THE MYSTERY GIRL BY CAROLYN WELLS _Author of “Vicky Van,” “Raspberry Jam,” &c._ PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 1922 COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A. TO HUBER GRAY BUEHLER A GRAVE AND REVEREND SEIGNEUR WHO POSSESSES THE ADDED GRACE OF A RARE TASTE IN MYSTERY STORIES CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. A President-elect 9 II. Miss Mystery Arrives 28 III. Thirteen Buttons 47 IV. A Broken Teacup 65 V. The Tragedy 84 VI. An Incredible Case 103 VII. The Volume of Martial 121 VIII. Where is Nogi? 140 IX. A Love Letter 158 X. Who is Miss Mystery? 176 XI. The Spinster’s Evidence 193 XII. Maurice Trask, Heir 212 XIII. The Truesdell Eyebrows 231 XIV. A Proposal 250 XV. Fleming Stone Comes 269 XVI. Miss Mystery’s Testimony 287 XVII. Planning an Elopement 305 XVIII. Miss Mystery no Longer 322 THE MYSTERY GIRL CHAPTER I A PRESIDENT-ELECT Quite aside from its natural characteristics, there is an atmosphere about a college town, especially a New England college town, that is unmistakable. It is not so much actively intellectual as passively aware of and satisfied with its own intellectuality. The beautiful little town of Corinth was no exception; from its tree-shaded village green to the white-columned homes on its outskirts it fairly radiated a satisfied sense of its own superiority.