Evening star., 1922-01-15


short on the brow Of the
i hill. Before me lay little
valley carpeted with heather. purple
slopes hemming it in. A group or
four tall frs guarded the house, which
was couched in the hollow of the dip
"a low. rambling building. In parts
showing evidence of great age and in
other parts of the modern improver.
"Thats the new wing" continued
the major. raising his stick. project
ing out this way. It's the only addi-
ton I've made to the house, which,
as it stood. had insufficient aceommo-
dation for the servants"
'It is quaint old place"
1t is. And I'm loath to part with
1t. especially as it means a big loss"
"Ah, Have you formed any theo-
ries since wiring me?"
None whatever. I've always been
a skeptic. Addison. but if Low Fennei
is not haunted I'm d Dutchman, by
the Lord Harry
l laughed reassuringly. and the two
of us descended the slope to the white
gate giving access to trim gravel
Dale greeted us at the door. She was,
as 1 had heard. much younger than
the major, and Il distinctly pretty
woman. In so far Dame Rumor WAS
confirmed. Other things l had heard
of her. but l was not yet in posi-
tion to pass judgment.
She greeted me cordially enough.
although women are usually natural
actresses. | thought that she did not
suspect the real object of my visit.
Tea was served in a delightful little
drawing room which bore evidence of
having but recently left the hands of
London decorators. but when pres
emily I found myself alone with my
host in the majors peculiar sanctum.
the real business afoot monopolized
our conversation.
The room which Maj. Dale had
appropriated as a study was on the
ground floor of the new wing-the
wing which he himself had had built
onto Low Fennei. In regard to it's
outlook, it was charming apartment
enough. with roses growing right up
to the open window. SO that their per-
fume filled the place, and beyond a
prospect of purple heather slopes and
flr-clad hills.
Sporting prints decorated the walls.
and the library was entirely-or al
most entirely-made up of works on
riding, hunting. shooting, racing and
golf, with sprinkling of Whyte-
Melville and Nat Gould novels and a
Murray handbook or two. 1t was a
most cozy room. probably because it
was SO untidy. Or as Mrs. Dale
phrased it. so NANNY"
~. a side table was ranked enough
~ liquid refreshment to have inebri
ated a regiment. and in one corner
cigar boxes and tobacco tins were
stacked from the floor some two feet
up against the wall. We were soon
comfortably ensconced then-the ma
jor on hard leather couch and 1 in
deep saddle-bag chair.
Its an awkward sort of thing to
explain" began Dale. putting away at
cigar and staring through the open
window, because if you're to do any
thing you will want full particulars"
nodded.
"a well" the major continued, you
have heard how that bIackguard Ellis
let me down over those shares The
result? ] had to sell the hall-Fen-
mel Hall, where Dale has been since
the time Of Elizabeth. But. still.
never mind. That's not the story.
This place. Low Fennel, is really part
OF the estate, ana have leased it
from Meyers. who has bought the
hall 1t was formerly the home farm.
but since my fathers time it has not
been used for that purpose. The
new farm is over the brow of the
hill there, on the other side Of the
high road. My father built it,
"Why?''
'Welr'-Dale- shifted uneasily and
. look of perpleXity crossed his jolly.
red face-"there were stories-un
comfortable stories. To cut a long
story short, Seager-a man named
Seager. who occupied it at the time
was at Sandhurst-was found dead
here, or something: / never was clear
as to the particulars, but there was
an inquiry and a lot of fuss, and, in
short. no one would occupy the prop
yerty. Therefore. the governor, built
the new farm
Low Fennel has been empty for
many years, them
"No, sir; only for one. Ord. the
head gardener at the hall, lived here
up till last September. The old story
about Seager was dying out, you see:
but Ord must have got to hear about
1t. or I've always supposed so. At
any rate, in September-a dam hot
September, too, almost, If not quite,
as. hot as this-ord declined to live
here any longer"
'On what grounds?"
.He told me a cock-and-bull story
about his wife having seen a horrible
looking man with a contorted face
peering in at her bedroom window.
] questioned the woman. of course,
and she swore to it. She tried to
make me believe that she woke up
and saw this apparition, but bullied
the truth out Of her, and, as I ex-
pected, the man Ord had come home
the worse for drink. / made up my
mind that the contorted face was the
face of her drunken husband, whom
she had declined to admit, and who,
had climbed the ivy to get
In at the open window"
"She denied this?'
'.Of course she denied it; they both
did. But, from evidence obtained at
the Three Keys in the village, I