XV. VIOLA REVOLTS FROM CLARKE 328 XVI. THE HOUSE OF DISCORD 337 XVII. WHEN DOCTORS DISAGREE 353 XVIII. LAMBERT INTERVENES 370 XIX. SERVISS ASSUMES CONTROL 386 XX. THE MOTHER'S FAITH 399 XXI. CLARKE SHADOWS THE FEAST 413 XXII. THE SPIRITUAL RESCUE 429 ILLUSTRATIONS "SHE CAME SLOWLY, WITH ONE SLIM HAND ON THE RAILING" _Frontispiece_ "THERE WAS IN HIS LOOK AN EXPRESSION OF ACKNOWLEDGED KINSHIP" _Facing p._ 6 "SERVISS LISTENED WITH GROWING AMAZEMENT" _Facing p._ 36 "VIOLA, TOO, CAME BACK TO BEWITCH HIM FROM HIS READING" _Facing p._ 108 "'WHAT DO YOU MEAN? DO YOU WANT TO KILL THE PSYCHIC?'" _Facing p._ 212 "'BUT, TELL ME, HOW DID THE CHANGE COME? WHAT BEGAN TO HAPPEN?'" _Facing p._ 276 "THE GIRL'S EYES WERE OPENING AS FROM NATURAL SLUMBER" _Facing p._ 308 "'YOU NEED NOT SPEAK--JUST PUT YOUR HAND IN MINE AND I WILL UNDERSTAND'" _Facing p._ 436 BOOK I THE CHARACTERS CONCERNED { VIOLA LAMBERT, the subject { MRS. LAMBERT, her mother { JOS. LAMBERT, her step-father Those { ANTHONY CLARKE, her pastor in { DR. BRITT, her physician the Light { MORTON SERVISS, her lover { KATE RICE, her friend { DR. WEISSMANN, her investigator { SIMEON PRATT, her patron { WALDRON, her father Those { MCLEOD, her "control" in { WALTIE, her poltergeist the Dark { JENNIE PRATT, Pratt's eldest daughter { MRS. PRATT, "Loggy," and others dimly felt THE TYRANNY OF THE DARK I THE SETTING The village of Colorow is enclosed by a colossal amphitheatre of dove-gray stone, in whose niches wind-warped pines stand like spectators silent and waiting. Six thousand feet above the valley floor green and orange slopes run to the edges of perennial ice-fields, while farther away, and peering above these almost inaccessible defences, like tents of besieging Titans, rise three great mountains gleaming with snow and thunderous with storms. Altogether a stage worthy of some colossal drama rather than the calm slumber of a forgotten hamlet.