The Ghost of Guir House

illumination of the curious old apartment. Ah Ben produced a couple of long-stemmed pipes, one of which he handed to Paul, with a great leather pouch of leaf tobacco which he

atched the meditative couple before him. The firelight played upon Ah Ben's white moustache and swarthy features, and the colored handkerchief upon his head, and set the long thin fingers all of a tremble upon the pipe-stem, as if manipulating the stops of a flute. It danced over Dorothy's gown in a dazzling sheen of white, and flashed upon h

t combined to make the most remarkable living-room that Henley had ever seen. The decaying portraits, the singular carvings and pec

r and daughter. Paul searched the faces of each for traces of similiarity, but there were none. Their manner to each other, the girl's mode of addressing the man, all indi

topics ensued, Dorothy uttering a few words occasionally, in a dreamy voice, with her head propped upo

en gently, and at the same moment a clo

her eyes and

asleep!" she excla

ps and away again. If tempted to return the salute, his better judgment prevailed, and while holding the stem of his pipe in his right hand, pressed the tobacco firmly into the bowl with his left. A troublesome thought presented itself. Could this girl have entered into any kind of entanglement with his namesake which would have demanded a tenderer attitude than he had assumed to

"I'm something of an owl myself, and shall

f a midnight conversation to discover something about this peculiar man and his home.

er man, "but there is a certain comfort in discomfort which ought not to be

peare has told us something about it in

ving who has not felt the delusion of comfort. Like many

ie. The dim and uncertain shadows made the room seem like some vast cavern, whose walls were mythical and whose recesses unexplored. Th

still closed, "luxury is not necessary to a man's happ

"although I contend that a c

dmit that under certain conditions it may conduce to that end. But tell

absol

not belong to the finite. I refer to

about saints, they're

ed over Ah Ben's f

more to me than to you. Have

es; se

bruises, and suffering in every bone of his body, is happier at the moment of

but now you'r

ought more upon this subject than you have-I can tell you the one essential which lies at the root

t?" inquired Pau

ssurance that left no doubt of

stepping-stone to contentment

sires can know contentment. But contentment is transitory, and

e that?" Paul inquire

t a matter of speculation; i

reatest power in the world, which is undo

f the fire with the bowl and pressed it firmly do

ly, because wealth is an impersonal power and not a direct one. Give the earth to a single man, and it would never enable him to change his appearance or alter one of his mental characteristics, nor to do one single thing he could not have accomplished before-

er I quite understa

earchingly with his lu

f gold add one iota to the power of your soul? And yet it is gold that men have labored for since the e

h you speak is born in a man, and is not to be acquired by anything he can

f this soul-power which is as fixed and certain as the law of gravitation; and when a man has o

say that by a

: Self-control is the

mastery a man has over himself, the more he

I mean his eyes, his nerves, his tongue, his appetites and passions-can control other men; but he who is master of his mind, his thoughts, his desires,

r his investigations, he felt an unaccountable diffidence about making the inquiries. An impression that the man was a mind-reader had doubtless increased this embarrassment, and yet he had had no evidence of this kind, nor anything to indicate such a fact beyond the keen, penetrating power of those marvelous eyes. Paul felt that there was

ed candle, inquiring if everything in the bedchamber had been satisfactory, Paul was abo

mind explaining the object of a very peculiar s

The stairway communicating with the lower floor was doubtless intended as a means of escape. I had not th

such a suggestion. The most I thought of asking for was a bolt for t

e house was full of strange passages and unexpected stairways, making the task more difficult than he had expected. After wan

id quietly; and then without appearing to notic

ing carefully where he placed his feet. As everywhere else, the woodwork was worm-eaten, and the timbers set up a dismal creaking under the weight of his body, but he had undertaken to investigate the meaning of this architectural eccentricity, and would not now turn back. On he crept, noiselessly as possible, adown the twisting stairs, carefully looking ahead for pitfalls and unsuspected developments. Once he paused, thinking he heard the distant tread of a foot, but the sound died away, and he resumed his course. Some of the steps were so broken and rotten that extreme caution was necessary to avoid falling. At last he reached the ground, and found himself at the bottom of a square well, around the

he thought they were about to fall. Nevertheless he reached the top, as he realized when his head came in contact with the trap-door, upon the other side of which he pictured Ah Ben standing with an amused smile. Henley placed his shoulder agai