Tree House Mystery by Gertrude Warner

CHAPTER 1
    New Next Door
    O ne afternoon in early July Benny Alden came in the front door and rushed down the hall to the stairs.
    “Hey, Henry!” he shouted. “Jessie! Violet!”
    “What’s the matter, Ben?” said a quiet voice. Henry stood at the top of the stairs. He looked down at his younger brother. “What’s all the fuss?”
    “Somebody’s moving in next door! Imagine having neighbors!” Benny went on. “I can’t remember anyone ever living there. And that’s odd, too, because the house is so near the beach.”
    “Grandfather always calls it the beach house,” Violet said. “I always thought people used to spend summers there.”
    “Well, there’s a family there now,” Benny said. “There are two boys, only I wish they were a little older.”
    “My, that house has been empty so long,” said Jessie Alden. She stood beside Henry at the top of the stairs. “Who are they, Ben?”
    “I don’t know,” answered Benny. “They’re strangers.”
    “Oh, what do they look like?” Violet asked.
    “You can see for yourself. Go and look out of Grandfather’s bedroom window.”
    Grandfather Alden had gone to work, so his room was empty.
    Benny raced upstairs to Mr. Alden’s room, and Violet, Henry, and Jessie followed.
    The next house was really not very near. The Alden place, after all, was quite big. There was a large lawn and a rose garden, and some woods between it and the house next door. That house, too, had many trees around it.
    The Aldens could see a mover’s truck in front of the house that had been empty. Four men were going into the house with furniture, and right by the truck stood a man and a woman and two boys.
    Benny raised the screen and put his head out of the window.
    “You can’t make them hear you, Benny,” said Jessie.
    “Well, I’m going to try,” replied Benny. “Yoo-hoo, welcome!” he shouted.
    The strangers looked up. The boys began to smile and wave when they saw the four Aldens. The mother and father were not as quick to smile. Benny thought, “They act as if they don’t want anyone to notice they are moving in.”
    While the boys waved the man called, “Thank you!” Then he did smile and began to walk toward the Alden house. The boys followed him. “Our name is Beach,” he called. “We are going to be your new neighbors.”
    “That’s good,” answered Jessie. “That house has been empty too long.”
    Mr. Beach said, “This is Jeffrey, and this is Sammy. I’m sure they will like living here.”
    Jessie smiled at the boys. She said, “Hello, boys. You know, everyone calls your house the beach house. We thought it was because it was a summer place so near the beach. But it is your name, isn’t it?”
    “Yes, just the way your house is the Alden house,” said Jeffrey. He was the older of the two boys.
    “Oh, you know our name?” said Benny.
    The boys looked at their father. Mr. Beach said, “Oh, everyone knows the Alden place.”
    The Aldens thought, “He acts as if he has known the Alden place for a long time. Maybe he isn’t such a stranger after all.”

    Benny said, “I’ll be over sometime when you get settled. Then we can get acquainted.”
    “Come any time,” replied Mr. Beach, starting back. The Aldens noticed that Mrs. Beach had not said a word.
    As the Beach family went into their new house, Violet said, “I have an idea.”
    The others looked at her because Violet’s ideas were always good.
    She said, “Mrs. Beach will be too tired to get supper, so let’s send their supper over to them.”
    Nobody said a word. The Aldens looked at each other. Then they turned and went to the kitchen, all smiling.
    Mrs. McGregor was the housekeeper and cook. She had been with the Aldens for many years and she loved them all. Now Mrs. McGregor was sitting in her big rocking chair in the kitchen, with her cat on her lap.
    Jessie began, “Oh, Mrs. McGregor, we’d like to cook some supper for our new neighbors. The Beach family is moving in right