, or some such fancy name as
that."

"And did it turn out as the people said?" asked Amy.

"Yes," answered Mr. Lagg. "From the very first his wife took a dislike
to the place. She said it was too gloomy, and in spite of a lot of
entertainments and parties--elaborate affairs they were, too--life there
was dreary. They had lots of company, but Shadow Valley seemed to cast a
gloom over the big mansion.

"Then Mr. Kenyon died, and some said it was partly due to grief over the
fact that his wife refused to live in the place. At any rate, he closed
it up, and went abroad, I believe, not living long after he started to
tour Europe.

"Then there was trouble over his will, his whole estate was thrown into
court, and the heirs fought and squabbled over the mansion, as well as
over the rest of his possessions. No one could get title to it, and the
place fell into neglect."

"Yes, it certainly does look lonesome and forlorn around there," said
Betty. "I was close to it about a year ago, but I never heard that it
was haunted."

"It wasn't until recently," said Mr. Lagg, "and that brings me to this
part of the story, and that's why I called on you. I might say that I
now own that haunted mansion."

"You own it!" cried Grace. All the girls were interested now, whatever
they had been before.

"Yes. After years of litigation the courts, last spring, ordered the
mansion sold. I saw a chance to get a bargain, and as I had some money
put away I bought in the property. I got it cheap, but I purchased it
through an agent so that no one, except a very few, know that I own it."

"What are you going to do--live in it?" asked Mollie.

"Ugh! Fancy living in a haunted house!" exclaimed Amy, looking over her
shoulder as though she felt a ghostly hand laid on it.

"No, I don't intend to live there," said Mr. Lagg. "I didn't buy it for
that. But I thought it would be a good investment, and I had an idea of
forming a company, and turning it into a hotel. By making some changes
the surroundings could be made less gloomy, and the place would pay.

"But before I could do that I got an offer from some doctors, who wanted
to establish a sort of sanitarium for the treatment of nervous diseases.
They saw the mansion, and decided it would be just the thing, being so
quiet, and all that."

"I should think it would be," murmured Grace.

"But where does the 'haunt' come in?" Betty wanted to know.

"I'm coming to that," spoke Mr. Lagg, being no