Our Next-Door Neighbors

Some people have children born unto them, some acquire children and others have children thrust upon them. Silvia and I are of the last named class. We have no offspring of our...

One morning Silvia and I lingered over our coffee cups discussing our plans for the coming summer, which included visits from my sister Beth and my college chum, Rob Rossiter. W...

Our life now became one long round of Polydores. They were with us burr-tight, and attached themselves to me with dog-like devotion, remaining utterly impervious to Silvia's alo...

Four weeks of unalloyed bliss and then the summer vacation times arrived, bringing joy to the heart of the Polydores and the teacher of the ungraded room, but deep gloom to the...

Diogenes finally convalesced to his former state of ruggedness and obstreperousness. He continued, however, to cling to Silvia and to call her "mudder." To my amusement the othe...

The next morning I arose early and screened in the little birdhouse balcony. There was a large piece of netting left and Silvia converted it into a robe and headgear for the swa...

Rob was of an investigating turn of mind, however, and he had heard from a native of H. H., as he had abbreviated the place, that there was a smaller lake, abounding in fish, fa...

When Rob and I, with our camping outfit, drove off through the woods, Ptolemy's eyes followed us so enviously and he pleaded so eloquently to be taken with us that Rob was actua...

The next morning Rob tried earnestly and vainly to drive a wedge in Beth's good graces, but she treated him with a casual tolerance that finally put him in an ill humor which he...

Diogenes, who, for a Polydore, had been quite placid since Ptolemy's departure, caused a commotion by disappearing the next morning. As he was possessed of a deep desire to go i...

When we were setting out on the proposed picnic the next day, Rob made himself extremely unpopular by announcing his intention to spend the day otherwise. The new blonde girl ga...

"Then," I proposed to Silvia with alacrity, "we'll have our first day alone together--the first we have had since the Polydores came into our lives. I'll rent the 'autoo' again,...

She looked us all over--not boldly, but with a business-like directness as if she were taking inventory of stock, or acting as judge at a competition. When her blue eyes lighted...

The night was Satan's own: dark, wind-shrieking, and Polydorish. No one saw us leave the hotel when, at a late hour, we started on our little excursion. On account of the darkne...

We had planned to go to the haunted house at nine o'clock the next morning, but owing to my dissipation of the night before, it was long after the appointed hour when Silvia awo...

"I told you," I repeated angrily to the subdued boy, "not to leave. Those were plain orders. If the house did burn up, you could have stayed in your tent in the woods."

"I hope, Lucien," said Silvia, "you won't refuse to cash this check for a good amount. The Polydore parents may never show up, and it's only right we should be reimbursed for th...

Everyone in our house, which was now filled to overflowing--in fact, there were Polydores on sofas and in beds on the floor--save Silvia and myself, was on the alert for a respo...

One morning when I came down to my office, I found a letter postmarked from the city in which Uncle Issachar lived addressed to me. I opened it and found inclosed, with seal unb...

Life went on uneventfully save for the dire doings of "Them Three." Knowing that they were to be sent to school, they were having their last fling at life untrammeled. September...