THE GIRL IN THE NEXT HOUSE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 80, 25 March 1914, Page 2

THE GIRL IN THE NEXT HOUSE.

Q ' a suppose I ought to have been delighted Vhen Uncle Gregory offered to have ms as an hup.ate, giving me my board and lodgings for nothing, and as he told my mother, “ Sec to She young cub's manners and morals.” My uncle’s house was large, gloomy and bj Inosb unattractive appearance, but it rejoiced' a beautiful yarden. and thither I Was Hhthkful to escape after a solemn meal, in •fhich the great feature was the enormous quantity of china and place and the small ■amount of food! i My uncle had sustained ir his youth what Is known as a “ d i sap poin turn, .-t," and it had had the effect upon him of makipgpim object to all female society, except that of phenomenally ugly housekeeper red two equally unattractive maids. . • • * * wtainly this garden, with the serene hush that brooded over it, was ai, improvement cn my boarding house.. I, was just congratulating myself upon the change, when a strange Bound reached my ears. 1 stood motionless, listening. It seemed to come from the othei side of the wail, my neighbour’s garden. Vgain and again it was repeated there could bo no doubt about it, some one, man, woman ar child, was sobbing in heart-broken fashion 'vithin a few yards of me. I climbed 1 to the wall and looked over.and saw. a girl, all in white, with the mostbilntiful golden hair imaginable, flowing past her knees; she , was standing just below mu, looking up with eyes dark and beseeching, and glorious as the eyes of a stag. My lovely companion spoke first, • i, « >• “ Have you come to help me ? ” she askee in a voice that was scarce kbove a whisper. “ Oh, say you have.” • f < ■ She pressed her little hands together, ana 1 saw tears in the great eyes gazing up at m«. “Of course,” I said, eagerly. ”1 swear it."

“Thank you.”—she smiled m she spoke! •I see you are to be trusted, then take nw away—take me away—before—before I kiliame!” “Who will kill y-'u ? ” I askeii in alan*. “ Why, they must be perfect brutes if they don’t worship you,”, . : . “ You don’t understand," «ht» kiimVered hoarsely. “He would—oh God—-istepj” A deep, bell-like sound rang through .-the bight Air—it was the bay of a bloodhound. The girl crouched for an instant, listening to it, then gathered herself , up with a cVy, and ifled across the lawn to the houswi ■I; ’i .- : ■' v The next evening ad I dutifully accompanied my unclis on his constitutional wo Saw-coming down the steps of the next konae a hlvggard individual. •: Uncle Gregory, Wlic loaning on my arm, suddenly gripped it. , “ That ;was.; the man,”a ha Whispered hoarsely, “ that wav Iliirvey Pain*. 1 Howbo)v»I hate thaiiman I , “ Hat he a daughter,!?’? Tasked oagerly. : (“ Yea,” answered my relative - quvtlyy “now you are to ask rie pp more, Ilencu iorth the people in the iiexfc\hou*# are not tc bo mentioned ” That flight I made another attempt to see my mysterious divinity and succeeded. I* You have kept your word,” she said in a hysterical whisper; “ but it is hopeless. K* will be here directly—his vibllk are- eonst-ani .low since that night-when !-escaped him. Slot-i-t!ie bloodhound- found—me—” “'And hurt you ?” I asked furiously; “the brute— s —” : ..... '■ - “Oh ,no, no, only betrayed me,”.:,she an swered hurriedly. “Come and tajc* mo away —before I die.” , „• r. \ • “ I’ll come,” I said recklessly ; “ though ! don’t even know your name, I Jov* you, and I’ll do anything for you.” I can still, recall the thrill of exoi-Ument tnd exultant anticipation with which I set out op my .adventure. It was a dark night. I had provided myself with a. file to saw through those, iron bars at her window and that .divided me from the Girl in-thfc-Tiext House. v »

v, I saw4hat my heroine was not at the wip-\ now as I cautiously made my way to it. As I produced my file there floated out toward me the sound of the bloodhound’s howl. It is close to me,..as though the brute were in the room, into which I intended, to break. I thought I heard the soft thud of an. animal as be pattered about the room, when silence, then the swish of a gown, and.;, tbs voice 1 loved cajling softly Is—is any one thefe ? ■” I was on my feet at the window instantly; my beloved was behind the bars. As she saw me she gave a little sob of joy. “ i--I thought J heard the bloodhound in your room,” I stammered ashamed of my fears., “ X began to,fear that you were not there.” ,- i . Av- ' “ Indeed 1 aut,” she ahswered, petulantly. “Take away these bars —let me out—or 1 shall die! ” f yv

At last ray perseverance was rewarded ;,tho bars yieldedl wrenched them apart and leaped into the room. I went up to the dap live and held out ray hand to her. u ■ 5 > She rose—l could see her pale face gleam mg white in the darkness —she took ni) hand, after a faint hesitation, the next (instant she. ha ( d hurled herself upon me, he> arms gripping rao like steel hands, and

fastened her.tecth in, my throat. I staggered back, the: awful thing clinging to me as some vampire to L its prey, the warm blood trickling clown from the wound -she had inflicted upon me. I tried to .tree pryself,from her, but she seemed endowed with the strength of twenty men. Her hair ,s\y»p*“ across my face,-almost blinding m*. .Rh tried to-strangle-me with it, twisting it int.a,thick coil to wind.,about my peek. I crashed heavily on to the, floor. The girl-was throttling me with her long, golden tresses.■Then upon the darkness there burst a light, the. she-fiend sprang to her feet and -ran hqwling from me. I recovered from my illness.that super vened on my terrible adventure. I shrank at first from learning the mystery that surrounded the Girl hi the Next House, but on* day'my uncle told me the whole story. The Girt in the Next House was a raving maniac, but her wretched father, Harvey Payne, was devoted to her, and had tried all his life to conceal her condition. It was she who had made the awful sound# in her room I had attributed to the bloodbound, which was kept to, protect her. “Uncle Gregory.’,’ I said timidly, “why did you hate her father so ? ” - - “Because,” Ke said,,“Harvey Payne wa# the man who stole from rao the woman I loved, the woman who was my promised wife became his, and she was the mother—Bhe died when the child was but a few day) old—of the in the Next House.’ 4