I must know what direction he went, if he was
alone, how long he was absent, where he went,
what he did, to whom he talked. Here in my
office I take your reports, Carter's reports, a
dozen other reports, and study them together.
Things that in themselves seem trifling, unim-
portant, of no value, coupled with other seem-
ingly unimportant trifles sometimes develop
most important evidence.”
To prove his point he had told her of the
seemingly innocent wireless message that an
operator, listening in, had picked up, at a time
when Germans were still permitted to use the
wireless station on Long Island for commercial
messages to the Fatherland. On the face of it,
it was the mere announcement of the death of a
relative with a few details. But a little later the
same operator caught the same message coming
from another part of the country, with the de-
tails slightly different, and still later another
message of the same purport. Evidently, by
comparing the messages, the United States
authorities had been able to work out a code.


54 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
Remembering this, Jane decided that it was
her particular duty just now to follow the old
German and note everything he did. For sev-
eral blocks she trailed along behind him, with-
out arousing any suspicion on his part that he
was being followed. He stopped once to light
a cigarette, the girl behind him diverting sus-
picion by hastily turning to a shop window.
Again he stopped, this time before the display
of viands in the window of a delicatessen store.
Thoughtfully Jane noted the number, observ-
ing, too, that the name of the proprietor above
the door was obviously Teutonic. She was half-
expecting to see her quarry turn in here, but he
walked on to the middle of the next block, where
he entered a stationery store.
Hesitating but a second, to decide on a course
of action, she followed him boldly into the store.
She felt that she must ascertain just what he
was doing in there. As she entered she saw
that in the back part of the store was a lending
library. Mr. Hoff had gone back to it and was
inspecting the books displayed there. Unhesi-
tatingly she, too, approached the book counter.
“ Have you ' Limehouse Nights ’?” she asked
as


THE CLUE IN THE BOOK
55
the attendant, naming the first book that came
into her head. She had a copy of the book at
home, but that seemed to be the only title she
could think of.
“We have several copies," the girl in charge
answered, “but I think they are all out. I'll
look.”
As the clerk examined the shelves, Jane kept
up a desultory talk with her, questioning her
about various books on the shelves, all the while
watching the old German out of the corner of
her eye. His back was toward her, and he
seemed to be examining various books on the
shelves, turning over the pages as if unable to
decide what he wanted. Curious as to what his
taste in reading was, Jane endeavored to locate
each book that he removed from its place, her
idea being that she would later try to discover
their titles. To her amazement she found that
it was invariably the third book in each shelf that
he removed and examined—the third from the
end. It did not appear to her that he was ex-
amining the contents of the pages so much as
searching them as if he expected to find some-
thing there.


56 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
All at once, as she furtively watched from be-
hind him, she heard him give a little pleased
grunt and she saw him picking out from between
the leaves of the book a fragment of paper, which
he held concealed in his hand. Watching closely,
Jane saw him thrust this same hand into his
trousers pocket, and when he brought it out she
was certain that the hand was empty. What
did this curious performance mean? What
was the little slip of paper he had found in
the book? Why had he concealed it in his
pocket?
Still keeping her attention riveted on him, she
picked up a book to mask her occupation and
pretended to be turning its pages. She was glad
she had done so, for a minute later old Hoff
wheeled suddenly and looked sharply about him.
Apparently having his suspicions disarmed by
seeing only herself and the clerk there, he turned
again to the bookshelves. Jane this time saw
him thrust his fingers into his waistcoat pocket
and withdraw therefrom,—she was almost cer-
tain of it,-a little slip of paper. She saw him
remove from the second row of books the fifth
from the end, open it quickly and close it again


THE CLUE IN THE BOOK
57
and then restore it to its place. As he did so he
turned to leave the store.
“ Didn't you find anything to read to-day, Mr.
Hoff? " the clerk asked.
“Nodding,” he answered. “You keep novels,
trash, nodding worth while.”
Her nerves aquiver, Jane waited until he was
out of the store and then stepped briskly to the
place where he had stood. Hastily she pulled
forth the fifth book from the end in the second
row. Turning its pages she came upon what
she had anticipated,-a strip of yellow manila
paper,—the paper she was sure she had seen
him take from his pocket. Hastily she examined
it, expecting to find some message written there.
To her chagrin it was just a meaningless jumble
of figures in three columns.
534
331
54
arco
76
544
49
540
390
519
327
ఇలులు
Tob


58 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
Her first thought was to thrust the little scrap
of paper in her purse and start again in pursuit
of old Hoff, but a sudden light began to dawn on
her. This was a cipher message, of course.
The old man had left it here for some one to
come and get. If she followed Hoff, how was
she to discover who the message was for?
Puzzled as to what she should do, she borrowed
a pencil from the clerk on the pretense of writ-
ing a postal and hastily copied the figures, after
which she restored the slip to the book in which
she had found it.
Glancing about undecidedly, wondering if it
would do to take the clerk into her confidence,
wishing she had some means of reaching Mr.
Fleck and asking his advice, she spied in a drug-
store just across the street a telephone booth.
She could telephone from there and at the same
time keep her eye on the store. Quickly she did
so, twisting her head around all the time she
was 'phoning to make sure that no one entered
opposite.
“Is this Mr. Fleck?” she asked. “This is
Miss Jones.”
“ So soon?” came back his voice. “What


THE CLUE IN THE BOOK 59
has happened? What is the matter? Have
you changed your mind?”
“Not at all,” she answered indignantly.
" I've discovered something already—a cipher
message.”
“What's that?”
Even over the wire she could sense the eager-
ness in Mr. Fleck's tone, and a sense of
achievement brought a radiant glow to her
cheek.
“I ran into that man—you know whom — "
“The young one?” he interrupted.
“No, the uncle.”
“Yes, yes, go on,” cried Mr. Fleck im-
patiently.
"I followed him along Broadway after I got
off at 96th Street and into a library and station-
ery store. I watched him fuss over the books
there, and I think he got a slip of paper with a
message out of one of them.”
“Good,” cried Mr. Fleck, " that is something
new. Go on.”
"And then he slipped a paper into a book- ”
“ Did you notice what book?”
“I don't know the title. It was the fifth book


60 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
from the end on the second shelf, and I got the
paper and copied it.”
“ Splendid. What did the message say? ”
“It's just a lot of figures. I put it back after
copying it, and I am in a drug-store across the
street where I can watch to see if any one comes
to get the message. What shall I do now? ”
“ Can you remain there fifteen minutes with
out arousing suspicion?”
“Certainly. I'll say I am waiting for some
one.”
“Good. I'll get in touch with Carter at once.
He'll tell you what to do when he arrives."
Impatiently Jane sat there, keeping vigilant
watch on the entrance across the street, de-
termined to be able to describe minutely each
person that entered. From time to time she
surreptitiously studied the postcard on which
she had jotted down the mysterious numbers.
How utterly meaningless they looked. Surely
it would be impossible for any one, even Mr.
Fleck, to decipher any message that these fig-
ures might convey. It would be impossible un-
less one had the key Figures could be made
to mean anything at all. She doubted if her dis-


THE CLUE IN THE BOOK
61
covery could be of much importance after all,
yet certainly Mr. Fleck had seemed quite excited
about it.
She spied Carter passing in a taxi. Two
other men were with him. Her first impulse
was to run out in the street and signal to him,
but she waited, wondering what she should do.
She was glad she had not acted impulsively, for
a moment later Carter entered alone, evidently
having left the car somewhere around the cor-
ner. She expected that he would address her
at once, but that was not Carter's way. He
went to the soda counter and ordered something
to drink, his eyes all the while studying his sur-
roundings. Presently he pretended to discover
her sitting there. To all appearances it might
have been an entirely casual meeting of
acquaintances.
“Good-morning, Miss Jones,” he said quite
cordially, extending his hand. “ I'm lucky to
have met you, for my daughter gave me a mes-
sage for you."
He put just a little stress on the words “my
daughter” and Jane understood that he was re-
ferring to “Mr. Fleck.”


62 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
“ Indeed,” she replied, “what is it?”
“She wants you to go down-town at once and
meet her at Room 708—you know the building."
“Aren't you coming, too?”
“Not right away. I have some errands to do
in the neighborhood. I've got to buy a book
for a birthday present. There's a library around
here somewhere, isn't there?"
"Just across the street,” said Jane, entering
into the spirit of the masked conversation with
interest. “I was looking at a fine book over
there a few minutes ago. You'll find it on the
second shelf—the fifth book from the end, on
the north side of the store.”
“I'll remember that,” said Carter, repeating,
“the fifth book on the second shelf.”
“ That's right,” said Jane, as they left the
drug-store together.
“Which way did the old man go?” asked
Carter.
“Down Broadway-toward home," she re-
plied. “I wanted to follow him, but it seemed
more important to stay here and watch to see
if any one came for the message he left there in
the book.”
man
les


64 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
.
“ I'll take a subway express,” said Jane, feel-
ing somewhat crestfallen at his implied sugges-
tion of failure.
Twenty-five minutes later found her once
more in Mr. Fleck's office. Thrilling with the
excitement of it all she told him in detail how
she had followed old Hoff and of his peculiar
actions in the bookstore.
“And here,” she said, presenting the post-
card, “is an exact copy of the cipher message
he left there. I copied every figure, in the
columns, just as they were set down. I don't
suppose though you'll be able to make head or
tail out of it. I know I can't.”
“ Don't be too sure of that,” smiled Chief
Fleck, as he took the card. “When you get
used to codes, most of them identify themselves
at the first glance—at least they tell what kind
of a code it is. That's one thing about the Ger-
mans that makes their spy work clumsy at times.
They are so methodical that they commit every-
thing to writing. Now the most important
things I know are right in here "—he tapped
his head. “Every once in a while they ransack
my rooms, but they never find anything worth


THE CLUE IN THE BOOK 65
while. Now this code "-he was studying the
card intently—“ seems to be one of a sort that
our friends from Wilhelmstrasse are ridiculously
fond of using. It is manifestly a book code.”
"A book code," Jane repeated perplexedly.
“I don't understand.”
“It is very simple when two persons who
wish to communicate with each other secretly
both have a copy of some book they have agreed
to use. They write their message out and then
go through the book locating the words of the
message by page, line and word. That's what
the three columns mean. Our only problem is
to discover which is the book they both have.
They often employ the Bible or a dictionary
or
"
He stopped abruptly and studied the columns
of figures.
“This code," he went on," on its face is from
a book that has at least 544 pages. One of the
pages has at least 76 lines—that's the middle
column-so the book must be set in small type.”
“What book do you suppose it is?” asked
Jane interestedly. She was glad now that she
had listened to Carter. She was sure she was


66 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
going to like being in the service. It was all so
interesting, and she was learning so many
fascinating things.
“If my theory is right those letters indicate
that the book used was an almanac. That's
the book that Wilhelmstrasse made use of
when a wireless message was sent in cipher
to the German ambassador directing him to
warn Americans not to sail on the Lusitania.
They betrayed themselves at the Embassy by
sending out to buy a copy of this almanac.
Let's see how our theory works out."
Taking up an almanac that lay on his desk he
began turning to the pages indicated in the first
column of figures, checking off the lines indi-
cated in the second column and putting a ring
around the words marked by the third column
of figures.
“Let's see- page 534-fifth line-second
word—that's (eight). Now then-page 331–
that's the chronology of the war in the almanac,
so I guess we are on the right track-fifty-fourth
line—sixth word—(transport).”
“Isn't it wonderful!” cried Jane.
“ Damn them," he exploded. “I know we are
el
ee


THE CLUE IN THE BOOK
67
ma
on the right track. Some transports with our
troops sailed this morning, and already the Ger-
man spies are spreading the news, hoping to get
it to one of their unspeakable U-boats.”
Quickly he ran through the rest of the cipher,
writing it out as he went along:
EIGHT-TRANSPORT-SAILED—THURSDAY
15,000—INFANTRY-FIVE DESTROYERS.
As Fleck finished the message his face be-
came almost black with rage.
“Damn them,” he cried again, “in spite of
everything we do they get track of all our troop
movements. Their information, whenever we
succeed in intercepting it, is always accurate.
If I had my way I'd lock up every German in
the country until the war was over, and I'd shoot
a lot of those I locked up. Until the whole
country realizes that we are living in a nest of
spies—that there are German spies all around
us, in every city, in every factory, in every
regiment, on every ship, everywhere right
next door to us—this country never can win the
war.”
“ What does the '97' at the end mean? ” ques-


68 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
tioned Jane timidly, a little bit frightened at his
outburst, yet more than ever realizing the vast
importance of his work—and hers.
“Oh, that's nothing. Probably old Hoff's
number. Most spies are known just by num-
bers.”
“Yes, of course," said Jane, flushing as she
recalled that she herself was now “ K-19.” Was
she a spy? Was Mr. Fleck a chief of spies?
She always had looked on a spy as a despicable
sort of person, yet surely the work in which they
both were engaged was vital to American suc-
cess at arms—a patriotic and important service
for one's country.
“I suppose,” she said thoughtfully, unwilling
to pursue the chain of her own thought any fur-
ther, “that there is evidence enough now to
arrest old Mr. Hoff right away.”
“You bet there is,” said Mr. Fleck emphatic-
ally," but that is the last thing I am thinking of
doing yet. He is only one link in a great chain
that extends from our battleships and trans-
ports there in the North River clear into the
heart of Berlin. We've got to locate both ends
of the chain before we start smashing the links.


THE CLUE IN THE BOOK
69
We've got to find who it is in this country that
is supplying the money for all their nefarious
work, from whom they get their orders, how
they smuggle their news out. Most of all we
have got to find where the end of the chain is
fastened in our own navy. The traitors there
are the black-hearted rascals I would most
like to get. They are the ones we've got to
get.”
“Yes, indeed," assented Jane, suddenly re-
calling the wavy lieutenant she had seen in the
Ritz chatting so confidentially with old Otto
Hoff's nephew. Was he, she wondered, one of
the links in the terrible chain? Was he the
end—the American end of the chain?
"We're certain about the old man now," said
Fleck, rising as if to indicate that the interview
was at an end. “We've got to get the young
fellow next. There is nothing in this to impli-
cate him. That's your job. Find out all you
can about him. Get acquainted with him, if
possible. That's one of the weakest spots about
all German spies. They can't help boasting to
women. Try to get to know this Fred Hoff.
It's most important."


70 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
“I'll do more than try,” said Jane spiritedly.
“I'll get acquainted right away. I'll make him
talk to me."


CHAPTER V
ON THE TRAIL
FEW men, even fathers, realize how utterly
inexperienced is the average well-brought-up
girl, just emerged from her teens, in the affairs
of the great mysterious world that lies about her.
A boy, in his youth living over again the history
of his progenitors, escapes his nurse to become
an adventurer. At ten he is a pirate, at twelve
a train robber, at fourteen an aviator, actually
living in all his thoughts and experiences the
life of his hero of the moment, learning all the
while that the world about him is full of ad-
venturers like himself, ready to dispute his claims
at the slightest pretext, or to carry off his booty
by prevailing physical force.
Well-brought-up girls seldom are fortunate
enough to have such educative experiences.
Their friends are selected for them, gentle un-
taught creatures like themselves. Few of them
learn much of the practical side of life. A boy
PS.


72 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
ver-
VOT
is delighted at knowing the toughest boy in the
neighborhood. A girl's ambitions always are
to know girls “nicer” than she is. The aver-
age girl emerges into womanhood with her eyes
blinded, uninformed on the affairs of life, busi-
ness, politics, untrained in anything useful or
practical, knowing more of romance and history
than she does of present-day facts.
If Chief Fleck had understood how really in-
experienced Jane Strong actually was, it is a
question whether he would have ventured to
entrust so important a mission to her as he had
done. Jane herself, as she left his office, aroused
by his revelations of the treacherous work of
Germany's spies, and uplifted by his appeal to
her patriotism, felt enthusiastically capable of
obeying his instructions. It seemed very sim-
ple, as he had talked about it. All she had to
do was to get acquainted with the young man
next door. Yet the further the subway carried
her from Mr. Fleck's office after her second visit
there that morning, the more her heart sank
within her, and the fuller her mind became of
misgivings.
In a big city next door in an apartment house


ON THE TRAIL
73
is almost the same thing as miles away. She
ransacked her brain, trying to remember some
acquaintance who might be likely to know the
Hoffs, but failed utterly to recall any one. She
reviewed all possible means of getting acquainted
but could find none that seemed practical.
Never in her life had she spoken to a man with-
out having been introduced to him-except of
course to Carter and Mr. Fleck, and these men,
she told herself, were government officials, some-
thing like policemen, only nicer. At any rate,
she knew them only in a business way, not
socially. If she was to be successful in learning
much about the Hoffs—about young Mr. Hoff-
she felt that it was necessary to make them
social acquaintances.
She must manage to meet Frederic Hoff in
some proper way, but how? She thought of
such flimsy tricks as dropping a handkerchief or
a purse in the elevator some time when he hap-
pened to be in it, but rejected the plan as dis-
advantageous. “Nice” girls did not do that
sort of thing, and even though she was seeking
to entrap her neighbor she did not for a moment
wish him to consider her as belonging to the


ON THE TRAIL
75
She had recognized him at once. It was the
naval lieutenant who had been at the Ritz. She
heard him saying to the girl at the switchboard:
“Tell Mr. Hoff, young Mr. Hoff, that Lieu-
tenant Kramer is here. I'll wait for him down-
stairs.”
Quick as a flash a course of action came into
her mind. She saw an opportunity too good to
be neglected. She hurried forward to where the
lieutenant was standing, her hand outstretched,
with a smile of recognition-feigned, but well-
feigned-on her lips.
“Why, Lieutenant Kramer,” she cried, “how
delightful. Have you really kept your promise
at last and come to see the Strongs?"
She could hardly restrain her amusement as
she watched the embarrassed young officer
strive in vain to recall where it was that he had
met her. She had relied on the fact that the
men in the navy meet so many girls at social
functions that it is impossible for any of them to
remember all they had met.
“Really, Miss — ” he stammered, struggling
for some fitting explanation.
“ Don't tell me," she warned reprovingly,


76 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
“ that it isn't Jane Strong that you are here to
see, after all those nice things you said to me
that day we had tea aboard your ship.”
She was hoping he would not insist on going
into particulars as to which ship it was. For-
tunately she had been to functions on several of
the war vessels, so that she might find a loop-
hole if he was too insistent on details.
“ Indeed, Miss Strong," said Kramer, gal-
lantly pretending to recall her, “ I'm delighted
to see you again. I've been intending to come
to see you for ever so long, but you understand
how busy we are now. In fact, it was business
that brought me here to-day. I'm calling on
Mr. Hoff, who lives here, to take him to lunch
to discuss some important matters."
At his last phrase Jane's heart thrilled. What
important matters could there be that a navy
lieutenant could fittingly discuss with a German,
with the nephew of the man whose secret code
message they had just succeeded in reading?
Determining within herself to keep fast hold on
the beginning she had made, she masked her
real thoughts and let her face express frank dis-
appointment.


ON THE TRAIL
77
“How horrid of you,” she continued," when
I was just going to insist that you stay and have
luncheon with us.”
He was protesting that it was quite out of the
question when the elevator brought down her
mother, whom Jane at once summoned as an
ally, feeling sure that considering how many
men of her daughter's acquaintance she had met,
it would be perfectly safe to keep up the decep-
tion.
"Oh, mother,” she cried, “ you remember
Lieutenant Kramer, don't you? I've just been
urging him to stay and have luncheon with us.
Do help me persuade him.”
“Of course I remember Mr. Kramer," fibbed
the matron cordially, all unaware of her daugh-
ter's duplicity. “Do stay, Mr. Kramer, and
have luncheon with Jane. I ordered luncheon
for four, expecting to be home, and now I've
been called away, but your aunt is there to
chaperone you. It spoils the servants so to pre-
pare meals and have no one to eat them, to say
nothing of displeasing Mr. Hoover. It's really
your duty—your duty as a patriot—to stay and
prevent a food-waste.”


78 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
" I've just been trying to explain to your
daughter that I was taking Mr. Hoff to luncheon
with me. Here he is now.”
Mrs. Strong's eyes swept the tall figure ap-
proaching appraisingly and apparently was
pleased with his aspect. As Mr. Hoff was pre-
sented she hastened to include him in the invita-
tion to luncheon.
“Have pity on a poor girl doomed to eat a
lonely luncheon by her parent's neglect,” urged
Jane. “Really, you must come, both of you.
Nice men to talk to are so scarce in these war
times that I have no intention of letting you
escape.”
“I'm in Kramer's hands," said Frederic Hoff
gallantly, “but if he takes me to some wretched
hotel instead of accepting such a charming invi-
tation as this, my opinion of him as a host will
be shattered.”
“But,” struggled Kramer, realizing ithat it
must be a case of mistaken identity and sure
now that he never had met either Jane or her
mother before, “we have some business to talk
over.”
“Business always can wait a fair lady's pleas-


ON THE TRAIL
79
ure," said Hoff. “Is this ruthless war making
you navy men ungallant?”.
With a mock gesture of surrender, and as a
matter of fact, not at all averse to pursuing the
adventure further, Lieutnant Kramer permitted
Jane to lead the way to the Strong apartment.
Soon, with the familiarity of youth and high
spirits, the three of them were merrily chatting
on the weather, the war, the theater and all
manner of things. Jane, in the midst of the con-
versation, could not help noting that Hoff had
seated himself in a chair by the window where
he seemed to be keeping a vigilant eye on the
ships that could be seen from there. Even at
the luncheon table he got up once and walked to
the window to look out, making some clumsy
excuse about the beautiful view.
Determined to press the opportunity, Jane
endeavored to turn the conversation into per-
sonal channels.
“You are an American,” she said turning to
Hoff, “are you not? I'm surprised that you
are not in uniform, too."
"A man does not necessarily need to be in
uniform to be serving his government,” he re-


80 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
plied. “Perhaps I am doing something more
important."
“But you are an American, aren't you?" she
persisted almost impudently, driven on by her
eagerness to learn all she possibly could about
him.
“I was born in Cincinnati,” he replied hesi-
tantly.
She could not help observing how diplomat-
ically he had parried both her questions. Men-
tally she recorded his exact words with the idea
in her mind of repeating what he had said
verbatim to her chief.
“ Then you are doing work for the govern-
ment?”
Intensely she waited for his answer. Surely
he could find no way of evading such a direct
inquiry as this.
"Every man who believes in his own coun-
try,” he answered, modestly enough, yet with a
curious reservation that puzzled her, “in times
like these is doing his bit.”
She felt far from satisfied. If he was born in
America, if he really was an American at heart,
his replies would have been reassuring, but his


ON THE TRAIL
81
name was Hoff. His uncle was a German-
American, a proved spy or at least a messenger
for spies. If her guest still considered Prussia
his fatherland the answers he had made would
fit equally well.
“You're just as provokingly secretive as these
navy men,” she taunted him. “When I try to
find out now where any of my friends in the
navy are stationed they won't tell me a thing,
will they, Mr. Kramer?”
“I'll tell you where they all are,” said Lieu-
tenant Kramer. “Every letter I've had from
abroad recently from chaps in the service has
had the same address—' A deleted port.'”.
“I really think the government is far too
strict about it," she continued. “My only
brother is over there now fighting. All we
know is that he is ‘Somewhere in France.' War
makes it hard on all of us.”
“Yet after all,” said Hoff soberly, “what are
our hardships here compared to what people are
suffering over there, in France, in Belgium, in
Germany, even in the neutral countries. They
know over there, they have known for three
years, greater horrors than we can imagine.”


82 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
The longer she chatted with him, the more
puzzled Jane became. He seemed to speak with
sincerity and feeling. Her intuition told her
that he was a man of honor and high ideals, and
yet in everything he said there was always re-
serve, hesitation, caution, as if he weighed every
word before uttering it. Intently she listened,
hoping to catch some intonation, some awkward
arrangement of words that might betray his
tongue for German, but the English he spoke
was perfect-not the English of the United
States nor yet of England, but rather the man-
ner of speech that one hears from the world-
traveler. Question after question she put, hop-
ing to trap him into some admission, but skil-
fully he eluded her efforts. She decided at last
to try more direct tactics.
“ Your name has a German sound. It is
German, isn't it? ” she asked.
“ I told you I was born in Cincinnati,” he an-
swered laughingly. “Some people insist that
that is a German province."
“But you have been in Germany, haven't
you?”
“Why do you ask?"


ON THE TRAIL
83
was
“I was wondering if you had not lived in that
country?”
“I could not well have been there without
having lived there, could I?”
Kramer came to her rescue.
“Of course he has lived there. Mr. Hoff and
I both attended German universities. That was
what brought us together at the start-our
common bond.”
“ Did you attend the same university? " asked
Jane. She felt that at last she was on the point
of finding out something worth while.
“No," said Kramer, “unfortunately it was
not the same university.”
She caught her breath and blushed guiltily.
If Mr. Kramer had attended a German univer-
sity he could not be an Annapolis graduate. He
must be a recent comer in the American navy.
She knew that since the war began some civilians
had been admitted. It had just dawned on her
that if this was the case, since visiting on board
ships was no longer permitted, it clearly was im-
possible for her to have met him at any function
on a warship. He must have known all along
that she knew she never had met him. He must


84 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
have been aware, too, that her mother did not
know him. She felt that she was getting into
perilous waters and fearful of making more
blunders refrained from further questions. A
vague alarm began to agitate her. If he had
detected her ruse when she first had spoken to
him, why had he not admitted it? What had
been his purpose in accepting her invitation and
in bringing into it his German friend, Mr.
Hoff?
The ringing of the telephone bell came as a
welcome interruption. A maid summoned her
to answer a call, and excusing herself from the
table she went to the 'phone desk in the foyer.
“Hello, is this you, Miss Strong?"
It was Carter's voice, but from the anxious
stress in it she judged that he was in a state
of great perturbation.
“Yes, it is Jane Strong speaking,” she an-
swered.
“You know who this is ? "
“Of course. I recognize your voice. It's
Mr. C- "
. A warning “sst" over the 'phone checked her
before she pronounced the name and starting



ARTHUR WILLIAM BROW
Had he been standing there listening? How much had he heard?
Page 85.





ON THE TRAIL
85
guiltily she turned to look over her shoulder,
feeling relieved to see the two men still chatting
at the table, apparently paying no attention to
her.
“I understand,” she answered quickly.
“ What is it?”
“You know that book I told you I was going
to buy?”
“Yes, yes!”
“It's not there."
“What's that? The book is gone!”
“The book is there all right, but it's not the
book I want."
“ Are you sure,” she questioned, “ that you
looked at the right book?"
“I looked at the one you told me to."
“ Are you certain—the fifth book on the sec-
ond shelf.”
She heard a movement behind her and turning
quickly saw Frederic Hoff standing behind her,
his hat and stick in hand. Panic-stricken, she
hung up the receiver abruptly. Had he been
standing there listening? How much had he
heard ? He would know, of course, what “the
fifth book on the second shelf” signified. Had


86 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
her carelessness betrayed to him the fact that he
and his uncle were being closely watched ?
Anxiously she studied his face for some intima-
tion of his thoughts. He was standing there
smiling at her, and to her agitated brain it
seemed that in his smile there was something
sardonic, defying, challenging.
“I cannot tell you, Miss Strong, how much I
have enjoyed your hospitality. You made the
time so interesting that I had no idea it was so
late. You will excuse me if I tear myself away
at once. I have some important business that
demands my immediate attention.”
"I hope you'll come again,” she managed to
stammer, “and you, too, Mr. Kramer."
White-faced and terrified she escorted them
out, leaving the telephone bell jangling angrily.
As the door closed behind them, she sank weak
and faint into a chair, not daring yet to go again
to the 'phone until she was sure they were out
of hearing.
What was the "immediate business” that was
calling them away so suddenly? She was more
than afraid that her incautious use of the phrase
“ the fifth book on the second shelf” had be-


ON THE TRAIL
87
trayed her. What else could it mean? Why
else would they have departed so abruptly?
Mustering up her strength and courage she
went once more to the 'phone.
“Hello, hello, is that you, Miss Strong? Some
one cut us off,” Carter's voice was impatiently
saying.
"Hello, Mr. Carter,” she called," this is Jane
Strong speaking. Where can I see you at once?
It's most important."
“I'll be sitting on a bench along the Drive
two blocks north of your house inside of ten
minutes.”
“I'll meet you there,” she answered quickly,
with a feeling of relief.
The situation was becoming far too compli-
cated, she felt, for her to handle alone. Carter
would know what to do. If Hoff and Kramer
had learned from her about the trailing of old
Hoff, the sooner it was reported to more experi-
enced operatives than she was the better.
“ Don't speak to me when you see me sitting
on the bench," warned Carter. "Just sit down
there beside me and wait till I make sure no one
is watching us. I'll speak to you when it's safe.”


88 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
“I understand," she answered. “Good-by."
As she hastened to don her hat and coat she
was almost overwhelmed by a revulsion of feel-
ing. Two days ago the world about her had
seemed a carefree, pleasant, even if sometimes
boresome place. Now she shudderingly saw it
stripped of its mask and revealed for the first
time in all its hideousness, a place of murders
and spying and secret machinations. People
about her were no longer more or less interest-
ing puppets in a play-world. They were vivid
actualities, scheming and planning to thwart and
overcome each other. Almost she wished that
her dream had been undisturbed and that she
had not been waked up to the realities. Almost
she was tempted to abandon her new-found oc-
cupation.
Then, once more, a feeling of patriotic fervor
swept over her. She thought of her brother
fighting somewhere in the trenches. She pic-
tured to herself the other brave soldiers in the
great ships in the Hudson. She remembered the
evil plotters with their death-dealing bombs,
striving to bring about a ghastly end for them
all before they might strengthen the lines of the


ON THE TRAIL
Allies. She thought, too, of those humanity-
defying U-boats, forever at their devilish work,
guided to their prey by crafty, spying creatures
right here in New York, more than likely by the
very people next door.
With her pretty lips set in a resolute line she
left the house and walked rapidly north. Come
what may she would go on with it. Her coun-
try needed her, and that was all-sufficient.


CHAPTER VI
THE MISSING MESSAGE
AFTER Jane left Carter at the drug-store, he
did not cross immediately to the bookshop op-
posite. His detective work was not of that sort.
He strolled leisurely around the corner long
enough to give some directions to his two aides
waiting there and then, moving across the street,
paused in front of the window of books as if
something there had attracted his attention. All
the while he was keeping a sharp eye for any
person who looked as if they might be con-
nected in any way with old Hoff. Satisfied that
his entrance was unobserved he strolled casually
in and began looking over the volumes in the
lending library. The lone clerk in the store-a
young woman-at first volunteered some sug-
gestions, but as they went unheeded she returned
to her work of posting up the accounts.
As soon as her attention was occupied Carter


THE MISSING MESSAGE 93
Apparently satisfied, he sat down abruptly and
turned to speak to the girl beside him,
“All right, K-19,” he said, “it's safe. Now
we can talk.”
“ I've got such a lot to tell,” cried Jane.
“First,” said Carter,“ just where did you put
that cipher message when you put it back?"
“What!” cried the girl, her face blanching,
“wasn't it there? Didn't you find it?”
Carter shook his head.
“ It must be there,” she insisted. “Are you
sure you looked in the right book—the fifth book
from the end on the second shelf on the up-town
side of the store."
“It's not there. I examined every book there,
on the shelves above and below and at the other
end, too.”
“ The clerk in the store, that girl-must have
hidden it," cried Jane with conviction.
“ That's not likely. She's an English girl-
from Liverpool. She has three brothers fighting
on the Allies' side. We can leave her out of it."
“Who else could have taken it?”
“There's only one answer," said Carter
slowly and impressively. “Some one went into


94 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
that store between the time you copied the mes-
sage and the time I met you at the drug-store.
You told me no one but a couple of girls had
entered. Was there any one else? Think-
think!”
“ There was no one,” said Jane thoughtfully,
“no one except the two girls together. I never
thought of suspecting them."
“What did they look like? Could you iden-
tify them?”
“I did not notice them particularly," Jane
confessed. “I was expecting Mr. Hoff's con-
federate to be a man."
“They're using a lot of women spies," asserted
Carter. “ Don't you remember what the girls
looked like?”
“One of them,” said Jane thoughtfully, “wore
an odd-shaped hat, a sort of a tam with a red
feather.”
“Would you know the hat again if you saw
it?”
“I think I'm sure I would.”
“Well, that's something. Watch for that hat,
and if you ever see it again trail the girl till you
find out where she lives. If you locate her tele-


THE MISSING MESSAGE
95
ove
phone Mr. Fleck at once. And now, what has
happened to you?”
“ I've so much to tell, important, very im-
portant, I think.”
She hesitated, wondering how much Carter
was in the chief's confidence. Did he know the
import of the cipher message she had discovered ?
Ought she to talk freely to him?
“Do you know what those numbers meant?”
she asked.
“Yes," he replied, “ about the eight transports
sailing. The Chief told me about it.”
“Well,” she said, with a sigh of relief, “I
have become acquainted with young Mr. Hoff
already. I've just had luncheon with him."
“That's fine,” he cried enthusiastically. “A
lucky day it was I ran across you."
"When you 'phoned me he was there in our
apartment, he and a navy lieutenant, Mr.
Kramer.”
Attentively he listened as she told of the ruse
by which she had inveigled them into coming to
luncheon, reminding him that it was the same
naval officer that he himself had seen in close
conversation with Hoff at the Ritz the day


96 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
before. He nodded his head in a satisfied
way.
“ They are together too much to be up to any
good,” he commented. “Tell me the rest.
What made you so rattled when I'phoned you?”
He listened intently as she told of finding
young Hoff standing right behind her as she had
inadvertently mentioned aloud “the fifth book.”
“Do you suppose,” she questioned anxiously,
“that he overheard me and understood what
we were talking about? He left right away
after that. I do hope I didn't betray the fact
that they are being watched.”
“We can't tell yet,” said Carter. “ The pre-
cautions they take and the roundabout methods
they have of communicating with each other
show that all Germany's spies constantly act as
if they knew they were under surveillance. In
fact, I suppose every German in this country,
whether he is a spy or not, can't help but notice
that his neighbors are watching him—and well
they might.”
"I don't see why,” cried Jane, “ Mr. Fleck did
not have old Mr. Hoff locked up right away. He
could not do any more damage then, or be


THE MISSING MESSAGE
97
sending any more messages about our trans-
ports.”
cu
a
n
man
CUIT
“That wouldn't have done the least bit of
good,” said Carter decisively. “Watching our
transports sail and spreading the news is only
one of many of their activities. Somewhere in
this country there is a master-council of German
plotters, directing the secret movements of many
hundreds, perhaps many thousands of spies and
secret agents. They have their work well
mapped out. They have men fomenting strikes
in the government shipyards and stirring up all
kinds of labor troubles. Others are busy mak-
ing bombs and contriving diabolical methods of
crippling the machinery in munition plants. A
flourishing trade in false passports is being car-
ried on, enabling their spies to travel back and
forth across the Atlantic in the guise of Amer-
ican business men, ambulance drivers, Red Cross
workers and what not. Still others of their
agents are detailed to arrange for the shipping
of the supplies Germany needs to neutral coun-
tries. By watching shipping closely they gather
information, too, that is of value to the U-boat
commanders. Every time there is any sort of


98 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
activity against the draft, or peace meetings, or
Irish agitation, we find traces of German handi-
work. We have dismantled and sealed up every
wireless plant we could find in America except
those under direct government control, yet we
are positive that every day wireless messages
go from this country somewhere-perhaps to
Mexico or South America, and from there are
relayed to Germany, probably by way of Spain.
Think of the enormous amount of money re-
quired to finance these operations and keep all
these spies under pay. While we try to thwart
their plans as we find them, all our efforts are
constantly directed toward discovering who
controls and finances their damnable system.
We seldom if ever arrest any of the spies we
track down, but keep watching, watching,
watching, hoping that sooner or later the master-
spy will be betrayed into our hands."
“You don't think then,” said Jane disap-
pointedly, “ that old Mr. Hoff is one of the im-
portant spies.”
"We can't tell yet. He may be just one of
the cogs-perhaps what they call a control-agent.
We don't know yet. Germany has been build-


THE MISSING MESSAGE
99
ing up her spy system forty years, and it is
ingenious beyond imagination. Her codes are
the most difficult in the world. It took the
French three years and a half to decipher a code
despatch from Von Bethmann Hollweg to Baron
von Schoen. By the time they had it deciphered
in Paris the Germans had discovered what they
were doing and had changed the code. It is
seldom any one of the German spies knows
much about the work that other spies are doing.
The rank and file merely get orders to go and do
such a thing, or find out about such a thing.
Often they are not told what they are doing it
for. They obey their orders implicitly in detail
and make their reports, get new orders and go
on to do something else. Only their master
spy-council here knows what the summary of
their efforts amounts to. Arresting old Hoff, or
a dozen more like him, would not cripple them
much. Other men would be assigned in their
places, and the nefarious work would go on.”
“I don't know,” insisted Jane thoughtfully.
“I believe that old Mr. Hoff is a far bigger spoke
in the wheel than you think. I watched his face
as I followed him this morning. He is a man


100 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
of great intelligence, and I should judge a man
of education.”
“ They'd hardly be using a man of that sort
to carry messages," objected Carter. “Maybe
you're right. We have not watched him long
enough to find out. We've got nothing yet on
the young fellow. Maybe he's the real boss of
the outfit. At any rate he is the one the Chief
is anxious to have you keep tabs on. Are you
to see him again?”
“Oh, yes," the girl answered quickly, a touch
те :
ore mes
him to come to see me. I think-in fact I'm
sure—he will. Do you want me to watch the
bookshop to see if they leave any more messages
there?”
"No," said Carter. “ I've got one of my men
assigned to that. You keep after the young fel-
low. Say, does your father keep an automo-
bile?”
“Yes, but it's been put up for the winter.
We're going to bring it out as soon as Dad can
find a chauffeur. Our man—the one we had last
year-has been drafted, and good chauffeurs are
scarce now. Why did you ask?”


THE MISSING MESSAGE
101
“ I'll find you a chauffeur," said Carter deci-
sively.
“You mean ”—Jane hesitated—“a detect-
ive?”
Carter grinned.
“An agent like you and me. K-27 is an expert
chauffeur and mechanic with fine references.
His last job was with the British High Com-
mission, and they gave him good testimo-
nials.”
“What do you want him to do?”
• Driving the Strong car makes a good ex-
cuse for him to be around without exciting sus-
picion. He might even come up-stairs once in
a while to get orders or do little repair jobs
around the apartment. Some day, supposing the
people next door were all out, he might even
succeed in planting a dictograph so that you
could sit there in your room and hear all that
was going on and what the Hoffs talked about.
That would help a lot. If ever he was caught
prowling about the hall, the fact that he was
your chauffeur would provide him with an alibi.
Do you think you can fix it up with your
father? ”


104 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
a sense of relief at the prospect of having some
one at hand in the household with whom she
could discuss her activities.
And as she had anticipated she had little diffi-
culty in interesting her father in the subject of a
new chauffeur. Mr. Strong for several days had
been trying to find one without success.
“You say this man's last place was with the
British High Commission.”
"Some one of the girls was telling me," she
prevaricated. “I asked her to tell him to come
here to-night at eight. He ought to be here any
minute."
Presently the candidate for the place was
announced.
“Mr. Thomas Dean to see about a chauffeur's
position,” the maid said as she brought him in,
and while her father questioned him, Jane
studied him carefully.
He could not be more than thirty, she decided,
and the voice in which he answered her father's
questions was surely a cultivated one. It would
not have surprised her in the least to have
learned that he was a college man. Even in his
neat chauffeur's uniform he seemed every inch


THE MISSING MESSAGE
105
a gentleman. He had been driving a car for
twelve years, he explained. No, he did not
drink and had never been arrested for speeding.
“Are you a married man?”
Jane listened curiously for his answer to this
question of her father's. Surely it would be far
more interesting if he wasn't. Of course, he was
a chauffeur and a detective, but somehow she
could not help feeling, perhaps because of his
easy manner, that more than likely most of the
cars he had driven were cars that he himself
had owned. K-27 she decided was going to be
quite a satisfactory partner to work with.
“There's just one thing," said her father.
“You say you are not married. I can't under-
stand why it is that you are not in the
army.”
“Iam not eligible,” said Thomas Dean calmly,
though Jane thought she could detect a twinkle
in his eye. “ One of my legs has been broken
in three places.”
“But there are things a young fellow can do
for his country besides marching," insisted Mr.
Strong. “ The government needs mechanics,
too."


106 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
“ I know," said Thomas Dean, almost humbly,
“ but I have a mother, and my father is dead."
Jane smiled a little to herself at his answer.
She noted how carefully he had avoided saying
anything about having a mother to support. It
would not have surprised her in the least to
have learned that he was a millionaire, yet her
father, ordinarily shrewd in judging men, ap-
parently was satisfied.
“Supporting a mother, I suppose, comes first,"
he said. “Well, Dean, when can you come?”
“To-morrow morning if you like,” the new
chauffeur answered, nodding gravely to Jane as
he withdrew.
Mr. Strong, as soon as they were alone, spoke
enthusiastically about the young man, com-
plimenting Jane on having discovered him, and
as he did so a revulsion of feeling swept over her.
For the first time she realized into what duplicity
her work for the government was leading her.
She had pledged her word to Chief Fleck that
she would keep her activities an absolute secret
even from her parents. Already she was deceiv-
ing them, bringing into the household an em-
ployee who really was a detective, a spy. She


THE MISSING MESSAGE
107
was tempted to tell her father, at least, what
she was doing. He, she knew, was filled with a
high spirit of patriotism. While he might not
wholly approve of what she herself was doing
she might be able to convince him of the neces-
sity of it. If she could only tell him, her con-
science would not trouble her, but there was her
promise—her sacred promise; she couldn't break
that.
While with troubled mind she debated with
herself between her duty to her parents and her
duty to her country, one of the maids came in
with a box of flowers for her.
Eagerly she cut the string and opened the box.
Chief Fleck especially wanted her to cultivate
young Hoff's acquaintance. If her suspicion as
to the sender were correct, she could feel that
she had made an auspicious beginning.
In a tremor of excitement she snatched off the
lid of the box and tore out the accompanying
card from its envelope.
"Mr. Frederic Johann Hoff,” it read, “in ap-
preciation of a most profitable afternoon.”
Wondering at the peculiar sentiment of the
card she tore off the enclosing tissue paper from


108 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
the flowers. Orchids, wonderful, delicately
tinted orchids, nestled in a sheaf of feathery
green fern-five of them.
"Five orchids—the fifth book-a profitable
afternoon.”
Jane felt sure now she had betrayed the gov-
ernment's watchers to at least one of the
watched.


THE WOMAN ON THE ROOF 111
warning about observing even what seemed to
be insignificant trifles.
"Most of the Germans," he said to her, “ you
will find are very methodical. They like to do
things according to schedule. For instance, I
learned yesterday that old Hoff and his nephew
frequently go off on all-day automobile trips.
They always go on Wednesday.”
"Are they going to-morrow?”.
“ The presumption is that they will. They
have done so every Wednesday for six weeks.”
“ Can't we follow them in our car?” cried the
girl, “ and see what they are up to?”
Dean shook his head.
“ The Chief is looking out for that. There is
more important work for us to do right here. I
want to try to install a dictograph in their apart-
ment."
“How exciting.”
“You must find some excuse for me to come
up into your apartment and see to it that none
of your people are about."
“ That will be easy. Mother and Aunt will
be out all day, and it is cook's afternoon off. I
can easily send the maids nut."


THE WOMAN ON THE ROOF 113
that unlocks all the apartment doors, and there
was no trouble in picking it out. I had some
wax in my hand and made an impression of it
right under his nose.”
“How clever,” cried Jane, “but suppose the
Hoffs do not go off to-morrow. What will we
do then?”.
“You are taking tea with young Hoff this
afternoon, aren't you?”
“Yes,” said Jane, “that is, he asked me to.
I am to meet him at the Biltmore at five."
“When you're with him propose doing some-
thing together to-morrow afternoon. See what
he says.”
“That's an excellent idea. I'll ask him to go
to the matinée with me."
“ That will do splendidly. Has he been with
that navy officer lately?”
“Not since Sunday, to my knowledge. I
wonder if old Mr. Hoff has left any more cipher
messages at the bookshop?”
“No," said Dean, “he hasn't. The place has
been constantly watched, but he hasn't been near
it since that first day."
“I'm afraid,” sighed Jane despondently, “I


114 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
betrayed the fact that we were watching them
to the nephew. He overheard me talking to
Carter about the 'fifth book,' and of course he
knew what it meant. I'm certain the old man
is still reporting about our transports. Every
day I can hear some one telephoning to him.
He waits for the message, and then he goes out."
“He certainly is expert in eluding shadowers,"
admitted Dean. “Every day he has been fol-
lowed, but always he manages to give the op-
eratives the slip. He must know he is being
watched.”
"I'm anxious to know what the nephew will
say to me to-day,” said Jane. “I know he
knows what I am doing. He looks at me in
such an amusedly superior way every time he
sees me.”
“Be careful about trying to pump him," cau-
tioned Dean. “He strikes me as by far the more
intelligent of the two. It would not surprise
me in the least if he were not old Hoff's nephew
at all, but really his superior, sent over especially
by Wilhelmstrasse to take charge of the plotters.
He doesn't in the least resemble old Hoff.”
"No indeed, he doesn't,” admitted Jane, “He


THE WOMAN ON THE ROOF 115
certainly is clever, too. We haven't learned
a single thing that incriminates him, have
we?”
“Nothing definite, yet everything taken to-
gether looks damaging enough. Here is a young
German of military age and appearance, who ar-
rived from Sweden just before we went into the
war. He has plenty of money and spends his
time idling about New York, in frequent com-
munication with at least one navy officer. He
selects a home overlooking the river from which
our soldiers are departing for France. You
yourself saw him pursuing K-19—the other
K-19—who a few hours afterward was found
murdered.”
“ Things don't look right,” Jane agreed, yet
a few hours later as she sat opposite the young
man at tea, she found herself doubting. It
seemed incredible, impossible, that Frederic
Hoff could be a murderer. Her instinctive
sense of justice forced her to admit that it was
hard for her to believe him even a spy. He
seemed so cultured, so clean, so straightforward,
so nice. If she had not seen that unforgettable
look of hate on his face that night as she watched


116 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
him from the window she could not, she would
not have believed evil of him.
The tremor of nervous excitement in which
she met him quickly passed, and she found her-
self once more chatting intimately with him and
enjoying it. He talked well on practically all
subjects, showing reserve only when she tried to
draw him out about himself. Her previous ex-
periences with the opposite sex had taught her
that most men's favorite topic of conversation
is themselves, but Mr. Hoff appeared to be the
exception. Adroitly he baffled all her efforts
to get him to discuss his family, his achieve-
ments, or his past, even when she sought to en-
courage intimacy by telling about her brother
who was abroad in Pershing's army.
“You must let me be your big brother while
he is away,” her escort had suggested gallantly.
"All right, brother,” she had challenged him.
“I'll take you on at once. I have seats for a
matinée to-morrow. I'd much rather go with a
brother than with one of the girls.”
“I would be delighted,” he answered unsus-
pectingly, “but unfortunately I have an engage-
ment that takes me out of town.”
ve ai


THE WOMAN ON THE ROOF 117
“We'll go next week, then-Wednesday.”
"A week is too long to wait. Let me take
you to a matinée on Saturday.”
Jane hesitated. At times her conscience
troubled her not a little. While satisfied that
the importance of her trust wholly justified her
actions, she disliked any deception of her family.
“Wouldn't it be better,” she parried, “ if you
came to call on me some evening first? You've
only just met my mother, and I would like you
to know Dad, too."
“May I?” he cried with manifest pleasure.
“How about to-morrow evening?”
“ That's Wednesday," she answered slowly.
That was the day she and Dean were planning
to put in a dictagraph. She wondered at herself
calmly carrying on this casual conversation with
the man she was planning to betray. Coloring
a little from the very shame of it, she continued,
“How about making it Thursday evening?”
“ Delighted,” cried Hoff, “and about Satur-
day's matinée-what haven't you seen?”
Glad for the respite of at least twenty-four
hours, Jane, as they talked, watched his face, his
expression, his eyes. Regardless of the things


118 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
she believed about him, he impressed her as
honest and sincere. Certainly there was no mis-
taking the fact that his liking for her and his
delight in her society were wholly genuine. Her
heart warned her that it was his intention to
press their new-formed acquaintance into close
intimacy. Was he, she wondered, like herself,
pretending friendship merely to unmask secrets
for his government? No, she could not, she
would not believe it. She felt sure that his ad-
miration was unfeigned. Something told her
that quickly his ardor and determination might
lead her into embarrassing circumstances. He
might even ask her to marry him. For a mo-
ment she was overcome with timidity and
tempted to stop short on her new career, but
there came to her the thought of the brave
Americans in the trenches, of the soldiers at sea,
of the brutal, lurking U-boats, and sternly she
put aside all personal considerations.
“You spoke of going out of town,” she said
when the subject of the matinée had been dis-
posed of. “Don't you find train travel rather
disagreeable these days ? "
“ Fortunately I'm motoring.”


THE WOMAN ON THE ROOF 119
“That will be nice, if you don't have to travel
too far.”
“ It is quite a distance for one day, but I am
used to it. I make the trip often.”
Feeling that at least she had learned some-
thing, Jane rose to go. She knew that both the
Hoffs would be out of the way to-morrow. The
inference from his last remark was that they
were going to the same place they had gone on
previous Wednesdays. That was something to
report to Mr. Fleck.
“My car is outside,” she said as they rose.
“Can't I take you home?”
“Sorry," said her host, “but I am dining
here to-night. Lieutenant Kramer is to join
me.”
“Remember me to him," she said as he
escorted her to the automobile, driven by
Dean.
A block away from the hotel she tapped on
the glass, and as Dean brought the car to a stop
she climbed into the seat beside him. Only a
week ago she would have criticized any girl who
rode beside the chauffeur. In fact she had
spoken disapprovingly of a girl in her own set


120 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
who made a habit of doing it, but now she never
gave it a thought. Many things in her life
seemed to have assumed new aspects and values
since she had entered on a career of useful
activity. In her was rapidly developing some-
thing of her father's ability and directness. As
she wanted to talk confidentially with Dean, she
went the easiest way about it, entirely regard-
less of appearances.
“Apparently you carried it off well,” he com-
mented.
“I hope so," she answered, coloring a little.
“ They're making their usual Wednesday motor
trip.”
“He did not tell you their destination?”
“No, but Lieutenant Kramer is dining with
him to-night at the Biltmore.”
“Fine. Those things the Chief can take care
of. That leaves the way clear for us to-morrow
afternoon.”
“What excuse will I make for having you
come up to the apartment?”
“ You want me to change some pictures. That
will account for the wire if I'm caught."
“I hope no one sees you."


THE WOMAN ON THE ROOF 21
1 121
“Nobody'll see me but the elevator man, and
he'll think nothing of it.”
. Apparently, too, Dean was right, for the next
afternoon he entered the Strong apartment
carrying a suitcase in which was concealed his
apparatus and the necessary wire.
“Hurry,” cried Jane, who was waiting for
him. “ The Hoffs' maid has just gone up on
the roof.”
“We can safely give her at least a few min-
utes,” said Dean setting to work to make a hole
through the wall into the apartment adjoining.
Just as he had finished making it and had pushed
one end of the wire through, the telephone bell
rang, and Jane in dismay sprang to answer it.
“ Disguise your voice,” warned Dean. “If it
is a caller say there is no one home.”
“It was Lieutenant Kramer calling,” said Jane
as she returned.
“ Did he recognize your voice?"
“I don't think so.”
“What did he say?”
“He said to tell Miss Strong that he had
called.”
“Then he didn't suspect you."


122 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
“Isn't there danger, though, that he may come
up to the Hoff apartment?”
Dean sprang to the window and looked out
at the street below.
“No, there he goes up the street. He evi-
dently did not try to see if the Hoffs were at
home. That's funny.”
“Why funny?”
“ It means of course that he, too, knows about
those Wednesday trips the Hoffs make."
Cautiously he opened the door into the public
hall. There was no one about. Catlike in
swiftness and silence he moved to the Hoff door
and inserted his new-made key. It worked
perfectly.
“Now," he whispered to Jane,“ to the roof-
quick. I must not be taken by surprise. Give
me at least ten minutes more-fifteen if you can.”
Quickly he passed inside, closing the door be-
hind him all but a barely noticeable crack, as
Jane rang for the elevator and bade the operator
take her to the roof. As she emerged there and
stood waiting for the elevator to descend again,
an ornamental lattice screened her from the rest
of the roof. Cautiously and curiously she peered


THE WOMAN ON THE ROOF 123
between the slats, trying to see what the Hoff
servant was doing at the moment. She decided
that she would not reveal her presence until the
woman made ready to go down-stairs.
As from behind her screen she scanned the
roof she espied old Lena over on the side next
the river bending over a half-filled basket of
clothes, apparently putting into the basket some
of the freshly dried laundry from the lines ex-
tending all over the roof. As Jane watched her
the old woman straightened herself up and cast
a cautious glance about. Apparently satisfied
that she was alone she whipped out something
from a pocket in her apron and turned in the
direction of the river.
Jane gasped in amazement, a thrill of excite-
ment sweeping over her at this new discovery.
It was plain that the old servant was studying
the transports in the river below through a pair
of powerful field glasses. Curiously Jane ob-
served her, wondering what she was trying to
ascertain, wondering if through the glasses she
was able to identify the battleships and other
boats. Old Lena's next move was still more
puzzling. Hastily dropping her glasses into the


124 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
basket she began to hang again on the line some
of the clothes. They were handkerchiefs, Jane
noted interestedly, one large red one, and the
rest white, some large, some small, a whole long
row of nothing but handkerchiefs.
All at once it came to Jane what it must mean.
The arrangement of the handkerchiefs must be
some sort of a code. She studied the way they
were placed, committing the order to memory.
“Red-two large—one small-one large-one
small.” Of course it was a code, a signal to
some one aboard one of the ships.
The line of handkerchiefs completed old Lena
once more took up her glasses, first looking
around as before to see if any one were on the
roof. How Jane wished that she, too, could see
the ships from where she stood. Was some
traitor in the navy wigwagging to the old
woman? She was tempted to spring forward
and seize her and stop this dastardly signalling,
but she remembered her duty. She was there to
see that Dean was not surprised by old Lena's
return. So long as the woman kept signalling
he was safe.
Once more the laundress dropped her glasses


THE WOMAN ON THE ROOF 125
and began frantically rearranging the handker-
chiefs. Again Jane noted their order-red-
two small-one large—three small-two large.
Again the laundress resorted to the glasses, and
at last, apparently satisfied, began taking down
the rest of the laundry and making ready to leave
the roof. Trying to act as if she had just ar-
rived, Jane stepped boldly forward..
"I wonder,” she said approaching the woman,
“if you can tell me where I can find a good
laundress.”
“ Nicht versteh,” said old Lena, eyeing her sus-
piciously and hostilely, and at the same time at-
tempting to pass her with the basket of clothes.
Deliberately blocking the way, Jane repeated
her question, this time in German, feeling thank-
ful that her language studies at school were not
wholly forgotten and that they had included such
practical phrases as those required to hire and
discharge maids and complain about the quality
of their work.
“I know no one,” the old woman answered
her, this time in English.
Jane breathed fast with excitement. The
laundress slip of the tongue, after denying that


126 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
she understood, was evidence in itself of her
deliberate duplicity. Realizing her mistake, the
old woman now sullenly refused to answer any
questions, merely shaking her head and trying
to dodge past and escape.
To prolong the questioning, Jane felt, would
be only to arouse suspicion, and reluctantly she
allowed old Lena to precede her to the elevator,
anticipating her, however, in ringing the bell,
pressing the button four times as Dean had
directed. As they descended together she was
almost in a panic. How long had she kept the
laundress on the roof? She really had no idea.
She had been so absorbed in her new discovery
she had given no thought to the time. For all
she knew she might have been there only five
minutes. Had Dean had time to finish his
work?
Almost frenzied with anxiety, wondering if it
were too soon, she moved forward in the car so
as to obstruct old Lena's view through the door
as it opened. One glance showed her the Hoff
door now tightly closed, and she thought she
heard the door of her own apartment just clos-
ing. Suddenly she remembered that she had


THE WOMAN ON THE ROOF 127
gone up on the roof without a key. It would be
a pretty pass if Dean were still in the Hoff
apartment and she couldn't get into her own.
All in a tremble she pressed the button of her
own door, waiting, however, to see that the
laundress was out of the hall. It was Dean who
opened the door, and she all but fainted in his
arms as she saw that he was back in safety.
"It's done,” he cried gleefully, as he caught
her and drew her within, closing the door care-
fully behind her. “I just finished my work as
you came down.”
Great drops of perspiration still stood on his
forehead and he was breathing rapidly.
“Why, what's the matter?” he cried, noticing
for the first time Jane's perturbation. “Was it
too much for you? What happened?”
“Put this down quick, quick,” gasped Jane,
“Red—two large—one small—one large—one
small—and then-red-two small-one large-
three small-two large.”
Wonderingly he complied, jotting down what
she told him in his notebook, and turning to ask
her what it meant, discovered that she had
fainted.


CHAPTER VIII
THE LISTENING EAR
"I DON'T know what is the matter with Jane,"
sighed Mrs. Strong a few days after the employ-
ment of the new chauffeur.
“ She's not ill, is she?” responded her hus-
band. “I never saw her looking more fit.”
. “She looks all right,” said her mother. “ It
is the peculiar way she is acting that bothers
me. She spends hours and hours moping in her
room, and then there are times when she takes
notions of going out and is positively insistent
that she must have the car.”
“Maybe she's in love," suggested Mr. Strong,
resorting to the common masculine suspicion.
“With whom? ” retorted his wife indignantly.
“I don't believe there is an eligible man under
forty in all New York. None of the men are
thinking about marriage these days. They all
want to go to France, even the married ones. I


THE LISTENING EAR 129
believe you'd go yourself if you were a few
years younger.”
“I certainly would,” announced her husband
enthusiastically.
" Jane tells me she is writing a novel,” Mrs.
Strong continued, “and that's why she stays in
her room so much. I hope she won't turn out
to be literary.”
“ Don't worry," advised Mr. Strong. “With
all the men off to war you'll find young women
doing all kinds of funny things to work off their
energy. If a girl can't be husband-hunting,
she's got to be doing something to keep busy.
There are worse things than trying to write
novels. Jane is all right. Let her alone.”
So, even though her mother's suspicions had
been aroused, the girl in the next few days
managed to spend many hours with her ears
glued to the receiver of the dictograph without
being discovered. In the Hoffs' apartment
Dean had succeeded in locating it over the din-
ing-room table, concealed in the chandelier, and
in Jane's room the other end rested in the back
of a dresser drawer that she always carefully
locked when absent.


130 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
The novelty of listening for bits of her neigh-
bors' conversation quickly wore off. To sit al-
most motionless for hours listening, listening
intently for every sound, hearing occasional
words spoken either in too low tones or too far
distant to make them understandable, to record
bits of conversation that sounded harmless, yet
might have some sinister meaning, became a
most laborious task. Yet persistently Jane
stuck at it. The greater knowledge she gained
of the plottings of the German agents, the more
important and vital she realized it was for every
clue to be diligently followed in the hope that
the trail might at last reach the master-spy,
whose manifold activities were menacing Amer-
ica.
In general she was disappointed with the re-
sults of her listening. To be sure they had
furnished indisputable evidence of something
they already had ascertained—that old Hoff,
despite being a naturalized American, still was
a devoted adherent of the ruler of Germany.
Nightly as he and his nephew sat down to dinner
she could hear his gruff, unpleasant voice cere-
moniously proposing always the same toast:


132 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
-"American swine." The younger Hoff had
appeared to exercise marvelous self-control.
“ There is yet time,” he answered calmly.
“ Donnerwetter," the old man had exclaimed.
“ There is yet time, you say—and Emil the
wonder-worker almost ready has. It must be
done at once."
The outburst over, old Hoff had subsided into
inarticulate mutterings, evidently busy with his
food, leaving Jane to wonder futilely who Emil
might be, what he meant by the “wonder-
worker,” and what particular task had been as-
signed to the nephew that must be performed
immediately. She had hastened to report this
conversation in detail to Chief Fleck, but if he
understood what it was about he had taken
neither Jane nor Thomas Dean into his con-
fidence.
Other things, too, Jane had learned and re-
ported, which she knew the chief appreciated
even though he was sparing in his thanks and
compliments. She had learned through her al-
most constant listening that Lieutenant Kramer
was a regular visitor, coming to the Hoff apart-
ment or seeing Frederic Hoff somewhere every


THE LISTENING EAR 133
other day. Unfortunately he was always con-
ducted into one of the inner rooms, so that no
more of the conversation than the ordinary
greetings and farewells ever reached Jane's ears.
The mere fact of his coming so regularly to the
Hoffs convicted him of treachery, in Jane's mind.
What proper business could an American naval
officer have in the home of two German agents?
The excuse that Frederic Hoff was a delightful
and entertaining friend was entirely too flimsy
and unsatisfactory.
Nothing that she had overheard—and within
her heart she felt glad that it was so—in any
way as yet incriminated young Hoff. When she
dared to think about it, she found herself almost
believing, certainly at least wishing, that the
nephew was not involved in his uncle's activities.
Most of his time, in fact, was spent out of the
apartment. He frequently went out early in the
morning, not returning until the early hours of
the next morning. The old man, on the con-
trary, always stayed at home until eleven
o'clock. At that hour his telephone would ring.
The telephone was located near the dining room,
so Jane could easily hear his conversations. In-


134 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
variably some brief message was given to him,
a name, which he repeated aloud as if for verifica-
tion.
As Jane overheard them she had set them
down:
Thursday—“ Jones.”
Friday—“Simpson.”
Saturday—“Marks."
Sunday—“Heilwitz."
Monday—“ Lilienthal.”
Tuesday—“ Wheeler.”
As she sat by the hour listening Jane kept
pondering over these names. What could they
mean? Were they, too, a code of some sort?
Always, as soon as this word had come to him,
old Hoff went out. Could they be, she won-
dered, passwords by which he gained access
somewhere to government buildings or places
where munitions were being made or shipped ?
Meanwhile her acquaintance with Frederic,
Hoff had been progressing rapidly. As she had
suggested he had called on her and had been
presented to her father, and on the next Satur-
day they had gone to a matinée together. She
had been eager to see what her father thought


THE LISTENING EAR 135
of him, for Mr. Strong, she knew, was regarded
as a shrewd judge of men.
“What does that young Hoff do who was here
last night?” her father had asked at the break-
fast table.
"He's in the importing business with his
uncle, I think,” she had answered.
“Where'd you meet him?”
“He lives in the apartment next door. Lieu-
tenant Kramer introduced him.”
“He's German, isn't he?"
“Oh, no,” said Jane, almost unconsciously
rallying to defend him, “he was born in this
country.”
"Well, it's a German name.”
“Don't you like him? ”
“He talks well,” her father said, “and seems
to be well-bred.”
It was with reluctance, too, that Jane ad-
mitted to herself that the better acquainted she
became with Frederic Hoff the more fascinating
she found his society. She was always expect
ing that by some word or action he would reveal
to her his true character. At the matinée she
had waited anxiously to see what he would do


136 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
when the orchestra played the national anthem.
To her amazement he was on his feet almost
among the first and remained standing in an atti-
tude of the utmost respect until the last bar was
completed. If he were only pretending the rôle
of a good American, he certainly was a wonder-
ful actor. As her admiration for him increased
and her interest in him grew she found that al-
most her only antidote was to try to keep think-
ing of his face as she had seen it the night that
K-19—the other K-19—had been so mysteri-
ously murdered. She kept wondering if Chief
Fleck had made any further discoveries about
the murder and resolved to ask him about it at
the first opportunity. She therefore was de-
lighted when on Tuesday, as she made her regu-
lar report by telephone, he asked if she could
come to his office that afternoon with Dean to
discuss some matters of importance. They
found Carter already with the chief when they
arrived.
“Thanks to your work, Miss Strong, and to
Dean's dictograph," said the chief, “we have
made considerable progress. We have learned
a lot more about the cipher messages."


THE LISTENING EAR
139
* In accordance with instructions,” began Car-
ter, as if he was making out a report, “I had
operatives K-24 and K-11 shadow the party sus-
pected. On two different occasions they fol-
lowed her to a bookstore and back home again.
She was accompanied on one occasion by her
younger sister. Each time she went directly
home and stopped there, neither she nor her
sister coming out again, and no person visiting
the apartment, but "
"Here's the interesting part," interrupted
Fleck.
“ On both occasions within a couple of blocks
of the bookstore she passed a man with a dachs-
hund. She did not speak to the man, but each
time she stopped to pet the dog."
“Was it the same man both times?” asked
Dean.
“Apparently not,” replied Carter, “but it may
have been the same dog. Dachshunds all look
alike."
“Go on,” said the chief.
"Now my theory is that that girl was in-
structed to walk north until she met the man
with the dog. I'll bet anything that code


142 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
fools stop at nothing. Nothing is sacred to
them, women, children, property. With fanatical
energy and ability they commit murders, resort
to arson, use poisons, foment strikes, wreck
buildings, blow up ships, do anything, attempt
anything to serve the Kaiser. Karl Boy-ed
spent three millions here in America in two
months, and Von Papen a million more. What
for? Ten thousand dollars to one man to start
a bomb factory, twenty-five thousand dollars to
another to blow up a tunnel. Millions on mil-
lions for German propaganda was raised right
here, and it is far from all spent yet. We've got
to find out what the wonder-worker is and des-
troy it before it destroys God knows what.”
“Very well,” said Jane with quiet determina-
tion, “I'll search their apartment.”
“No, not that,” said the chief, “ I'll send some
fake inspectors to test the electric wiring, and
they'll do the searching. I do not know for
sure that the Hoffs suspect you of watching
them, but I'm taking no chances. It will be just
as well for you and Dean to be out of the way
to-morrow all day, so that you will have an
alibi. Germany's secret agents are suspicious


THE LISTENING EAR
143
of everybody. They do not even trust their
own people. What I want you and Dean to do
is to try to follow the Hoffs and see where they
go. I don't want to use the same persons twice
to trail them as they may get suspicious."
“I can easily do that,” said Jane, feeling re-
lieved. “I'll tell Mother I want our car for all
day.”
“No, don't use your own car. They might
recognize it. I'll provide another one. They
gave two 'of my men the slip last week some-
where the other side of Tarrytown. Let's hope
they are not so successful this time.”
“But won't they recognize me?”
“Not if you disguise yourself with goggles and
a dust coat. Dean can make up, too. He had
practice enough at college, eh, Dean? ”
Jane turned to look interestedly at Dean, who
had the grace to color up. She was right then.
He was a college man, working in the secret
service not for the sake of the job but for the
sake of his country.
“Of course I can disguise myself too,” she
said enthusiastically, a new zest in her work as-
serting itself, now that she knew her principal


144 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
as
co-operator was probably in the same social
stratum as herself.
“ You can rely on us, Chief,” said Dean, as
they left the office together. “We'll run them
down.”
As they emerged into Broadway and turned
north to reach the subway at Fulton Street,
Dean, with a warning “sst,” suddenly caught
Jane's arm and drew her to a shop window,
where he appeared to be pointing out some
goods displayed there. As he did so he whis-
pered:
“Don't say a word and don't turn around, but
watch the people passing, in this mirror here-
quick, now, look.”
Jane, as she was bidden, glanced, at first curi-
ously and then in recognition and amazement,
at a tall figure reflected in the mirror, as he
passed close behind her. It was a man in uni-
form. Regardless of Dean's warning she turned
abruptly to stare uncertainly at the military back
now a few paces away.
“ Did you recognize him? ” cried Dean.
"It-it looked like Frederic Hoff," faltered
the girl.


THE LISTENING EAR
145
“ It was Frederic Hoff,” corrected her com-
panion, “ Frederic Hoff in the uniform of a Brit-
ish officer, a British cavalry captain!"


CHAPTER IX
THE PURSUIT
MASKED by an enormous pair of motor goggles
and further shielded from recognition by a cap
drawn down almost over his nose, Thomas Dean
in a basket-rigged motorcycle impatiently sat
awaiting the arrival of Jane Strong at a corner
they had agreed upon the evening before. He
had been particularly insistent that Jane should
be on hand at a quarter before eight. He had
learned by judicious inquiries that always on
Wednesdays—at least on the Wednesdays previ-
ous—the Hoffs had started off on their mysteri-
ous trips at eight sharp. His intention was to
get away ahead of them and pick them up some-
where outside the city limits.
Jane had promised that she would be on hand
promptly. Once more he looked impatiently at
his watch. It lacked just half a minute of the
quarter, but there was no sign of his fellow
operative. The only person visible in the block


148 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
“When Chief Fleck said I ought to disguise
myself for fear that the Hoffs already suspected
me, I happened to remember these clothes. I
had them once for a play we gave in school."
“But you don't even walk like a girl.”
Jane laughed again.
“I practised that walk for days and days.
When I first put on this suit my brother hooted
at the way I walked. He said no girl ever could
learn to walk like a boy. I made up my mind I'd
show him.”
“ But your hair,” protested Dean, almost
anxiously. Even if he was just now assuming
the humble rôle of chauffeur he still was an
ardent admirer of such hair as Jane's, long, black
and luxurious.
“ Tucked up under my cap,” laughed the girl,
“and for fear it might tumble down, I brought
this along. It's what the sailor boys call a
'beanie, isn't it?”
As she spoke she adjusted over her head a
visorlike woolen cap that left only her face show-
ing.
“But your mother-didn't she wonder about
your wearing those clothes?”


THE PURSUIT
149
se.
“She was in bed when I left. All she caught
was just a glimpse of me in Dad's dust coat, and
that came to my ankles. I wore it until I was
a block away from the house. Will I do?”
“You can't change your eyes,” said Dean
boldly, that is boldly for a chauffeur, but he
knew that Jane knew he wasn't a chauffeur
except by choice, so that made it all right.
“I couldn't well leave them behind. I under-
stood that I was to have a lot of use for my eyes
to-day.”
“Yes, indeed, you very likely will."
“Do you know I hardly recognized you at
first and was almost afraid to speak? I had ex-
pected to find you in a car. What was the idea
of the motorcycle?”
" It was Chief Fleck's suggestion. The Hoffs
will be motoring. People in a car seldom pay
any attention to motorcyclists. If we were to
follow them in a motor they'd surely notice it.
Last week they managed to dodge the people the
Chief assigned to trail them. Maybe as two
dusty motorcyclists we'll have better luck."
“I hope so. Where do you intend waiting to
pick them up?"


150 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
“Getty Square in Yonkers is the best place.
Everybody going north goes that way. I can
be tinkering with the machine while you keep
watch for them. They will not be apt to sus-
pect a pair of Yonkers motorcyclists. There's
no danger of missing them.”
“ Did you tell the Chief about seeing Mr. Hoff
in that uniform?”
“Of course. He did not seem even surprised.
Some one had reported to him already that there
was a German going about in British uniform.”
“What had he heard? What was the man
doing?” questioned Jane anxiously. Even
though she believed Frederic Hoff an alien
enemy, even though she was all but sure that he
was a murderer, she kept finding herself always
hoping for something in his favor. He seemed
far too nice and entertaining to be engaged in
any nefarious, underhanded, despicable machina-
tions. Yet she had seen him masquerading as
a British officer. She could not doubt the evi-
dence of her own eyes.
“What happened was this," continued Dean.
"A woman-one of the society lot-was driving
down Park Avenue day before yesterday morn-


THE PURSUIT
151
ing in her motor. It had been raining, and the
streets were muddy. At one of the crossings a
British officer stopped to let the car pass. One
of the wheels hit a rut, and his uniform was all
splashed with mud. He burst into a string of
curses—German curses."
“He cursed in German?” cried Jane.
"Sure,” said Dean. “On the impulse of the
moment he forgot his role and revealed his true
self—an arrogant Prussian officer."
“What did the woman do?”
“Reported him to the first policeman she met,
but by that time he had vanished, of course."
“ What did Chief Fleck think about it?”
“He didn't seem to take the story seriously.”
“Do you suppose it could have been Mr.
Hoff?”
“It must have been he, or one of his gang, at
any rate. I don't see why the Chief does not
order his arrest at once. He is far too danger-
ous to be at large.”
“ There's no real evidence against him yet,"
protested Jane, “not against the young man, at
least.”
“ Didn't we both see him in British uniform?”


THE PURSUIT
153
him. I saw no murder. I merely saw the two
of them run around the corner."
“Look here,” said Dean sharply, not wholly
succeeding in suppressing a note of jealousy in
his tones, “I believe you are trying to shield
Frederic Hoff. What is he to you? Has he
won you over to his side?”
“You've no right to say such things to me,”
cried Jane, nevertheless coloring furiously.
“I've seen the man only three or four times. I
am working just as hard as you are to prove that
he is a German spy, if he is one. I am only
trying to be fair. I know nothing that convicts
him of murder. Any testimony I could give
would not prove a single thing."
“Certainly not, if that's the way you feel
about it,” snapped Dean.
After that they rode along together in silence,
each busy with thoughts of their own. Dean
was cursing himself for having let his enthusi-
asm to be of service to his government lead him
into such circumstances. He felt that his chauf-
feur's position handicapped him in his relations
with Jane, to whom he had been strongly at-
tracted from the beginning. The son of a dis-


154 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
tinguished American diplomat, he had been
educated for the most part in Europe. Friends
of his father, when he had offered his services to
the government, had convinced him that his
knowledge of German and French would make
him most useful in the secret service. Re-
luctantly he had consented to take up the work,
and as he had gone further and further into it
and had realized the vast machinery for sur-
reptitious observation and dangerous activity
that the German agents had secretly planted in
the United States, he had become fascinated
with his occupation—that is, until he met Jane
Strong
His association with her under present cir-
cumstances was fast becoming unbearable.
Even though he was aware that she knew he
was no ordinary chauffeur, he loathed the neces-
sity of having to wear his mask in the presence
of her family. He wanted to be free to come to
see her, to send her flowers and to go about with
her. For him to take any advantage of their
present intimate relations to court her seemed
to him little short of a betrayal of his govern-
ment, yet at times it was all he could do to keep
CI


THE PURSUIT
155
from telling her that he adored her. Love's
sharp instincts, too, had made him realize that
Jane was already beginning to be attracted by
the handsome young German whom they were
seeking to entrap, and the knowledge of this fact
filled him with helpless rage and jealousy.
Jane, too, angered and insulted at first by
Dean's outburst, had been endeavoring to
analyze her own conduct. Candor reluctantly
compelled her to admit that each time she met
Frederic Hoff she had found herself coming more
and more under his spell. He had a wonderful
personality, talked entertainingly and ever ex-
hibited an innate gallantry toward women in
general, and herself in particular, which Jane had
found delightfully interesting. Though she had
undertaken wholeheartedly to try to get evi-
dence against him, she was forced to admit to
herself now that she was secretly delighted that
there had been nothing damaging found as yet,
so far as he was concerned, beyond the one fact
that he had been in British uniform.
In vain she marshalled the circumstances about
him, trying to make herself hate him. He was a
German, she told herself. He was an enemy of


156 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
her country. He lived with a man who had been
proved to be a spy. He surreptitiously associ-
ated with American naval officers. The dicto-
graph told her that nightly his uncle and he in
the seclusion of their home toasted America's
arch enemy, the German Kaiser. More than
likely, too, her reason told her, he was a mur-
derer. She ought to hate, to loathe, to despise
him, and yet she didn't. She liked him. When-
ever he approached she could feel her heart beat-
ing faster. She looked forward after each meet-
ing with him to the time when she would see
him again. What, she wondered, could be the
matter with her? Assuredly she was a good
patriotic American girl. Why couldn't she hate
Frederic Hoff as she knew he ought to be hated?
She was still puzzling over her unruly heart
when they reached Getty Square, and Dean
brought the motorcycle to a stop in one of the
side streets overlooking Broadway. Dismount-
ing; he looked at his watch and made a pretense
of tinkering with the engine, while Jane kept a
sharp lookout on the main thoroughfare, by
which they expected the Hoffs to approach.
Ten minutes, twenty minutes, more than half


THE PURSUIT 157
an hour they waited, anxiously scanning each
car as it passed.
“I can't understand it,” said Dean. “ They
should have been here at least twenty minutes
ago. I am going to 'phone Carter. He will
know what time they started.”
He had hardly entered an adjacent shop be-
fore Jane, still keeping watch, saw the Hoffs’
car flash by, going rapidly north. Quickly she
sprang out and ran into the store. Dean saw
her coming and left the telephone booth, his
finger on his lips in a warning gesture.
"Don't bother to 'phone,” cried the girl, mis-
understanding his meaning—and thinking only
that he was trying to prevent her naming the
Hoffs. “ Come, let's get started.”
Without speaking he hurried from the store
and got the motorcycle under way.
“ Have they passed?” he whispered then.
“Just a moment ago.”
Silently he gathered up speed, racing in the
direction the Hoffs' car had gone, not address-
ing her again until perhaps two miles from Getty
Square they caught up with it close enough to
identify the occupants, whereupon he slowed


158 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
me
down and followed at a more discreet inter-
val.
"Be careful about speaking to me when
there's any one about,” he warned Jane, almost
crossly. “ Those clothes make you look like a
boy, and your walk is all right, but your voice
gives you away. Did you see that clerk in the
store look at you when you spoke to me? I
tried to warn you to say nothing."
“I'll be careful hereafter,” said Jane humbly,
still depressed by her recent estimate of her-
self. “I forgot about my voice.”
Mile after mile they kept up the pursuit with-
out further exchange of conversation. As they
passed through various towns along the road
Dean purposely lagged behind for fear of at-
tracting attention, but always on the outskirts
he raced until he caught up close enough again
to the car to identify it, then let his motorcycle
lag back again. Thus far the Hoffs had given no
indication of any intention to leave the main road.
As the cyclists, far behind, came down a long
winding hill on which they had managed to catch
occasional glimpses of their quarry, Dean, with
a muttered exclamation, put on a sudden burst


THE PURSUIT
159
of speed. At a rise in the road he had seen the
Hoffs' car swing sharply to the left. Furiously
he negotiated the rest of the hill, arriving at the
base just in time to see them boarding a little
ferry the other side of the railroad tracks. While
he and Jane were still five hundred yards away
the ferryboat, with a warning toot, slipped slowly
out into the Hudson.
In blank despair they turned to face each
other. The situation seemed hopeless. They
dared not shout or try to detain the boat. That
surely would betray to the Hoffs that they were
being followed. Despondently Dean clambered
off the motorcycle and crossed to read a placard
on the ferryhouse.
“There's not another boat for half an hour,"
he said when he returned. “They have gained
that much on us.”
“ Perhaps we can pick up their trail on the
other side of the river,” suggested Jane.“ There
are not nearly so many cars passing as there
would be in the city.”
“We can only try,” said Dean gloomily.
" At least we know where to pick up their
trail the next time.”


THE PURSUIT
161
take them to the United States Government
military school was the question that perplexed
them both. Could it be that the web of treach-
ery and destruction the Kaiser's busy agents
were weaving had its deadly strands fastened
even here-at West Point?


CHAPTER X
CARTER'S DISCOVERY
“IT'S the young man I'm after," said Chief
Fleck. “We have the goods on old Hoff, but
we have nothing incriminating against Frederic
yet. The very fact that he holds aloof from his
uncle's activities makes me think he is engaged
in more important work. He's just the type the
Germans would select as a director."
“That's right,” said Carter despondently.
“ There's nothing except the fact that Dean and
the girl think they saw him in British uniform.
Why didn't they follow and make sure? "
“ They tried to,” said the chief, “but he gave
them the slip. I'm inclined to believe they were
mistaken. More than likely it was a chance re-
semblance. Lots of Britishers of the Anglo-
Saxon strain look much like Germans, and a uni-
form makes a big difference in a man's appear-
ance. I'm afraid there's nothing in that."
“But both saw the man-Dean and Miss
Strong," protested Carter.


CARTER'S DISCOVERY
163
“The trouble is," observed Fleck," that Dean
is getting infatuated with the girl. A young
man in love is not a keen observer. Anything
she thinks she has seen he'll be ready to swear
to. I hope the girl keeps her head. Lovers
don't make good detectives.”
“I have watched them together,” said Carter.
“ I'll admit he's struck on her, but I don't think
she cares a rap for him. She's too keenly in-
terested in Frederic Hoff.”
“What do you mean by that? ” asked the
chief sharply.
“You can depend on her all right. She's
patriotic through and through. She's the kind
that would do her duty, no matter what it cost
her. All I meant is that Hoff's the type that
interests women. He's got a way about him.
The fact that he's a spy, in peril most of the time,
gives him a sort of halo. I never knew a daring
young criminal yet that didn't have some woman,
and often several of them, ready to go the limit
for him. All the same, I'm sure we can trust
Miss Strong."
“We've got to," growled Fleck, "for the
present at any rate. Is everything fixed for the


164 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
search this afternoon? What have you done to
get the superintendent out of the way? He's not
to be trusted. His name is Hauser.”
“ I've got him fixed. Jimmy Golden, my
nephew, who has helped us in a couple of cases,
is a lawyer. He has telephoned to Hauser to
come to his office this afternoon.”
“Suppose he doesn't go?”
“He'll go all right. Jimmy 'phoned him that
it was about a legacy. That's sure bait. Jimmy
will make Hauser wait an hour, then keep him
talking half an hour longer. That will give us
plenty of time.”
“ Then there's the woman—the servant, Lena
Kraus.”
“She goes to the roof every Wednesday while
the Hoffs are away to signal. Other days they
apparently do the signalling themselves in some
way we haven't caught on to yet. She always
goes up about three o'clock and —”
“Suppose she comes down unexpectedly and
catches you? We can't have that happen. That
would put them on their guard."
“ She won't surprise us. I've got a trick up
my sleeve for preventing that."


166 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
for the time when old Lena went to the roof.
The moment she had entered the elevator to
ascend with her basket of linen, Carter and his
aides were at the Hoff door. Equipped with
the key Dean had manufactured they had no
difficulty in entering.
“Bob,” said Carter to one of his men, “we
haven't much time, and there's a lot to be done.
You take the servant's room and the kitchen,
and you, Williams, take the old man's quarters.
I'll take care of the young man's bedroom, and
we'll tackle the living room and dining 'room
later."
Thoroughly experienced in this sort of work
all three of them set at once to their tasks. Car-
ter, standing for a moment in the doorway, sur-
veyed Frederic Hoff's quarters, taking in all the
details of the furnishings. Both the sitting room
and the bedroom adjoining were equipped in
military simplicity, with hardly an extra article
of furniture or adornment, chairs, tables, every-
thing of the plainest sort. Moving first into the
bedroom, Carter quickly investigated pillows
and mattress, but in neither place did he find
what he sought, evidence of a secret hiding place.


168 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
closet. He even felt into the toe of the shoes
and examined the soles. There was nothing to
be found anywhere, but he felt satisfied. The
uniform in itself was to his mind damning proof
of the young man's occupation.
No explanation that could be given by a young
man of German name, even though he was
American-born, or had an American birth certifi-
cate, could possibly account for his having a
British uniform. It was prima facie evidence
that Frederic Hoff was a spy. What puzzled
Carter most was how Hoff managed to smuggle
the uniform in and out of the apartment without
being observed. For more than two weeks now
every parcel that had arrived at the house of the
Hoffs had been searched before it was delivered.
The house had been constantly under the strict-
est surveillance. It was out of the question for
him to have worn the uniform in or out as it
could not be easily concealed under other cloth-
ing.
“ There's somebody else in this place in league
with the Hoffs,” he muttered to himself. “I
wonder who it can be."
He looked at his watch. The old servant had


CARTER'S DISCOVERY
169
been out now nearly half an hour. She was
likely to return at any moment. He must work
quickly. Swiftly he went through the dresser
drawers but without satisfactory result. There
was no time for him to do more. He hastened
into the living room and summoned his aides.
“ Find anything, Bob?” he asked.
“Not a thing."
“Beat it up to the roof,” he directed. “Have
you those field glasses with you?”
“ Sure,” replied the operative, “and the hand-
kerchiefs, too.”
“All right. Get up there before she starts
down. Begin putting up handkerchiefs and ap-
pear to be watching the river. That will mix
her up so she will not know what to do. She
will not dare to leave the roof while you are
there. When we're through I'll send the ele-
vator man up for you with the message that we
have found the short circuit."
He turned to the other operative.
“ Find anything, Williams? "
“ Only this.”
Carter's face brightened as his assistant held
out to him two copies of an afternoon newspaper.


170 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
In each of them a square was missing where
something had been cut out.
“I found them in the waste-paper basket by
the old man's desk," the man explained, “and
there was some ashes there—ashes of paper-as
if he had burned up something. Maybe it was
what he cut out of those papers. I could not
tell.”
“We've got to get copies of those papers at
once and see what it was. Come on, I'm going
to take them to the Chief. We can get the papers
on the way down."
Calling the other operative from the roof, be-
fore he even had had time to attract the atten-
tion of Lena Kraus by his activities, they has-
tened back to the office, where Fleck and Carter
together scanned the two papers from which the
clippings had been taken.
“Why,” said Carter disappointedly, “it is just
a couple of advertisements he cut out-adver-
tisements for a tooth paste. There's nothing in
that."
“Don't be too sure,” warned Fleck. “If a
man cuts out one tooth-paste advertisement, the
natural presumption would be that he wished to


CARTER'S DISCOVERY
171
remind himself to buy some. When he cuts out
two, he must have some special interest in that
particular tooth paste. We'll have to find out
what his interest is.”
“Maybe he owns it,” suggested Carter.
"Perhaps,” said Fleck, as he began studying
the advertisements, “but it would not surprise
me if these advertisements contained some sort
of code messages.”
“Messages in advertisements,” exclaimed
Carter incredulously.
“Why not? The Germans have hundreds of
spies at work here in this city and all over the
country. What would be an easier method of
communicating orders to them than by code
messages concealed in advertising. They have
done it before. When the German armies got
into France they found their way placarded in
advance with much useful information in harm-
less looking posters advertising a certain brand
of chocolate. I'd be willing to bet that every
one of these advertisements carries a code mes-
sage. I've noticed that these advertisements,
all peculiarly worded, have been running for
some time. I never thought of hooking them


172 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
up with German propaganda, but, see, it is a
German firm that inserts them.”
Carefully he cut out the two advertisements
and laid them side by side on his desk. Turn-
ing to Carter he said:
“Go at once to see Mr. Sprague, the publisher
of this paper. Get him to give you a copy of
each paper that has contained an advertisement
of this sort in the last six months. Find out
what agency places the advertising. Tell him
I want to know. He'll understand. We have
worked together before.”
Alone in his office, Fleck bent with wrinkled
brow over the first of the two advertisements,
which read:
REMEMBER
Please, that our new paste, DENTO,
will stop decay of your teeth. Sound
teeth are passports to good health and
comfort. Now, no business man can
risk ill health. It is closely allied with
failure. The teeth if not watched are
quickly gone.
USE DENTO
A genuine, safe, pleasing paste for the
teeth, prepared and sold only by the
Auer Dental Company, New York.


CARTER'S DISCOVERY
173
He tried all the methods of solving cipher
letters that he thought of. He drew diagonals
this way and that across the advertisement. He
tried reading it backward. He tried reading
every other word, every third word, both back-
ward and forward. Nothing that he did re-
vealed any combination of words that made
sense.
“ Passports,” he muttered to himself, “that's
it. If there is a message there it must be some-
thing about passports."
In despair he turned to the other advertise-
ment. It read:
DON'T
Forget it is imperative for one and all to
use cleansing agents on teeth that leave
no bad results.
“Ship more of that wonder-working
paste immediately. Workers, employers,
wives, all ready to commend it. Friday's
supply gone," writes a druggist to whom
a big shipment was made last week.
USE DENTO
A genuine, safe, pleasing paste for the
teeth, prepared and sold only by the
Auer Dental Company, New York.
Fleck's eyes gleamed with satisfaction as he


CARTER'S DISCOVERY
175
La
the expedition that Dean and Jane Strong had
undertaken until late in the afternoon after the
Hoffs returned. The fact that Dean was calling
him up now would seem to indicate that some-
thing of importance had happened.
“I'm telephoning from a doctor's house near
Nyack,” said Dean.
“What's that? Speak louder."
“ I'm here in Doctor Spencer's office near
Nyack with a broken arm,” Dean continued.
“We've had an accident. Somebody's auto
smashed into us, I guess.”
“Miss Strong? Where is she? Is she
hurt?” asked the chief anxiously.
“I don't know. She has vanished.”
Jane Strong vanished! The chief's figure
became suddenly tensed. That it was more than
a mere automobile accident he felt certain now.
Shadowing the Hoffs was an occupation that
seemed unusually perilous. There flashed into
his mind the fate of K-19—murdered almost at
the Hoffs' door. And now two more of his
operatives, one disabled and the other mysteri-
ously missing.
" Quick,” he said over the 'phone. “Tell me


176 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
briefly just what happened. Speak as loudly as
you can.”
“We got half an hour behind at the West
Point Ferry," Dean's voice went on, still weak
and low as if he were speaking with difficulty.
“We had some trouble getting started on the
trail again but finally succeeded. We were
dashing along about ten or twelve miles south
of West Point when an automobile coming out
of a cross road crashed right into us. It must
have knocked me unconscious. I didn't remem-
ber anything more till I found myself here. I
came to as the doctor was setting my arm. I
'phoned as soon as they would let me.”
“Who brought you there?”
“I don't know. All they know here was that
some couple in an automobile left me here.
They said they passed just after an auto hit
my motorcycle. They said the auto didn't
stop.”
“And Miss Strong—did they say anything
about her?”
“Not a word. The people here were under
the impression I was riding alone.”
“ All right," said the chief. “ I'll get some


CARTER'S DISCOVERY 177
one up there at once to look after you and pick
up any clues.”
As he hung up the 'phone, his forehead
wrinkled into little lines of absorbed concentra-
tion. He sat at his desk for fully five minutes
almost motionless, trying to figure it out. What
did the accident to Dean signify? How was the
sudden disappearance of Jane Strong to be ac-
counted for? Had she fled from the scene after
Dean was disabled, fearing that her name might
be coupled with his in an account of the acci-
dent? It did not seem like the sort of thing she
would do. The impression she had made on
him was that of a girl of high resolve who would
be apt to carry through anything she undertook,
cost what it may. Yet what could have hap-
pened to her? If she, too, had been injured,
why was she not with Dean? If she was not
injured, why had she not communicated with
the office? Who were the couple that had
brought Dean to the doctor's office? Why had
not the doctor taken their names and addresses?
What part had the Hoffs played in the acci-
dent? Had they purposely run down the motor-
cycle? If they had found out they were being


178 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
shadowed they would not have hesitated, he
felt sure, to resort to such murderous tactics.
Had they not already one dastardly murder to
their record? He must find out when the Hoffs
arrived home. They would not be due for an
hour or two, but he would caution the operatives
watching the house to keep more vigilant watch.
Reaching for his 'phone he called up the head-
quarters of the operatives.
“Report to me at once,” he said to the opera-
tive who answered his call, “the minute the
Hoffs have arrived home.”
“ The old man is home now," the operative
answered.
“What's that?” cried Fleck.
“He came in alone five minutes ago on foot.
The young man is not home yet with the auto-
mobile."
“Let me know as soon as he arrives,” said
Fleck curtly, turning away from the 'phone.
He was more perplexed than ever. What
could have happened? Where was young Hoff
with the motor? Where was Jane Strong?
Why had she disappeared after Dean had been
hurt? How had she vanished? The Hoffs'


CARTER'S DISCOVERY
179
affairs had assuredly taken a new and bother-
some turn, over which Fleck sat puzzling many
minutes.
Where was Jane Strong? In the answer to
that question, he decided at length, lay the crux
of the whole situation.


JANE'S ADVENTURE
18,
coming toward us who will remember having
passed them.”
" It seems like a wild-goose chase," said Jane,
" but I suppose there is nothing else to do.”
The strain of their bitter disappointment was
telling on both of them. Each felt inclined to
blame the other for their having fallen so far
behind. They rode along in silence, their nerves
and more keyed up as their
hopes grew less. At garage after garage they
paused to question the employees.
“ Did a big gray car with two men, an old
man with a beard and a young man driving, pass
this way about an hour ago ?”
"I don't remember any such car," was the
invariable answer.
Time and time again they repeated their
query, wording it always the same, except for
lengthening the interval of time in which the
car might have passed, for the afternoon was
rapidly passing. In their circuit they had now
reached the roads pointing to the southward.
“We'll try this one more garage,” said Dean,
as they approached a wayside shed bearing a
large sign“ Gasoline."


182 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
OUT
es
an
“I fear it is only wasting time,” said Jane
wearily.
“Don't you want the Hoffs caught? " snapped
her companion.
“Of course I do," she retorted heatedly, " but
I don't see you catching them.”
“I believe you are half glad of it,” snarled her
escort as he brought the machine to a stop and
repeated his usual question.
“Sure there was a car with two men in it
like you describe passed here," the man replied
to their amazement and delight. “ They stopped
here for gas, as they generally do. About three
hours ago, I guess it musta been."
Dean shot a triumphant glance at Jane.
“An old man with a gray beard and a smooth-
shaven young man driving-does that describe
them?” he repeated.
“ That's them,” said the garage proprietor.
“ They come through here every few days,
always about the same time.”
“Where do they go?” questioned Dean
eagerly, feeling at last that the scent was grow-
ing hot.
The man shook his head in a puzzled way.


JANE'S ADVENTURE
183
“I've often wondered about that. They're
always heading south and appear to be in a
powerful hurry, but the funny part of it is I
ain't never seen them coming back."
“Do you know their names?"
“No, I can't say I do, though it seems as if
I'd heard one of them called Fred. I can't say
which it was.”
“Do they always come by on the same day-
on Wednesday?" asked Jane, forgetful once
more of Dean's warning to let him do the talk-
ing lest her voice should betray her sex.
“Come to think of it,” said the man, ap-
parently noticing nothing unusual, “I guess it
always is on a Wednesday they come by."
“Is the number of their car anything like
this?” asked Dean, exhibiting an entry in his
notebook.
“I couldn't say," said the man, studying the
figures. “I know it is a New York license, and
the number ends with two nines like this one
does. What might you be wanting them for?”
He spoke to a cloud of dust, for Dean had
started up the motorcycle before he finished
speaking and already was speeding away.


184 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
“Where now?" asked Jane.
“I don't know," he answered. frankly. “I
only know we are going the direction the Hoffs
went, and I want to gain on them before they
get too far ahead. The chap back there had
told us all he knew and was beginning to get
curious, so I thought it better to vamoose.”
“It's funny about his never seeing them com-
ing back.”
“Probably there is nothing mysterious about
that. I have a notion they always come up one
side the river and down the other, taking the
125th Street ferry home. That would not be a
bad plan to help them in eluding too curious
observers. All these German spies are trained
to leave as blind a trail behind them as possible.
The thing we have got to discover is what
brought them up here. We've just got to find
out their destination.”
“I am afraid there is little chance of our
doing that," insisted Jane. “We've nothing to
go on."
“We've learned something. We know that
their destination is somewhere between here and
Fort Lee on this side of the river. That nar-


JANE'S ADVENTURE
185
rows down the search considerably. That's
more, too, than anybody else that the Chief has
had on their trail has learned. Something tells
me that we are getting warm right now. Obvi-
ously the place they come to must be nearer
West Point than it is New York. They would
hardly take too roundabout a course, even for
the sake of hiding their tracks. Keep a sharp
lookout for tire tracks leaving the main road.”
The route they were following quickly led
them into a sparsely inhabited mountainous
district and instead of the concreted state high-
way they found themselves on a hilly dirt road,
full of ruts and loose stones that made travel
difficult. At times it was all Dean could do to
manage the machine, so that he had to leave
most of the task of observing the by-ways to
Jane. For more than two miles they had seen
neither house nor barn. Once or twice they
came upon little used lanes leading off through
the woods, but none of them showed any traces
of the recent passing of an automobile.
As they came dashing around a curve on a
steep down-grade, where hardly more than the
semblance of a road had been cut into the hill-


186 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
ca
r ne
or
side, Jane caught her breath sharply. Above
the roar of their own motor she thought she
heard some other noise, something that sounded
like another car near-by; yet neither behind nor
ahead was there another automobile in sight.
“ Listen,” she cried sharply.
Dean started to slow down, but it was too
late. Out of a cut in the hillside, half screened
by a clump of bushes at the side on which Jane
was riding, a great gray motor shot out just as
they were passing. Jane caught just one glimpse
of the man on the driver's seat. It was Frederic
Hoff, frantically twisting at the wheel in an
effort to avert the threatened collision. There
came a thud and a crash as the forward part of
the Hoff car struck the motorcycle a glancing
blow, overturning it completely. Too terrified
even to shriek, Jane felt herself being catapulted
out of her seat and flung high in air. Then came
a blank.
Her companion did not escape so easily. The
heavy machine crashed over on him and dragged
him several yards. His head, as he landed in the
roadway, struck a stone, and the motorcycle it-
self pinned him to the earth by its weight, one
2.1


190 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
“We are going to take them with us in the
car," directed Frederic in a voice of authority.
“I command it.”
At the word old Otto's mutterings ceased,
though he shot a black look at the younger man.
“This machine," he suggested, “it is not hurt.
I will take it and do our work. There is haste.
You remain with the car. Do what you will
with these people.”
“Go then,” said his nephew curtly. “You
can take the train at the first station and make
time."
As the old man mounted the motorcycle and
sped away Frederic sprang from the car, and
approaching the spot where Dean's body lay,
began making an examination of his injuries.
“ Scalp wound, perhaps fractured skull, broken
arm,” Jane heard him saying aloud to himself.
She noted curiously that as soon as he was left
to himself he began speaking in English.
He left Dean and approached her. As he
came nearer she closed her eyes again, trying to
plan some course of action. Her head was
throbbing so that she found it impossible to
think. She felt toward young Hoff a warmth of



“Thank God” he cried.
“Jane dear, tell me you are not hurt!'
Page 191.





JANE'S ADVENTURE
191
gratitude for not having gone off and left them
helpless as his uncle had insisted. Even though
he was an enemy of her country, a man to be
hated, a spy, she could not help being glad for
his presence there. What would she have done
without him, with Dean lying there injured and
helpless on this lonely mountain road?
“ This chap seems only stunned,” she heard
him say as he bent over her, then as he looked
closer, she heard him exclaim:
“My God, it's Jane!”
In an instant he was down at her side on his
knees. Tenderly one of his arms went about
her and lifted her head.
“Miss Strong, Jane, Jane,” he implored,
" Jane dear, speak to me."
Stunned though she still was a flush crept into
Jane's cheeks at the unexpected term of endear-
ment, though she still kept her eyes closed.
Gently he laid her back on the turf and hastened
to the automobile, returning with a flask which
he held to her lips. Slowly Jane opened her
eyes.
“ Thank God," he cried. “Jane dear, tell me
you are not hurt."


192 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
as
For a moment she lay there, staring wonder-
ingly at him as he bent over her imploringly, the
tenderest of anxiety showing in every line of his
face. Unprotestingly she let him slip his strong
arm once more under her head. In her dazed
brain there was a strange conflict of peculiar
emotions. He was a German, a spy,—she hated
him, and yet it was wonderfully comforting to her
to have him there. Under other circumstances
she could have loved him. He was so hand-
some, so masterful and so kind, too. He cared
for her. Had he not called her “ Jane, dear "
in his amazement at finding her lying there? But
she must not let herself think of him in that
way. It was her duty, her sacred duty to trap
him, to thwart his nefarious plans against her
country. She must do her duty just as her
soldier brother was doing his in far away France.
Still supported by Hoff's arms she sat up,
trying to collect her thoughts and gingerly test-
ing the movement of her arms and limbs.
“Tell me,” he cried again, “ Jane, dear, are
you hurt?”
“I don't think so," she managed to say.
· With his assistance she got up on her feet and


JANE'S ADVENTURE
195
"No," she replied, " that won't do. I ought
to stay by him. Besides, if I return with you,
it will be hard to explain.”
He turned to look inquiringly at her and for
a moment drove on in silence.
“ There's nothing more you can do for the
man once he is in competent medical hands,
except to notify his people. Is he married ? "
“No,” said Jane, “he's not married. I can
tell his friends.”
“ Did your parents know about”-he hesi-
tated—“about this trip with the chauffeur?"
Jane blushed guiltily, wondering what he sus-
pected of her. She hoped that he did not think
she had a habit of going off on such journeys
with the chauffeur. Even though the man at
her side was officially her enemy she resented
being put into a position that would cheapen
her in his eyes.
"No," she replied, " they knew nothing about
it.”
Hoff drove on in silence. She had feared
that he might ask her more embarrassing ques-
tions, might insist on knowing where she had
been going when the accident occurred. A panic


196 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
seized her. What if he should ask her? What
could she tell him? He had a masterful way
about him. If he took it into his head to make
her confess she realized that she would have a
struggle to keep from telling him everything.
She made up her mind that she would not, she
dare not answer any more questions.
When he spoke again she was relieved to
hear a suggestion instead of a query.
“When we have crossed the ferry," he said,
“you can put on a dust coat to hide your cos-
tume, and I will send you home in a taxi. Will
that be all right?"
“ That will do nicely," she replied, gratefully
conscious that he was endeavoring to plan so
that her part in the afternoon's adventures need
not become public.
Nevertheless she waited nervously while Hoff
and the doctor carried Dean into the doctor's
home. What if the doctor's suspicions should
be aroused, and he should insist on knowing all
the details of the accident? To her astonish-
ment the doctor seemed to accept Hoff's brief
recital of finding an injured motorcyclist on the
road without question. Perhaps if she had seen


JANE'S ADVENTURE
197
sens
the amount of the bills Hoff left to care for the
chauffeur's treatment she might have understood
better.
Yet unconscious though Dean had lain all the
way, as they resumed their journey without him,
she felt a sudden sense of dread at being alone in
the car with Frederic Hoff. It was not that
she longer feared he would endeavor to make
her tell her reasons for the expedition. She was
afraid that with just the two of them alone in
the car he might seize the opportunity to declare
his affection for her.
But, to her amazement, he hardly spoke a
word to her on all the rest of the journey home-
ward. Once in a while as she ventured a glance
in his direction, annoyed a little perhaps by this
neglect of her, she saw only a strong face set in
lines of thought, his brow wrinkled in deep per-
plexity, and his blue eyes looking steadily at
the road ahead-and at something far, far be-
yond.
Save for an occasional solicitous question
about her comfort he did not speak again until
just after he had put her in a taxi at the ferry.
As Jane was trying to say her thanks he leaned


CHAPTER XII
PUZZLES AND PLANS
CHIEF FLECK had spent a sleepless night try-
ing to put two and two together. Instead of the
answer being " four” as it should have been
each time he completed his figuring the result
was “zero." Time and again he mustered the
facts into columns, only to succeed in puzzling
himself the more.
Two German spies, the Hoffs, had set out to-
gether in their motor on their usual mysterious
Wednesday mission. Two other persons, two
of his most intelligent operatives, Thomas Dean
and Jane Strong, had set out on a motorcycle to
shadow them.
What had happened?
Otto Hoff had returned to his apartment on
foot, hours before his usual time, seemingly
much perturbed about something.
Frederic Hoff had arrived back at the apart-
ment, also on foot, some hours later than usual,


200 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
and the motor had not been returned to its usual
garage. Frederic Hoff had appeared to be un-
usually elated about something.
Thomas Dean was in a doctor's home some-
where up the Hudson with a broken arm and a
bad scalp wound and was unable to tell what had
become of either Miss Strong or the motorcycle.
Jane Strong had arrived home in a taxicab
half an hour before Frederick Hoff, apparently
unhurt but in a most peculiar condition of mind.
When Chief Fleck had called her on the 'phone
she had refused to answer any questions. The
best he could get out of her was a promise that
she would come to his office in the morning.
From this situation Fleck's shrewd and ex-
perienced mind had been wholly unable to make
any satisfactory deductions. That something
unforeseen and unusual had happened to the
Hoffs he was certain. It was the first time on a
Wednesday that they had not returned together.
Whatever it was that had happened it had de-
pressed old Otto and had been a cause of elation
to Frederic. What could it have been? That
was the poser.
Coupled with this was the annoying fact of


PUZZLES AND PLANS
201
Tas
eve
Jane Strong's sudden reticence. Hitherto he
had found her at all times ready and eager when-
ever he called on her-ready to do anything he
asked her, or to tell him everything. Why had
she suddenly balked ? He recalled that Dean
had hinted, and Carter, too, that the girl was
becoming interested in the younger of the Ger-
mans, yet he scouted the possibility of Jane
having gone over to the enemy's side. A girl
of her stock, living with her parents, with a
brother fighting in France, never could be guilty
of disloyalty, even if she were in love. Yet how
was her disinclination to talk to be accounted
for? After he had received a report that she
was at home he had waited, expecting her to call
him up. When she had not done so, he had
called her. She had been positively curt and
decisive. She had nothing to say to him, she
had replied, at present. Dean was safe. She
would come to his office in the morning. There
was nothing for him to do but to await her
arrival.
He was expecting Carter, too. He had sent
him to Nyack the evening before as soon as he
had learned of Dean's whereabouts. Carter was


202 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
to find out everything that Dean had learned
and report as soon as he could. It was Carter
who arrived first.
“ Dean doesn't know what happened to him,
nor where the girl went,” said Carter. “ They
had lost the Hoffs' trail at the Garrison ferry,
as he told you over the 'phone. They had to
wait there half an hour for another boat. They
scouted around West Point, and nearly three
hours afterward they picked up the trail heading
toward New York. About ten miles south of
West Point they were clipping along a mountain
road when something happened. Dean is not
sure whether he hit a stone in the road or
whether an automobile struck them. He was
knocked unconscious and didn't remember any-
thing more until he came to and found the doctor
setting his arm.”
“Who took him to the doctor's? ”
“It was a couple, the doctor said, who ex-
plained that they had found Dean lying in the
road under his wrecked motorcycle. The doctor
could not remember what the couple looked like.
Said he had been too busy looking after the
injured man. I did worm out of him, though,
an.
worm


PUZZLES AND PLANS
203
that the man had left two hundred dollars with
him to take care of Dean.”
“ That's funny,” said the chief.
“ It sure is,” said Carter. “ Looks like hush
money to me. What does the girl say?"
“Nothing yet," said Fleck. “She wouldn't
talk at all last night, but she's coming here at
ten.”
“That's funny,” said Carter. “Why wouldn't
she talk? ”
“I don't know yet," said Fleck decisively,
" but I am going to find out. Do you really sup-
pose that she has fallen in love with young
Hoff?”
Carter shook his head.
“Dean thought so, and I know that Dean was
in love with her himself, but I don't know. I'd
bank on that girl somehow, even if she is in
love."
“ There she comes now," said the chief as he
heard the door of the outer office open.
As Jane entered she faced the two men almost
defiantly. She too had had a sleepless night.
Although she herself had been physically unin-
jured in the accident the shock to her nerves
es


PUZZLES AND PLANS
205
admiration for him. Yet always matched
against all that she found lovable in him was the
knowledge that he was a German, a traitor, a
spy, perhaps a murderer, and at times she felt
that she hated him with a hatred that never could
be overcome.
“Well,” said Fleck, studying her countenance,
“what have you to tell us?”
“How is Dean?” she asked. “Will he live?”
Fleck and Carter exchanged glances. Was
she, they wondered, really concerned in the
handsome young chauffeur's welfare, or had she
merely put the question to gain time in framing
what she was going to say ?
“I just left him," said Carter, in response to
an almost imperceptible nod from the chief;
“he's all right except for a scalp wound and a
broken arm.”
“ I'm glad,” said the girl impulsively.
“ What happened to him?" asked Carter.
“ Don't you know? The Hoffs' automobile
hit us and overturned the motorcycle.”
“ The Hoffs' car!” cried Fleck and Carter to-
gether.
“ Yes, I thought you knew,"


PUZZLES AND PLANS 207
bodies lying at the entrance would arouse sus-
picion."
“At the entrance to what?”
“I don't know. He didn't say. I think I
could find the place again.”
“We've got to find it,” said Carter.
“Indeed we have," Jane agreed, “and quickly,
too. I fear we are going to be too late. Old
Mr. Hoff seemed to be in terrible haste and
spoke of their plans being nearly completed.”
“Go on," said Fleck quietly, “ tell us the rest.”
“ Frederic Hoff stayed behind to pick us up,
and the old man went off on the motorcycle. I
heard them talking about his taking a train at
the nearest station.”
“What did young Hoff do when he found it
was you lying there?”.
“He seemed surprised and startled.”
“What did he say?"
Jane colored and hesitated. There rose in her
mind the picture of his tall figure bending over
her, with anguish in his eyes, with expressions of
endearment on his lips. She could not, she
would not tell them what he had said.
“He asked if I was hurt."


208 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
“Is that all?"
Again she blushed and hesitated.
“ That's all.”
“Did he not seem amazed at finding you
there? Did he not ask you to account for your
presence there?”
“No," said the girl, firmly," he didn't.”
“ Didn't he question you at all?"
“No," she insisted, “he was busy getting
Dean into the car. He was unconscious, and it
looked as if he was badly hurt.”
“ Queer, mighty queer," muttered Carter to
himself.
“ Didn't he ask you who Dean was?” ques-
tioned Fleck.
“I explained that he was our chauffeur. He
may have known him by sight at any rate."
“Go on.”
“We stopped at the house of the first doctor
we came to and left Dean there, and then Mr.
Hoff brought me on home in the car. At the
ferry he put me into a taxi.”
“What did you talk about on the trip home?”
asked Fleck suspiciously. “ Didn't he try to
pump you?”


PUZZLES AND PLANS 209
en
“We hardly talked at all. He seemed con-
cerned only in getting me home without its
becoming known that I had been in an acci-
dent.”
“Is that all?" asked the chief. She could see
by his manner that he mistrusted her, that he
felt that she was keeping something back.
“We hardly exchanged a dozen words," she
insisted.
Fleck shook his head in a puzzled way.
“I can't understand it at all,” he said. “Old
Otto is a common enough type of German,
painstaking, methodical, stupid, stubborn, ready
to commit any crime for Prussia, but the young
fellow is of far different material. He has brains
and daring and initiative. He is far more alert
and more dangerous. I cannot understand his
finding you there and not trying to discover
what you were doing."
"I can't understand that either,” Jane ad-
mitted.
“There's no doubt in my mind,” the chief
continued, “that Frederic Hoff is the real con-
spirator, the head of the plotters.”
“Why do you say that?” asked Jane quickly.
Con


212 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
USE DENTO
A genuine, safe, pleasing paste for the
teeth, prepared and sold only by the
Auer Dental Company, New York.
“Stop passports business, closely watched,"
repeated Fleck aloud. “That certainly makes
sense and fits the facts, too. In the last few days
we have drawn the net closely around a gang
of supposed Scandinavians who have been busy
supplying passports to suspicious-looking travel-
ers. Let's see the other advertisement.”
Excitedly the three of them read it together
as Fleck underscored every fourth word.
DON'T
Forget it is imperative for one and all
to use cleansing agents on teeth that
leave no bad results. “Ship more of
that wonder-working paste immediately.
Workers, employers, wives, all ready to
commend it. Friday's supply gone,”
writes a druggist, to whom a big ship-
ment was made last week.
USE DENTO
A genuine, safe, pleasing paste for the
teeth, prepared and sold only by the
Auer Dental Company, New York.
“Imperative all agents leave ship. Wonder-


PUZZLES AND PLANS
213
workers ready Friday," read Fleck. “That's
surely a message, a warning to Germany's agents
to get off some ship or ships before they are
destroyed. You, Miss Strong, have heard old
Otto talk about the wonder-workers, whatever
they are, being nearly ready. I guess he means
bombs-bombs to blow up American trans-
ports. This message says they will be ready
Friday.”
“ And to-morrow's Friday,” said Jane.


CHAPTER XIII
THE SEALED PACKET
"Is this Miss Strong?”
Jane, her face blanching, held the receiver in
wavering hands for a moment before she could
muster courage to answer. She had recognized
Frederic Hoff's voice speaking. What could he
want with her now?
“It is Miss Strong," she managed to answer.
“This is Frederic Hoff. May I come in for
a moment? It is most important."
Again Jane hesitated. Frederic was the last
person in the world she felt like seeing just at
this moment. Only five minutes before she had
arrived home from Chief Fleck's office. She
was under orders to hold herself in readiness to
start immediately for the scene of yesterday's
accident. That this trip, unless their plans mis-
carried, would inevitably result in the exposure
and disgrace of both the Hoffs she felt morally


THE SEALED PACKET
219
scheming German plotter, dared intrude his
presence into an American home.
“ I'm glad to see you appear no worse for
your accident,” he said, releasing her hand at
last. “You got home all right, without attract-
ing any one's notice?”
“Oh, yes,” she answered, trying to make her
reply seem wholly indifferent and disinterested.
“Your chauffeur is all right, too,” he went on.
“I telephoned this morning. He had already
left the doctor's. There's nothing more the mat-
ter with him than a broken arm and a scalp
wound. That's fortunate, isn't it?”
“ Very fortunate,” she admitted.
All at once as they stood there there seemed
to have arisen between them an invisible, im-
penetrable barrier. They faced each other
wordlessly, each embarrassed by the knowledge
of the secret gulf that was between them. Hoff
was the first to recover from it.
“Come," he said, “ sit down. There is some-
thing I wish to say to you,-something of the
utmost importance, Jane.”
Still struggling with her emotions, Jane al-
lowed him to place a chair for her and seated


THE SEALED PACKET
221
“I never could be your wife,” she cried
desperately, “ the wife of a - "
The word died in her throat. She could not
bring herself to tell him, the man she loved, the
thing she knew he was.
“My Jane,” he said, wholly unheeding her
impassioned protest, “ you know little yet of
what life means in this great world of ours. You,
here in your parents' home, sheltered, pro-
tected, inexperienced, have not the knowledge
nor the means of judging me. You must take
me on faith, on the faith of your love for
me. For a woman, life holds but two great
treasures, two loves—her husband's and her
children's. With a man it is different. Love
is his, too, but there is something more,
something bigger-duty. Here in your coun-
try - ”
Even in her distress she caught his phrase
“ here in your country” and turned ghastly
white. · Always before in talking with her he
had spoken of himself as an American. Did he
realize, she wondered, that he had at last be-
trayed himself to her? Was he about to strip
the mask from himself and his activities at last,


224 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
From one of his pockets he had brought forth
a small packet which he held out to her. In
spite of her agitation she forced herself to study
it observingly, making note that it was tied with
strong cord and sealed in several places with
red wax. Curiously, too, she noted that on it
was written her own name.
" Jane,” said Hoff, “ to-night I am going away.
I may be absent for only a day or two if all goes
well, but it is possible I may never come back,-
may never be able to see you again.”
She caught her breath sharply. There was
the solemnity of finality in his tones. Where
was he going? What might happen to him?
She realized that the journey he was about to
make was in connection with the plot that she
and Chief Fleck were seeking to uncover. Evi-
dently he anticipated peril in what he was about
to undertake. Suppose he should be trapped in
the commission of some act inimical to America's
welfare? What would happen to him? He
would be arrested, of course. More than likely
he would be sent to prison. He might even be
shot as a spy. What if she were the one re-
sponsible for his meeting a disgraceful death?


228 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
waiting in my car. Arrange it, if you can with-
out arousing your family's suspicion, to be away
all night.”
“I will be there,” she answered.
As she turned away from the telephone with
sudden resolve she thrust the sealed packet, still
unopened, into the bosom of her gown.
“I promised him,” she said almost fiercely.
“I'll keep my promise. That much at least I
owe our love."


CHAPTER XIV
THE MOUNTAIN'S SECRET
IN a turmoil of mental anxiety Jane waited the
arrival of Chief Fleck at the place he had desig-
nated. She was still badly wrought up by the
scene through which she had just passed with
Frederic. There were moments when her heart
insisted that, regardless of the despicable crimes
that were laid at his door, she should forsake
everything for him, for the man she loved. Had
there been in her mind the slightest possible
doubt as to his guilt she might indeed have
wavered, but the evidence of his treachery
seemed too manifest! She loathed herself for
caring for him and felt it her sacred duty to go
on with her work of aiding the government in
trying to entrap both of them; yet how could
she ever do it?
· As she waited she debated with herself
whether or not to tell Chief Fleck what had


230 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
passed between herself and Frederic. After all,
why should she? That was her own secret, not
the country's. If she stifled her love, and gave
her best efforts to aiding the other operatives in
running down the conspirators, what more
could be expected of her ? Certainly she was
not going to tell any one of the sealed
packet Frederic had entrusted to her. She
had promised him she would keep it safe.
Surely there could be no harm in that, yet
the little parcel, still in the bosom of her
gown where she had thrust it, seemed to be
burning her flesh and searing itself into her very
soul.
In strong contrast with her own spirit of mar-
tyrdom was Fleck's manner. Never before had
she seen him in such high spirits as he was when
he drew up before the subway station in a low
car built for speed. On the seat beside the
chauffeur was a young man whom she recognized
as another of the operatives. As Fleck swung
the door of the tonneau open for her she noticed
lying on the floor under a rug several rifles and
drew back questioningly.
“Come on, Miss Strong," he cried gaily.


THE MOUNTAIN'S SECRET 231
“ Don't be afraid of them. We may be glad we
have them before we return from our hunting
expedition.”
“But,” she asked hesitatingly as she took her
seat beside him, “you don't expect to shoot
these men—without a trial.”
Her heart seemed torn in anguish as she
sensed anew the peril that lay ahead for Fred-
eric. Misgivings that she might be unable to
fulfil her task seized her, and she was smitten
with reproach for her own conduct toward him.
Why, an hour ago, when there was still op-
portunity, had she not warned Frederic? If he
were really sincere in the affection he professed
for her maybe she might have persuaded him, if
not to betray his comrades, at least to abandon
them and escape from the country. Yet even
now her reason told her that any plea she might
have made would have been worse than futile.
Above and beyond his love for her she under-
stood that he held sacred what he conceived to
be his duty, his misguided duty to his erring
country. It was too late now for regrets, for
repentance, too late for her to do anything but
to try to serve her country, cost her what it


232 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
might, yet anxiously she awaited Chief Fleck's
reply to her question.
“Wouldn't I shoot them all on sight, gladly,
the damned spies,” he responded. “That's the
great trouble with this country, Miss Strong.
We're too soft-hearted and chivalrous. The
Germans realize that war and sentiment have
no place together. If killing babies and destroy-
ing churches will in their opinion help them win
the war they do it without compunction. The
civilized world decided that poison gas was too
brutal and dastardly for use, even against an
enemy, but that didn't stop the Huns from using
it. They put duty to Germany above all else, and
if their country expects it are ready to rob, mur-
der, use bombs, betray friends, do anything and
everything, comforted by the knowledge that
even if we do catch them at it here in this coun-
try all we will do to them will be put them in
jail for a year or two. If I had my way I'd shoot
them all on sight."
“Without any evidence — without trying
them?” questioned Jane.
“Without trial, yes—without evidence, no;
but in the case of these Hoffs we have evidence


THE MOUNTAIN'S SECRET 233
enough to stand them both up and shoot
them.”
“Have you learned more? ” she asked quickly.
“Is Frederic, too, involved with his uncle?”
He shot an appraising glance at her. He had
been inclined to regard Dean's suspicion that she
was in love with the younger Hoff as the mere
figment of jealousy, but where two young per-
sons of the opposite sex are thrown together,
there is always the possibility of romance. Jane
colored a little under his searching glance, yet
what he read in her face seemed to satisfy his
doubts, and he made up his mind to take her
fully into his confidence.
“Thanks to your quick wit in reading those
advertisements,” he said, “we have now a fairly
complete index of the Hoffs' activities in the last
six months. I have been spending the last two
hours in going over all the Dento advertisements
that have appeared. For weeks they have been
sending out a regular series of bulletins."
“ Bulletins about what?" asked Jane.
“About everything of interest to the secret
enemies of our country: explanations of where
and how to get false passports, detailed state-


THE MOUNTAIN'S SECRET 235
the whole code. The use of a word or two from
this code in these advertisements is most signif-
icant. It shows that whoever prepared these
advertisements was high in the confidence of the
German government. Only the very topnotch
spies are likely to be permitted to know the
diplomatic code.”
“ And you think, then, that Otto Hoff may be
the head of the conspirators in this country?”
said Jane.
“Not Otto-Frederic,” said Fleck quickly.
“ The young man, I am certain, was the director,
probably sent out from Berlin after the country
became too hot for Von Papen and Boy-ed.
The old man, I believe, merely carried out his
orders. I doubt even if they are uncle and
nephew."
“I think you are wrong about that,” protested
Jane. “Whenever I was listening over the
dictagraph it was always the old man who was
so bitter against America. It was he who talked
about the wonder-workers and the necessity for
haste. I never heard Frederic say anything-
anything disloyal, that is.”
“ The fact that he knew enough to keep his


236 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
mouth closed shows that he is the more in-
telligent of the two. Don't forget, too, that
at times he even dared to don the uniform
of a British officer. You saw him yourself.
Undoubtedly he is the more dangerous of the
pair.”
“But who read these advertisements?” asked
Jane, seeking to change the subject. “For
whom were the bulletins intended?”
“ It was one of their ways of keeping in com-
munication with their thousands of secret agents
all over this country. I wouldn't be surprised if
occasionally these advertisements were printed
in Texas papers and shipped over the border
into Mexico. We have been watching the mails
and the telephone and telegraph lines for months,
yet all the while Mexico has been sending mes-
sages across, telling the U-boats everything they
needed to know. We never thought of check-
ing up the advertising in papers in the Mexican
mail.”
“But what about the messages old Mr. Hoff
left in the bookstores ? Was that part of the
plan, too?”
" It may have been simply a duplicate method


THE MOUNTAIN'S SECRET 237
of communication in case the other failed. The
Germans here know that they are constantly
watched and take every precaution. We'll land
that girl as soon as we have the Hoffs safe
behind the bars, and then we'll soon see if Car-
ter's dachshund theory was right.”
“But who,” asked Jane, “is the spy in our
navy? Who signalled the Hoffs' apartment and
supplied them with the news about our trans-
ports? Was it Lieutenant Kramer?”
“Probably,” said Chief Fleck carelessly,” that
is not my end of the work. It is up to the Naval
Intelligence Bureau to clean out the spies in the
navy. I'm after the boss-spy. After we land
him it will be easier to get the small fry. A de-
fiant German prisoner once boasted to me that
Germany had a man on every American ship, in
every American regiment, and in every depart-
ment in Washington. I suspect it comes pretty
near being true. A country that has so many
citizens with German names and such an enor-
mous population of German descent has its hands
full.”
As they talked the chief's car had crossed the
ferry, and turning north through Englewood,


238 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
was heading rapidly in the direction of West
Point.
“Where are we going now?” Jane ventured
to ask. “To the place where I was yesterday-
where we had the accident?”
“Not directly,” the chief replied. “I sent
Carter and some men up there ahead of us to do
some reconnoitering. I'll get in touch with
Carter at the restaurant at the State Park. He
was to call me up. We are nearly there now."
As the car swung into the park and stopped
before the entrance of the two-story restaurant
building, Fleck sprang hastily out and started
for the telephone but stopped abruptly at the
sight of a young man with bandaged head and
with one arm in a sling who rose from the con-
crete steps of the building to greet him.
“Why, Dean," he exclaimed in amazement,
“what are you doing here? How did you get
here? "
“You don't think I was going to be left out at
the finish,” laughed the chauffeur.
“But your injuries, your arm "
“Both all right, as right as they'll be for sev-
eral weeks."


THE MOUNTAIN'S SECRET 239
“But how did you know we were coming
here? How did you manage to get here?”
“ Carter stopped on his way out to make sure
about the road. I wanted to come with him, but
there was no room in his car. He refused to
bring me, anyhow. I managed to worm out of
him what your plans were, and the doctor's
jitney did the rest.”
“Well,” growled the chief, with simulated in-
dignation, though secretly delighted with
Dean's show of spirit, “I suppose there's nothing
else to do but to take you along. Climb in there
beside Miss Strong."
As Dean approached the car Jane rose in
amazement.
“Oh, Thomas, Mr. Dean,” she cried, “ I'm
so glad to see you. I was afraid yesterday that
you had been badly hurt."
" It was a close shave for both of us,” he
admitted, flushing with delight at the warmth
of her greeting, “ but what are you doing here?
The Chief had no business to bring you on a
trip like this."
All his affection for the girl had revived at
this unexpected sight of her, and with a lover's


240 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
righteous anxiety he resented Fleck's having
exposed her to the probable perils of this expedi-
tion to the enemy's secret lair.
“They needed me,” she said simply," to show
them the way.”
“ That need exists no longer,” he protested,
“since I am here. The Chief must send you
back.”
“Don't be absurd,” she objected warmly.
“But it is no place for a woman,” he insisted
doggedly, kicking meaningly at the rifles on the
floor of the car. “There may be a fight. These
men are desperate and dangerous and more
than likely will resist any attempt to arrest
them.”
“I want to be there to see it if they do," said
Jane calmly.
“ Please, won't you, for my sake,” he begged,
“ go back home or at least wait here for us?”
“I won't,” said the girl doggedly.
“I'll ask the Chief to send you back."
“Don't you dare,” she retorted hotly, resent-
ing his air of protection toward her.
She was glad for the presence of the two
other men in the car. She sensed that it was


THE MOUNTAIN'S SECRET 241
only their being there that kept Dean from mak-
ing a scene. There was nothing in his manner
toward her now of the obsequious chauffeur.
While she admitted to herself that there was no
longer the necessity for his continuing in his
fictitious character she strongly resented his
loverlike jealousy for her welfare and welcomed
the chief's return, for she saw from his face, as
he came running up to the car, that he had
received some sort of news that had highly
delighted him.
Almost before he was in the car he had given
orders to start, leaving no opportunity for Dean
to make his threatened protest against Jane's
presence.
“I got Carter on the 'phone,” Fleck explained
hurriedly as they swung out of the park and
turned northward. “He has succeeded in locat-
ing the place the Hoffs go every week. It is
about three miles back off the road, over toward
the river from the place where you two had that
accident yesterday. Away off there in the woods
in a deserted locality is a sort of club, the mem-
bers of which are Austrians or Germans. They
have given it out that they are health enthu-


THE MOUNTAIN'S SECRET 243
“He has only four men with him, hasn't he?”
questioned Dean.
“ That's all.”
“And there are four of us here."
“ Three and a half,” said the chief, motioning
to Dean's bandaged arm.
" It's my left arm," he retorted. “I can handle
a revolver, at least, with my good arm.”
“And I can shoot, too,” boasted Jane; " that
makes nine of us."
“Nine of us against twelve of the enemy,”
said the chief thoughtfully. “It looks like a
busy evening.”
“ And don't forget," warned Jane, “ that the
Hoffs are coming up this evening. At least
young Mr. Hoff told me this morning that he
was going away this evening. That makes two
more on the other side."
“And one of them," muttered Fleck, “a
mighty dangerous man.”


CHAPTER XV
THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS
At last they had reached their goal, the place
which the two spy suspects undoubtedly had
been in the habit of visiting regularly every week
for months past.
Sheltered by a great rock and the underbrush
about it, Jane, with Fleck and Thomas Dean,
peered eagerly out at a dingy, weather-beaten
frame structure which neighborhood gossip had
told them was the sheltering place of the
“ Friends of the Air.” In its outward appear-
ance at least, Jane decided, it was disappoint-
ingly unmysterious. It looked to her merely like
a cheap summer boarding-house that had gone
long untenanted. There was a two-story main
building, cheaply constructed and almost without
ornament, sadly crying for new paint, and the
usual outbuildings found about such places in
the more remote country districts.
Still from Chief Fleck's manner she was cer-


THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS 245
tain that he regarded their achievement in locat-
ing the place as of the highest importance. They
had run their two automobiles noiselessly up the
lane leading from the main road until they were
perhaps half a mile distant from the house and
then had concealed them in the woods near-by,
being careful to obliterate all traces of the wheel
tracks where they had left the lane. Making a
détour among the trees they had reached their
present position not more than three hundred
yards away from the buildings. They had car-
ried the rifles with them, and these now were
close at hand, hidden under the log on which
the three of them were sitting. Carter, with the
other men, under Fleck's orders, had divided
themselves into scouting parties and had crept ·
away through the woods to study their sur-
roundings at still closer range while the waning
afternoon light permitted.
At first glance one might have been inclined
to believe the buildings untenanted. There
seemed to be no one stirring about the place,
and some of the unshuttered windows on the
second floor were broken. The only indications
of recent occupation were a pile of kegs at the


246 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
rear of the house and near-by a heap of freshly
opened tin cans. Near one of the larger out-
buildings, too, was a pile of chips and sawdust.
“ There does not seem to be any one about,”
whispered Jane. "What do you suppose they
do here?”
“I can't imagine yet,” said Fleck with an
impatient shake of his head. “The fact that this
house is important enough for the Hoffs to visit
once a week makes it important for us to cau-
tiously and carefully investigate everything about
it. It may be a secret wireless plant away off
here in the woods where no one would think of
looking for it. It might be a bomb factory
where their chemists manufacture the bombs and
explosives with which they are constantly try-
ing to wreck our munition plants and communi-
cation lines. Perhaps it is just a rendezvous
where their various agents, the important ones
engaged in their damnable work of destruction,
come secretly to get their orders from the Hoffs
and to receive payment for their hellishness ac-
complished.”
“It's all so funny, so perfectly absurd,” said
Jane with a nervous little laugh.


THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS 247
“ Absurd,” cried Fleck indignantly, “what do
you mean? It's frightfully serious.”
“Of course, I understand," Jane hastened to
say. “I was just thinking, though, how funny
we are here in America, especially in the big
cities. We know nothing whatever about our
neighbors, about the people right next door to
us. In one apartment we'll be doing all we can
to help win the war, and in the apartment next
door the people will be plotting and scheming to
help Germany win, and it is only by accident
we find out about it. Take my own father and
mother. They haven't the slightest suspicion of
the people next door. They would hardly be-
lieve me if I told them the Hoffs were German
spies. They see them every day in the elevator.
Young Mr. Hoff has been in our apartment sev-
eral times. My mother has met him and talked
with him. I was just thinking how amazed and
horrified she will be when she hears about it and
learns what I have been doing.”
“You are perfectly right,” said Fleck soberly.
“ We are entirely too careless here in America
about our acquaintances and neighbors. We
know that we are decent and respectable, and


THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS 249
through. They have no conception of honor as
we understand it. Only the other day I read of
a Prussian officer who led his men in an attack
on a chateau, guiding them by plans of the place
he had made himself while being entertained in
the chateau as a guest before the war."
“Don't you think any of them have a sense
of honor?” asked Jane in a troubled tone.
Her mind had reverted, as she found it fre-
quently doing, to Frederic Hoff and the sealed
packet he had entrusted to her. He had pro-
fessed to love her and had demanded that she
trust him. Was it, she wondered, all a base
pretense on his part? Was he—for Germany's
sake-taking advantage of her affection for him
to make her the unwitting custodian of some .
secret too perilous for him to carry about with
him? Perhaps that little parcel she was carry-
ing in the bosom of her gown contained the code
he and his uncle used? Had it not been for
Dean's presence she might have been tempted
to take Fleck into her confidence and tell him of
the peculiar incident, though in spite of all she
knew about him she felt that Frederic Hoff's
feeling for her was real, and that toward her he


250 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
always would show only respect and honor, as
he always had done hitherto; and yet -
Before the chief had time to answer her ques-
tion Dean with a whispered “hist” pointed to a
path in the rear of the buildings they were
watching. Behind the house two rugged hills,
their sides of precipitous rock so steep that they
hardly afforded a foothold, came down close to-
gether, making a V-shaped cleft through which
a narrow path ran in the direction of the river.
Looking toward this cleft to which Dean was
pointing they now saw a group of workmen ap-
proaching the house.
All of them were in the garb of mechanics,
yet as they approached in single file down the
path, the quick eye of the chief noted that they
were keeping step.
“ They've all of them seen service,” he mut-
tered to himself, “either in prison or in the
German army."
Some of them carried kits of tools, and they
walked with the air of fatigue that results from
a day of hard physical work. They seemed to
have no suspicion as yet that they were under
observation, for as they walked they chatted


THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS 251
rev
among themselves, the sound of their German
gutturals reaching the watchers, but unfortu-
nately not distinctly enough to be audible. Dean
was busy counting them.
“There are fourteen,” he announced, “two
more than we were expecting to find here."
“At what do you suppose they are working?"
asked Jane curiously.
“Here comes Carter," replied Fleck. “Per-
haps he can tell us. His face shows that he has
learned something."
Carter, crawling rapidly but silently through
the underbrush, approached breathlessly, his
sweaty, begrimed countenance ablaze with ex-
citement.
: “What's up?” asked Fleck, as soon as he
was within hearing.
“My God, Chief,” he gasped, “they've got
three big aeroplanes out there on a plateau over-
looking the river-three of them all keyed up
and ready to start.”
“Friends of the Air,” muttered Fleck; “ so
that's what it means."
“ They've evidently smuggled all the material
up and built the three planes right here," Carter


THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS 255
safety for months. As soon as it is dark we can
smash the aeroplanes.”
“That will be easy,” said Carter. “ I know
something about aeroplanes. Cut a couple of
wires, and they are out of business. Sills, one
of my men, is posted on bombs, and he'll know
just how to fix the fuses to render them useless.”
“What's more," said Fleck, “if I understand
German thoroughness, they will go over their
final plans in detail to make sure that everything
is understood. The darkness will let us slip up
closer to the house, and we may be able to over-
hear what they say. Don't forget, too, that our
main job is to catch the Hoffs red-handed.”
“That's right,” said Dean. “ They are the
brains of the plot. These other fellows are just
workmen taking orders.”
" I'm puzzled,” said Fleck, “ to know what
they plan to do with the aeroplanes after the
bombing has taken place. There is not one
chance in a thousand of their being able to re-
turn here in safety without discovery. It will
be sure death for the aviators that take up those
machines.”
“ Sure death!”
r


256 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
With a shudder Jane recalled what Frederic
had said to her only a few hours ago as they
parted—that he was going away and might
never return. Was this what he had meant? Was
he, Frederic, to be one of the foolhardy three
who proposed to forfeit their lives in this desper-
ate attempt to deal destruction from the air on a
sleeping city, to wreck innocent homes, to cripple
and maim and destroy helpless babies and
women? She could not, would not believe it of
him. That he had the courage and daring to
undertake such a perilous task she did not doubt.
She realized, too, that the controlling motive of
all his actions was his high sense of duty toward
his country, and yet in spite of all that she had
learned about the plots in which she was en-
meshed, her heart refused to believe that he
ever could bring himself to participate in such
wanton frightfulness. She recalled the spirit of
mercy that he had shown toward herself and
Thomas Dean after the accident as contrasted
with the brutal indifference of his uncle. She
kept hoping against hope that something might
happen to prevent his arriving here. Devoutly
she wished that she might awake and find that it


THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS 257
was all a terrible mistake, a hideous unreality,
and that the “Friends of the Air” were not in
any way associated with the Hoffs.
Yet her reason told her it must all be true,
terribly, infamously true, and that he was one of
them, perhaps the leader of them.
One by one the members of the various scout-
ing parties had come creeping in through the
forest. All of them verified what Carter had
already reported. One man, more venturesome
than the others, had even dared to creep close
up to the rear of the house and had seen through
the window the workmen, gathered about their
supper of beer and sausages, toasting the Kaiser
with the unanimity of a set formality.
As the light waned, secured from observation
by the undergrowth between their position and
the house, they sat there discussing plans of
action, selecting while the light still permitted
the most advantageous posts from which they
could make a concerted rush on the plotters.
Fleck was insistent that they should do nothing
to betray their presence until after the Hoffs
had arrived, and Dean once more voiced his
protest against Jane taking part in the attack.
CIICE


258 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
ro
"I will be of far more use than you with your
crippled arm," she resentfully insisted. “I can
handle a revolver as well as any man, and a rifle,
too, if necessary.”
“ Dean is right,” Fleck decided. “It is no
work for a woman. Here is an automatic, Miss
Strong. You will stay here until after we have
rounded them up. If we get the worst of it,
which is not likely to happen, make your way to
the automobile and telephone the commandant
at West Point."
Reluctantly Jane assented. She realized that
further protest was useless. Fleck was in
command, and his orders must be obeyed un-
questioningly if their plans for the capture
of the plotters were to be successfully carried
out.
Presently they heard in the distance the sound
of an automobile approaching, and soon they
could distinguish its lights as it negotiated the
rough, winding woodland road that led to the
house. A toot from the horn as it arrived
brought the men within the house tumbling out
the front door with huzzas of greeting for their
leaders, and Fleck observed that all the men as


THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS 259
they came out automatically raised their hands
in salute.
“Ex-German soldiers, every one of them,"
he muttered.
As the Hoffs got out of the car a shaft of light
from the opened front door threw the figures of
the new arrivals into sharp relief, and Jane saw,
with a shudder of terror, that Frederic was
dressed in an aviator's costume. There was no
longer any doubt left in her mind that he was one
of those going to certain death, and a dry sob
choked her.
The Hoffs passed within the house, and the
door was closed.
“Now," cried Fleck, “ to your stations, men.
Each of you take a rifle. You stay here, Miss
Strong. Come on, Carter."


CHAPTER XVI
THE ATTACK ON THE HOUSE
In accordance with instructions already issued
two of Fleck's men rushed for the front of the
house, where with rifles ready they stood guard,
while the others took cover in the shadow of
one of the outbuildings a few feet distant from
the rear entrance.
Apparently the plotters had been so long un-
disturbed in their mountain fastness that they
had ceased to take even the most ordinary pre-
cautions against surprise. So far as could be dis-
covered they had posted no guards over the
aeroplanes and their deadly cargo, nor at either
of the two doors to the main building. Never-
theless Fleck, as he crept stealthily up to the
building with Carter at his side, took out his
automatic and held it in readiness, and Carter
followed his example.
There was no moon to reveal their move-


THE ATTACK ON THE HOUSE 261
ments as they approached the rear of the house.
The evening was warm, and one of the windows
had been left open. Noiselessly they crept up
to it and looked within. It opened into a large
room used as a dining hall, where they could see
all of the men clustered about one of the tables,
at the head of which sat old Otto Hoff with
Frederic at his side. On the table before him
was what appeared to be a rough map or blue-
print. Frederic and five of the other men,
Fleck observed, now wore aviation costumes.
“ Comrades,” old Otto was saying in German,
" here is the course. You will have no difficulty
in following it. Down the river straight till you
see the lights of New York. You each under-
stand what you are then to do, yes?”
“ Certainly," three of the men, the pilots evi-
dently, responded.
“Let us, to make sure," old Otto insisted,
“ once more rehearse it. Much there is at stake
for the Fatherland. You, Anton and Fritz, will
blow up the transports and the warships that
guard them. Six great transports are lying
there, ready to sail at daylight. The troops
went aboard to-night. We waited until it was


262 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
signalled that it was so. You must not fail.
The biggest of those transports once belonged
to Germany. You must teach these boastful
Americans their lesson. That one boat you
must destroy for certain. Beside the transports
to-night lie five vessels of war, two battleships,
three cruisers. Them you must destroy also, if
there is time. To each transport, two bombs,
to each warship, two bombs—twenty you carry.
If all goes well, two you will have left. With
these do what you will, a house, a church, it
matters not-anything to spread the terror of
Germany in the hearts of these money-grabbing
Americans.”
“It will be done,” said Anton solemnly.
“I have thrown bombs before. You can
trust me,” said Fritz.
“You, Hans and Albert,” old Otto went on,
“will fly over the city at good height. When
you reach the end of the island you turn to the
left, so, and come down close that your aim may
not miss. Here will be the Brooklyn Navy
Yard,”—he indicated a place on the map. “ If
there is fog the bridges will locate it for you.
Smash the ship lying there, the shops, the dry


THE ATTACK ON THE HOUSE 263
docks; if it is possible blow up the munitions
stored there.”
“I know the place well,” Hans replied. “I
worked there many months. I can find my way
in the dark. It will be done."
“And to you, Herr Captain,” said Otto, turn-
ing to Frederic and saluting, “ to you, whom the
War Office itself sent here to oversee this all-
wonderful plan of mine which it has seen fit to
approve, to you and your mate falls the greatest
honor and glory. You -
A suppressed sob at his side caused Fleck to
turn quickly and lay his finger on the trigger of
his revolver. There, close beside him, listening
to all that had been said, was Jane. Left alone
in the darkness she had found it impossible to
obey the chief's orders and remain where she
was. Every little sound about her had carried
new terrors to her heart. Hitherto she had not
felt afraid, but the solitude filled her mind with
wild imaginings. She was seized, too, by an irre-
sistible desire to know what part Frederic was
playing in this drama of the dark. Was his life
in peril? Were Fleck and Carter now gathering
evidence that would bring about his conviction,


264 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
perhaps his shameful death? She must know
what was happening. Quietly she had stolen
up to peer through the window.
Fleck, as he recognized her, with an angry
gesture of warning to be silent, turned back to
hear what Otto was saying.
“ —you, Frederic, have the glory of leading
the expedition, of bombing that damned Wall
Street which alone has kept Germany from win-
ning her well-deserved victory. You will des-
troy their foolish skyscrapers, their banks, their
business buildings. Your work will end this
way. You will strike terror into the cowardly
hearts of these American bankers whose greed
for money has led them to interfere with our
great nation's rightful ambition. You shall
show them that their ocean is no protection,
that the iron hand of our Kaiser is far-reaching.
Do your work well, and they will be on their
knees begging us for peace.”
“God helping me,” said Frederic, “I will not
fail in my duty to my country.”
There was something magnificent in his man-
ner as he spoke, something almost regal, and
Fleck regarded him with a puzzled air. Who


VOOR
THE ATTACK ON THE HOUSE 265
i stedet
was he, this man who had been sent out from
Germany on this mission—this man to whom
even old Otto paid deference? Despite the as-
surance with which he had spoken Fleck had
observed in Frederic an uneasiness, a watchful-
ness, that none of the others seemed to exhibit.
He had the appearance of alertly listening, listen-
ing, for what? Fleck's first thought was that
he might have overheard the little cry that Jane
had inadvertently given, but he quickly dismissed
this theory. If Frederic had heard that sound
it would have alarmed him, and the look in his
eyes now was one of expectancy rather than
of fear.
Jane, too, was puzzled and distressed. With
trembling hands she clutched at the sill of the
window for support as she heard Frederic assent
to old Otto's plans for him. Her estimate of his
character made it seem incredible that he would
willingly lend himself to this work of wholesale
murder, yet she could no longer doubt the evi-
dence of her own ears. With overwhelming
force it came to her that this man who so readily
agreed to such bloody, dastardly work as this,
must undoubtedly be also the murderer of that


THE ATTACK ON THE HOUSE 269
“Guard these men, Dean,” cried Fleck, as
with Carter close at his side he dashed into the
fray.
One man already lay senseless outside, eight
had surrendered. Four had fled to the front of
the house. That left only the two Hoffs and
one other man against five of them. It was
Fleck's intention to try to overpower the trio
before the four who had fled returned to aid
them. Jane, amazed at her own coolness, stood
beside Dean, her revolver out, helping him guard
the prisoners.
Frederic all the while had been standing by
his uncle's side, strangely enough appearing to
take little interest or part in the battle. Old
Otto, though, despite his years, was fighting
with vigor enough to require both the work of
Fleck and Carter to subdue him. Vainly he
struggled to wrench himself free from their
grasp and use his revolver again. Fleck's
strength pulling loose his fingers from the
weapon was too much for him. As he felt him-
self being disarmed, in a frenzy he tore himself
loose from both of them and seizing a chair,
swung it with all his strength against the hang-


THE ATTACK ON THE HOUSE 271
“He wasn't trying to escape," she angrily
retorted. “Look-quick-mind your prison-
ers."
He turned just in time to see the Germans
behind him lowering their arms. In another
second they would have been on his back. At
the sight of his brandished revolver, their arms
were quickly raised again.
Meanwhile Fleck's men, guided by Jane's
light, were laying about them with their rifles
clubbed. The plotters were at a disadvantage in
not realizing how few there were in the attacking
party. Fleck's announcement that the house
was surrounded had both deceived and disheart-
ened them. When three of their number had
been knocked senseless to the floor the others
surrendered and joined the group that stood with
hands up.
To Fleck's amazement it was Frederic Hoff
who led in the surrender.
“Watch that young Hoff," he whispered to
Carter. “I can't understand his giving up so
easily. It may be only a ruse on his part.”
“ Perhaps he's afraid the girl will be hurt,”
whispered Carter, but Fleck was not there to


THE ATTACK ON THE HOUSE 273
fera :
esi i
say something, and then had collapsed, dying
right before her eyes.
“ Take the Hoffs' car outside,” Fleck directed
some of his men, “and bring up our two cars at
once. Carter and I'll guard the prisoners until
you get back. There's a county jail only a few
miles away. The sooner we get them there the
better it will be. It won't take any court long
to settle their fate. They got Dean, didn't
they?”
“Yes,” said Jane, getting up unsteadily from
the floor, “I think he's dead.”
Fleck bent to examine the body of his aide,
feeling for the pulse.
“ Too bad,” he murmured. “That last bullet
of old Hoff's got him, but he died in a good
cause."
Jane, brushing away the tears that came well-
ing unbidden into her eyes, turned now, for the
first time since his surrender to look at Frederic.
She had expected as she looked at him lying
there shackled on the floor to read in his ex-
pression humiliation at his plight, grief at the
failure of his effort to aid Germany, possibly re-
proach for her in having aided in entrapping


274 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
him. To her amazement there was nothing of
this in his face.
As he lay there on the floor he was observing
her with a tender look of love, and in his eyes
what was still more puzzling was an unmis-
takable expression of triumph and happiness.


CHAPTER XVII
SOMETHING UNEXPECTED
BEWILDERED by the rapidity with which such
a succession of terrifying events had taken place,
Jane sank dazedly into a chair, trying her best to
collect her thoughts, as she looked about on the
recent scene of battle. All of the German plot-
ters had been overcome and captured. There,
dead on the floor, lay the arch conspirator, old
Otto Hoff, his clammy face still twisted into a
savage expression of malignant, defiant hate.
And there, too, a martyr to the country's
cause, lay Thomas Dean. A sob of pity rose in
Jane's throat as she thought of him, and the
great tears rolled unchecked down her cheeks.
He was so young, so brave, so fine. Why must
Death have come to him when there was yet
so much he might have done? With his talent
and education, with his wonderful spirit of self-
sacrifice, he might have gone far and high.


276 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
Regretfully, she recalled that he had loved her,
and with kind pity in her heart she reproached
herself for not having been able to return to
this fine, clean, American youth the affection
she had inspired in him.
Thomas Dean, she told herself, was the type
of man she should have loved, a man of her own
people, with her own ideals, a man of her coun-
try, her flag, and yet
There on the floor, not a dozen feet away
from her, shameful circlets of steel girdling both
his wrists and his ankles, lay the one man for
whom she knew now she cared the most in all
the world, the man she had just betrayed into
Chief Fleck's hands.
Bitterly she reproached herself for not having
tried to induce Frederic to escape. In mental
anguish she pictured him—the man she loved-
standing in the prisoner's dock in some court-
room, branded as a spy, as a leader of spies,
charged with an attempt to slaughter the in-
habitants—the women and children-of a sleep-
ing, unprotected city. With growing horror it
came to her that in all probability she herself
would be called on to testify against him. It


SOMETHING UNEXPECTED 279
and start wars and make men hate and kill each
other? What was it all for?
In the midst of her mental wanderings she be-
came conscious that Fleck was speaking to Car-
ter.
“I'll stay here with Miss Strong and the
prisoners,” he was saying. “ While we are wait-
ing for the men to return with the cars, you'd
better make a search of the house."
“Why not wait until daylight for that?” sug-
gested Carter.
“ It is not safe," the chief objected. “To-
night is the time to do it. A plot important
enough to have the especial attention of the
war office in Berlin must have many important
persons involved in it. Somebody with money
in New York, some influential German sym-
pathizer, must have helped old Hoff set up these
aeroplanes here and equip his shop. Some
chemical plant supplied the material for those
bombs. It must have taken hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars to carry the plan to completion.
Men rich enough and powerful enough to have
put through this plot are powerful enough to be
still dangerous. The minute word reaches the


280 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
city that the plan has miscarried there will be
some one up here posthaste to destroy or re-
move any damaging evidence we may have over-
looked. Now is the time to do our searching."
“You're right, Chief,” Carter admitted. “It
would not surprise me if there is not a wireless
plant here. I'll soon find out.”
“ Let me help,” cried Jane.
Her nerves were suffering from a sharp reac-
tion. All through the excitement of the attack
she had remained calm and collected, but now
she felt that if she remained another minute in
the same room with the two bodies, if she stayed
near that row of shackled prisoners, if she should
chance to catch Frederic's eye, she either would
burst into hysterical weeping or would collapse
entirely. If only there was some activity in
which she could engage it might serve to divert
the current of maddening thoughts that kept
overwhelming her. With something to do she
might regain her self-control.
“Please let me help Mr. Carter,” she begged.
“Certainly,” said Fleck, “ go ahead. You
have earned the right to do anything you wish
to-night."


282 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
and began ransacking the desk, Jane holding the
light while Carter examined the papers they
found.
“ Their system sometimes is bad for them,”
said Carter. “Here's a ledger with the names
of all the men employed here and the amounts
paid to each. And look,” he went on excitedly,
“ look what the stupid fools have done with their
German methodicalness—here are entries show-
ing all the supplies they obtained, from whom
they got them and what they cost. There's
evidence here for a hundred convictions. We'll
just take that book along."
There was one small drawer in the desk that
was locked. Ruthlessly Carter smashed the
woodwork and pried it open. Its only contents
was a small parcel, a folded paper in a parch-
ment envelope. Hastily he drew forth the paper
and studied it intently.
“It's a code," he cried, “a naval code, evi-
dently the very one they used to communicate
with those boats. I'll wager the Washington
people even haven't a copy of it. That's a great
find. Come on, we've got enough for one
night.”


SOMETHING UNEXPECTED 283
“Do any of the men in our party understand
wireless?” asked Jane as they descended.
"Sure,” said Carter, “ Sills does. He used to
be the radio man on a battleship.”
“ Couldn't he be left on watch here?” sug-
gested Jane, “and try to signal those X-boats
and keep them waiting until to-morrow night?
Maybe by that time our —”
“I get you,” cried Carter; “ that's a good idea.
Explain it to the Chief.”
As Jane unfolded her plan, suggesting the
possibility of sending American cruisers out to
search for the X-boats after Sills had lured them
by false messages to the surface, Fleck heartily
approved of it.
“I'll leave Sills here with one other man to
guard the house," he said. “We'll have to let
poor Dean's body remain here for the present,
too. We'll need all the room in the cars for the
prisoners."
There was still much to be done. While some
of the men were unceremoniously carrying out
the shackled prisoners and piling them in the
cars, others, under Carter's direction, crippled
the three “wonder-workers” and dismantled


- DOOR
SOMETHING UNEXPECTED 287
be all be
told he
· murder
lored
ederic hot
arsy and'.
tions find
ad herze
as lights
In the mi
A tall figure in officer's clothes sprang up on
the running board and peered into Fleck's
face.
“Thank God, Chief,” he said, “ that it's you.”
“ Colonel Brook-White," cried Fleck in amaze-
ment, recognizing the voice as that of one of the
officers in charge of the British Government's
Intelligence Service in America. “What are
you doing here?”
“ Trying to round up some bally German
spies,” explained Brook-White.
"I've beaten you to it," cried Fleck, with a
note of triumph in his tone. “ I've got them all
here in shackles.”
“Good,” said Brook-White delightedly. “I
was fearful I'd be too late. There was delay in
getting a message to me. As soon as I had it, I
tried to reach you and couldn't. I dared not
wait but dashed up here in my car. I knew there
were some American troopers camped near
here, and I persuaded the commander to detail
some of his men to help me. Did you really
capture the Hoff chap, old Otto?”.
“He's better than captured,” said Fleck.
“He's lying dead back there in the house."
We hadi
road, at
y the othe
the wa
je automo
7e unifor
at that tt
- of ident


288 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
“ Good,” cried Brook-White. “He was in-
fernally dangerous according to my advices,
but Captain Seymour-where is he? Wasn't he
working with you? ”.
“ Captain Seymour?” cried Fleck in astonish-
ment. “I never heard of him. Who's Captain
Seymour?"
“He's one of my chaps,” explained Brook-
White. “Wasn't it he who steered you up
here?”
“I should say not,” said Fleck emphatically.
“Good Lord,” cried the British colonel excit-
edly. “ You don't suppose those bloody Boches
got him at the last-after all he's been through?
I hope he's safe.”
“Don't worry, Colonel Brook-White," came
the calm voice of Frederic Hoff from the rear
seat. “Chief Fleck has me here safe in shackles
with the other prisoners.”
“God," cried Fleck, in astonished perplexity.
“Is Frederic Hoff a Britisher-one of your
men?”
“Rather,” said Brook-White. “Chief Fleck,
may I present Captain Sir Frederic Seymour, of
the Royal Kentish Dragoons."


JOOP
289
SOMETHING UNEXPECTED
was a
But Fleck was too busy just then to heed the
introduction, or to pay attention to the muttered
" Donnerwetters” of indignation that burst from
the lips of his other prisoners.
Jane Strong had fainted dead away against his
shoulder.
istenen


CHAPTER XVIII
WHAT THE PACKET CONTAINED
"BUT," said Jane, “I can't understand it yet.
How did you, a British officer, happen to be
living with old Otto Hoff? How did you ever
get him to trust you with his terrible secrets? ”
Captain Seymour chortled gleefully. Now
that he was arrayed in proper British clothes,
once more comfortable in the uniform of his
regiment and had his monocle in place and was
with Jane again, everything looked radiantly
different. Even his speech no longer retained
its international quality but now was tinctured
with London mannerisms.
“Oh, I say,” he replied, “ that was a ripping
joke on the bally Dutchmen."
Jane eyed him uncertainly. He seemed al-
most like a stranger to her in this unfamiliar
guise, though for hours she had been eagerly
looking forward to his coming.


WHAT THE PACKET CONTAINED 291
nd it
Jouer
ecret
The exciting developments of the night before
still were to her very puzzling. She recalled
Frederic's identification of himself, and after that
all was blank. When she had come to she had
found herself in a motor being rapidly driven
toward New York in the early dawn, with Carter
as her escort. He had not been inclined to be
at all communicative.
“Let the Captain tell you the story himself,”
said Carter. “He knows all the details."
“But when can I see him?" questioned Jane.
* When,” she hesitated, remembering the shame-
ful bonds that had held him, “when will he be
free? ”
“He's as free this minute as we are," Carter
explained. “ It didn't take the Chief long to get
the bracelets off, after Colonel Brook-White had
identified him. There's a lot for the Captain
to do still, but rest assured, he'll waste no time
getting back to the city to see you.”
"I hope not,” sighed the girl.
She was too weary, too weak from the revul-
sion of feeling that had come on learning that
her lover instead of being a dastardly spy was a
wonderful hero, to make even a pretense at
anda
retai
incia
med:


292 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
maidenly modesty. She wanted to see Frederic
too much to care what any one thought.
Slipping into her home fortunately without
arousing any of her family, she had gone to bed
with the intention of getting a rest of an hour
or two. Sleep, she was sure, would be im-
possible, for she felt far too excited and upset.
Yet she had not realized how utterly exhausted
she was. Hardly had her head touched the
pillow before she was lost to everything, and
it was long after noon when a maid aroused her
to announce that Captain Seymour had 'phoned
that he would call at three.
As she dressed to receive him, she was won-
dering how she should greet him. Blushingly
she recalled the impassioned kiss he had pressed
on her lips—why it was only yesterday. It had
seemed ages and ages ago, so much had inter-
vened. Mingled with a shyness that arose from
her vivid memories was also a shade of indigna-
tion. Why had he not told her? Did he not
trust her? She resolved to punish him for
not taking her into his confidence by an air of
coldness toward him. Certainly he deserved
it.


WHAT THE PACKET CONTAINED 293
Yet, when he arrived, so full of animation did
he appear to be, that the lofty manner in which
she greeted him apparently went unnoticed. He
met her with a warm handclasp and anxious in-
quiries about how she felt after all the exciting
events. Too filled with eagerness to know all
the details of his adventures she had found it
difficult to maintain her pose, and soon was
seated cosily beside him, asking him question
after question, all the while furtively studying
him in his proper rôle. As Frederic Hoff she
had thought him wonderfully handsome and
masterful. As Captain Sir Frederic Seymour,
in his regimental finery, he was simply irresisti-
ble.
“ A joke?” she repeated. “Do explain. I'm
dying to know all about it.”
“ It wasn't half as difficult a job as one might
imagine, you know. Our censor chaps at home
have got to be quite expert at reading letters,
invisible ink and all that sort of thing. Hoff
for months had been sending cipher messages to
the war office in Berlin. He kept urging them
to act on his all-wonderful plan for blowing up
New York. They decided finally to try it and


294 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
notified old Otto they were sending over an
officer to supervise the job.”
“What became of him? The officer they sent
over?”
“Our people picked him off a Scandinavian
boat and locked him up. They took his papers
and turned them over to me. Clever, wasn't
it?"
“And you took his name and his papers and
came here in his place? Oh, that was a brave,
brave thing to do.”
“I wouldn't say that,” said Seymour mod-
estly. “I fancy I look a bit like the chap, and I
speak the language perfectly."
“But it was such a terrible risk to take," cried
Jane with a shudder. “Suppose they'd found
you out?”
“No danger of that,” laughed Frederic. “Old
Otto never had seen the chap who was coming.
His real nephew, Frederic Hoff, whose American
birth certificate was used, died years ago. Be-
sides I had the German officer's papers and
knew just what his instructions were. The
worst of it was when old Otto insisted every
night on toasting the Kaiser, and when he kept


298 THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR
e
ne
“ Humph," snapped Jane with mock indigna-
tion. “And when did you first find out that I
was helping Chief Fleck watch you?”
“I suspected it from the start. Kramer told
me how you'd become acquainted with him.
Then when I heard you 'phoning Carter about
the bookstore I knew for certain.”
“Oh, that's one thing now I wanted to ask
about-those messages Hoff left in the book-
store. Who were they for?”
“Instructions to a German advertising agency
on how to word some advertisements that con-
tained a code."
“Oh, those Dento advertisements? ”
“You knew about them?” cried Seymour in
astonishment.
“Of course,” said Jane proudly. “I was the
one who deciphered them; but what did that girl
do with those messages? Carter had a theory
that she slipped them under a dachshund's col-
lar.”
“That theory's just like Carter,” laughed
Frederic—"regular detective stuff. I never
heard of any dachshund's being used. The girl
used to slip them into a letter box in her apart-





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