The daily Alaskan., 1921-07-05

cannot now tell quite what 1t was
 that made Hartley house, a place so
 comfortable and genial, at the same i time place so threatened. The threat | could not be ignored: 1t was there. The 1 story of the ghost at the haunted pool ! could have nothing to do with 1t. The 1 threat had tangible aspects. Mrs. Sid
 ney's worry, uaspOllen but graven In ! her reSolutcly Roman face, was one | evidence. The extraordinary behavior 1 of Jed was another. The atmosphere l of the place was one of mystery. During the pleasant peaceful, odOr- Ous summer months, when our life was 1 one of undIsturbcd routine, l never es- 1 caped the sense of dread. hoped the
 Intangible would take shape; surely
 something intangible that would be em- 1 bodied, hung over the house. may not be able to make this cer-
 tainty appear so vivIdly to you as 1t
 did to me. It permeated; 1t was in the
 atmosphere; 1t hung over the woods; ! lt filed the house. It came with the ] odorS of blossoms; 1t was expressed In . the summer winds; 1t was threatened ] in the lightning which flashed over the | river. I could not reconcile this effect ] to such a cause as that feeble ghost
 story of the pool I could not dread l that ghost or feel it's presence. It was benevolent ghost needed for ] decoration.
 1 I asked the people of the house, the servants, and found that for them 1t
 Was largely a superstition. They all l had been bought from the city, and ! only a few, such as Jed, gardener, the
 housckcrper and the cook had been . long enough in the house really to be
 associated with it.
 Jed was the only one that willingly { would be in the vicinity of the pool at night. The others might laugh at the suggestion of terror, but they would i not willingly test their superiority to 1 superstition. If they had been really frightened, they could not have been
 kept in service. They were not. The i place was large, comfortably inhabited 1 and genial. There was touch of
 dread at one spot. They avoided the 1 spot. and 1t was negligible so long as 1 they did avoid it,
 In the small town of Hartley there
 was more of the legend than there was 1 at Hartley house. To the people who lived at a distance and came in con
 tact with the place only on occasions,
 1t had an alien. exotic air. Mr. and . Mrs. Sidney had come from South
 America. from MoateyideO, where they
 had lived many years. The circum-
 stances of their selection and purchase
 of the place were normal, but the yil- ! 1agcrs su.ccd great deal of gossip
 with notions ot the alIcriSm, wealth, . aloofneSs and odd habits, concerning 1. which gossip ran from our servants to the Hartley houScholdcrs.
 l have mentioned that my first morn- ing at Hartley house a gardener asked
 me 10 see one of hls children, which
 he'd bad cough. The man had q ] good druI o9 sickness in hiJ family in the next few months, and l was of ! considerable service.
 The gardeners name was William
 son. He had been on the place almost
 from the lime of Mir Sdncy's purchase | of If. He was n,tached tO 1t, proud of his work and fond of 1t and its results. l He had q neat little cottage beyond
 the gardens. His wife was very pleas
 ant and thought too much of my serv-
 ices. Williamson himself was q fine
 man. and I am interested in gardening. 1 Consequently, having to visit the fam
 ily every day or every other day,
 formed habit of talking with him.
 When, ny chance, l spoke of the
 ghost story to Williamson, with no
 more purpose than I ever had had in ! these inquiries, noticed that he was . q bit embarrassed.
 l q take no stock in the stories about 1 the pool," he said. "Td just as lief . pass it at midnight as midday-al- ! most"
 "Bc honest Williamson" l suggested I lnuEhingly.
 "AImost, said" he replied. "But- l did sec something Gt the pool" Continued on Thursday)