146 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



ting by an open fire with a book in his hand a 

 man of patriarchal appearance. He wore some 

 manner of flowing garment and beneath his long, 

 iron-gray beard a crimson scarf was loosely knot- 

 ted. There was a suggestion of the Orient in 

 the surroundings and in the stateliness of his re- 

 ception of me. He was a wonderful conversa- 

 tionalist and he had me hypnotized from the 

 start. After a long evening that passed like a 

 dream I was conducted to the guest chamber, 

 overlooking the Tappan Zee then flooded with 

 the light of the full moon. I sat by the window 

 almost the night through. I was a silent guest 

 at the breakfast table until the doctor asked me 

 how I liked the place, when I replied: 



"I only wish it were for sale." 



"It is," was the reply. 



"How much?" I asked and I have forgotten 

 the price he named, remembering only that it was 

 much more than a hundred thousand dollars and 

 that I accepted it at once. With equal prompt- 

 ness I paid seven thousand dollars for the carved 

 oak furniture in the mansion. In one of Dr. 



