The daily Alaskan., 1921-06-28
CHAPTER |.

was named ll0FtleN. TOT It.
 Even when drenchGd and dripping In a storm which had lasted for five days in late May, the spot was beau tiful and charming; 1t had antlQuits. that rare thing in Il new land. Its tive thousand acres. handsomely arranged for decorative and agricultural pur- poses, lay along the river bank, with an fndented and interesting littoral where the river was two miles wide.
 I had been an interne in St. Julian's hospital. and at the close of my last year Dr. Brownell had asked me If my arrangements would make 1t possible for me to undertake case which he thought might be profitable and in tereStinC tO q young physician. Ii was that of air. Homer Sidney, the owner of Hartley house.
 "I never saw so strange will to live" said the doctor when he dis cussed the circumstances with me. "The old man is indomitable, For that reason he is Interesting. He lives be- cause he wills to live, for some tre- meadouS reason of which l know noth- ing. It is enormous. You may live to see him die: nm afraid I shall not and he Is seventy and l am fifty"
 I decided to accept. It may have been professional weakness, hut in ad- dition to the financial certainty offered there was professional interest aroused. If Dr. Brownell were at. tracted by q human beings will to live there certainly was something Su- perhumunly interesting cbOut that hu- man being.
 The recollection of Hartley as l first saw it remains as an enduring impression. The long downpour of rain had given the place q spiritual ac- cent. One felt as if the soul were saturated.
 II is only occasionally la a normal mind that weather works spiritual effect. l thought my mind was nor nal, but l felt the spiritual depres- sion.
 The way from the station for three miles was through ordinary American small farm land. Then 1t changed ab- ruptly. Antiquity began to show. The driver said we were in the Hartley grounds.
 I was so depressed by the rain, by my own uncertainty, by thinking over the decision I had made and seemed about to regret, by the dismal pros pects-or at least the uncertain pros- pects-that I should have been glad for any sustaining human association. At the end of my journey soon found such association and was thereafter happy in 1t, but approaching the place I was apprehensiye. My driver had been. If not unapprOachable, at least stupid and dismal.
 It somewhat aStoniShed me when suddenly he began to talk. We were then about q half mile from the house.
 q wish you had come an hour earlier" ne said.
 "Why" 1 asked.
 "Tm not q coward" said the driver "-at least, no more than usual, but l don't like to be in here alone, and I've got to go home alone"
 In q fashion he expressed what might have been my mood If l had known more of the place. l could sympathlze with him. The rain had done this for me.
 "What have you to be afraid oTT' I asked. "Is something haunted around here?" It seemed as if so beautiful q spot ought to have this h. terest. He stopped his horse.
 "rm going back out of here like a scared pig" he said, that is, If the old horse can stand it. But you're go- ing to live here for while. and III stop minute to show you where they say the ghost walks
 He pointed to where the river had eaten Il substantial bit out of the bank making a pool or tiny bay. The road, swerving toward the river here, was within thirty feet of It.
 Tt isn't natural for a. man to Kill his brother" said my driver, "and something unnatural comes Of it. A man killed his brother there, and some thing unnatural has come of 1t. That's why I'll be just us well satisfied to get you to the house and myself back out of here before dark"
 Get along, then" l said. Tt looks like an ordinary place to me"
 "To me too," said my driver. And I don't want 1t ever to look eXtraor- dinary."
 "Who was killed there?" I asked.
 You'll learn the story soon enough" said the driver, If you're going to stay in this house. You'll learn it better than I can tell you"
 At the great coach entrance of the old house paid the driver and let him go. He was anxious to- be gone. It was growing dark. Then l began ring ing the bell.
 At the third ringing there was re sponse, in the form of servant, man, butler or doorman, past middle age. He was cruSty.
 "What do you want?" he asked.
 I explained that l was pr. Michel