The Ghost of Guir House

he was as little affected as any one would have been under the circumstances. It was impossible now to retreat from the part assumed, and

llumine this strange apartment. From each end of the mantelpiece an immense high-backed sofa projected into the room, cushioned and padded, and looking as if built into its present position with the house. The walls were covered with odd portraits, whose frames were crumbling in decay, and the window curtains adorned with fairy scenes and mythological figures. The ceiling was crossed with heavy beams of oak, black with the smoke of a century; and the stairway upon the left was also black, but ornamented with a series of rough panels, upon each of which was painted a human face, giving

e evidence of age, and of a nature at once barbaric, eccentric, and artistic. Who had conceived and executed this extraordinary apartment

. His bewilderment was intense, and with a lingering gaze at the oddities surrounding him, he accepted the invitation. Not

costume with singular effect. There was something so bizarre and yet so spirituelle in her appearance that Henley could not help observing in what perfect harmony she seemed with her environment. It was some minutes before either of them spoke-Paul loth to express his surprise for fear of betra

st be h

undings and recent train of thought in the girl's

ome as yours, Miss Guir," he replied, looking into her e

swered, "and I shall expect you to have an

y would appear in due season, for it was impossible the girl could live alone in so large a house, and without natur

erably more than a hundred years. It was built in the Colonial day

es were the work of an artist," Henley ventured

he one you are looking

seemed impossible, for these extraordinary pictures were as old as the house itself. What did the girl mean? Had thi

pictures as old

use and all that is in it date from quite a remote time, and man

tor; possibly a friend of the family in the distant past, and Henley conc

attendant to conduct him to his room, he was about to ask where he might find a bowl of water to relieve himself of some of the stains of travel. Before he had finished the sentence, however, his attention was arrested by the sound of a distant foots

only Mr. Henley, and I'm su

d flowing white moustache and hair. The top of his head was lightly bound in a turban of some flimsy material, and a loose robe of crimson silk hung from his shoulders, gathered together with a cord about the waist. As he advanced Henley ob

ley, of whom I have spok

sly. He hoped that they had had a pleasant drive from

the man, and he had only just decided that he had been dead for

to the fire, and observed that the ni

expected to find the season so f

ad of sparks in their flight up the chimney. Dorothy was looking above, and Paul, following the direction of her eyes, observed a model of Father Time reclining upon a shelf near the ceiling. The figure's sc

your asking;" then, turning to the old man, added: "Mr. Henley has not yet been

tel, which he lighted with a firebrand; "if Mr. Henley will

nder if he could ever find his way back again. At last they stopped before a rough door, hung with massive hinges stretching half wa

near the chimney. He then reminded Henley that their evening meal would soon be ready. "If

Paul, having left it below, with

once," the old man answere

as its furnishing, was old and quaint, and rapidly going to decay. Everything he saw related to a past period of existence. The window was high, and deep set in

the soft light of the moon, made a picture of extreme beauty and loneliness-a solid wilderness, shut in from the busy world without. There was a musty sm

There was a large mahogany cabinet, mounted with brass; but its double doors were locked and its drawers immovable. Beside the bed was a worm-eaten door, and in idle curiosity Paul tried the handle. It opened easily, revealing a spacious closet, with hooks and shelves. Throwing the small satchel he had brought up with him upon the floor within, it struck something, but the closet was too dark for him to see what; so, taking the candle, he made an examination. In the farthest corner was a hand-rail, guarding a closed scuttle, in which was inserted a heavy iron ring. Henley took hold of the ring, and with some effort succeeded in opening the scuttle. Looking down, he found to his surprise that it communicated with a rough stairway leading below. He peered into the darkness, but could discern nothing save the steps, which seemed to go all the

as a low knock at the door. He replied by a summons to enter, but there was no answer. The knock was repeated, and again Paul shouted, "Com

not come in?"

w did not even look at him, and left the room without saying a word. Suddenly Paul remembered that he had seen him before. It was the

ir and Ah Ben awaiting him. The girl came forward to greet her guest, and to reveal her presence, the fire having died away a

d dignified than theirs. She looked more charming than ever in a white gown, while her burnished hair was held in place by a tall Spanish comb, and decorate

inhospitable as we appear to be, Mr. Henley," she ex

er been treated with greater consideratio

t. But what I was referring to in the matter of specia

bed with the many strange things I have seen since my a

ou would be expected t

hen I think of it, I am

his eyes. A round table, set for two, loaded with flowers, cut glass, and silver, and lighted with wax candles grouped under a large central shade of yellow silk, with a deep fringe of the same material. The distant parts of

nquired Henley, glancing around to

ied Dorothy; "he rarel

, tete-a-tete with a bewitching girl, at a gorgeous dinner table, laid for them only, was a condition of things calculated to turn any ordinary man's head. Never for an instant had the girl given the slightest intimation of why he, or rather the original Henley, had been wanted, and every effort to gain a clew of his busi

s much as this. It was the fact that Dorothy would not eat. Scarcely a mouthful of food passed her lips, although the dishes were of the daintiest, and she barely tasted many which she recommended heartily to him. Was she ill? or was it not the usual hour for her evening meal? Manlike, Henley was distressed for anything not endowed with a hearty appe

nd exquisite flowers return to their true lodestone, his hostess. In fact, the girl posse

tiful!" he said, looking st

nswered smiling, "but you're not

ad of cresses, to which she was ad

te the correct thing," she adde

perfect," answered Paul; "in

w what the real Henley was accustomed to? Possi

as brought on after dinner, her white hands, ablaze with precious stones, shone to peculiar advantage; and when she poured out the coffee that followed, Paul

, looking him full in the face, and

ut w

lbows on the table, her chin r

ur buttonhole-you wouldn't mind it now,

est in the way the thing was done that Henley accepted the favor as he might have accepted a command from royalty than as a flirtatious banter from a girl. He pl

oom and poured himself a cup of coffee, which he d