The Ghost of Guir House

center of which he erected this house. Although his intention in coming from the old country was to make his perma

h scenery as he loved to paint. It would be folly to pretend that Guir was a man of ordinary tastes and disposition; for had he been such, he would never have undertaken a journey, with a family of girls, into such a wilderness as Virginia was a

resume," said Paul, hoping to gai

ed Ah Ben, "

," added Paul, fearing h

in every degree of perfection. The broad acres of the estate produced much that was necessary toward the maintenance of life, and what they lacked was supplied once a year from a distant settlement near the coast. As you can readily understand, there were no neighbors, and but occasional visits from the red man, who looked distrustfully upon the pale-face. This feeling became mutual, and trifling acts of hostility on the part of the natives grew both in frequency and magnitude. Depredations upon Guir's fields and cattle were at first ignored, in the effort to maintain peace, but in time it became necessary to resist them. Upon one occasion, a raid upon a distant field was successfully repulsed, with the aid of his wife and three daughters, attired in men's clothing and mounted upon fast horses. The Indians were so completely surprised by the ruse, being apparently attacked by five men, where they had believed there was only one, that they fled, completely routed

n the stairway you

an, "it communicates with

with his natural enemy, the red man. The pow-wow had been long and trying, and it was only with the setting sun

ed momentarily to greet his eyes. He called aloud to each member of his family, in the failing hope that some one would answer; but no sound broke the awful stillness. Suddenly he bethought him of the secret chamber, and with a wild prayer that his loved ones had been able to reach it in safety, and were still in hiding there, he started down the narrow stairs in search. Reaching the bottom, he found that the door had been wrenched from its hinges and thrown to the ground; and then Guir's heart sank, never to rise again. Stepping across the threshold of the room, candle in hand, a vision of blood swam before his eyes, and the dimly-burning light revealed the horror-stricken faces of his murdered family. Not one was left to tell the tale, but the story pictured before him was unmistakable in every detail. The treacherous natives had fir

ntombed himself, he lay down again upon the floor, and then, still a madman, opened a vein in his wrist. The letting of blood may have sobered him or restored his mental equilibrium; for suddenly, with a wild change in his feelings, he bounded to his feet and repented. Again he was in darkness, and could not guess how much time had elapsed since his fatal act. Staggering to the closed doorway, he endeavored

ixed his eyes upon Henley, as

rikes me as very peculiar," observed Paul

ed the old man, his eyes s

stantial detail the feelings and actions of a man who

Henley, but my familiarity with the case ena

lling me how that is p

ough such ages of agony that I have no longer the will or d

sta

en that I am talking to a

own you the real condition of this old house, or rather the way in which the majority of men see it. I do not hesitate, therefore, to show you t

to the realm of experience. But there was something too real, too natural about this personality to accept the remark as literal. Familiarity with Ah Ben had shown him to be a ma

s pause, the ol

o the world of matter. When a man dies dominated by some intense earthly desire, his mind is barred against the higher powers and greater possibilities of spirit; his whole nature is closed against their reception, so that he perceives and hopes for nothing save the continuance of that life which has so completely filled his nature. His old environment overpowers the new by the very force of his will

, is she your daugh

er," answered the

hat she addresses you

y explained to you, my mother was a Hindoo, while my father was E

my own well-being and happiness," continued Paul; "how is it possible that D

old man. "Dorothy, like her sisters and mother, passed

uses operate to brin

hand, and, as you saw for yourself, I was equally avoided in Levachan. But that is not all; in the ignorance and selfishness of my grief, I yearned for my lost ones with a solicitude, a consuming fierceness and power of will which insanity only can equal. By nature I was intense; and even had I not committed the fatal act, my vitality would have burned itself away with the awful concentration of feeling. But it must be remembered that I was not the only sufferer from this pitiful lack of self-control. The stronger desires and emotions of the living influence the dead-I use the words in their common acceptation for the sake of convenience-and here is where I caused such incalculable injury to my own chi

t, and then became deeply

ed to the blessedness to come, and it is well it is so; for, were it otherwise, the discipline of earth life would be lost, as too monstrous to be endured. No man could submit to the restraints of matter, with the power and freedom of spirit in sight. If once I could have realized the dre

u have suffered, for what was n

hich I blindly laid beset her unwary feet, and she fell. There is but one course open; but one way in which Dorothy can reach either heaven or earth, by a shorter road than that which I a

ings of humanity would gladly do what he could to ass

fellow-creature,"

y that she might become one with

lied; "but where is

answered Paul, "but I will adhere to my first proposition, that one

ou the ordinary fee

o," answe

d be haunted for the rest of your life; fo

sta

our body; while she, having returned from the summer land abnormally, can, like myself, become invisible at will; but, upon the other hand, she is not always visible, even to those whom she would like to have see her. In short, as I have told

itation or reservation, that I love your daughter, and, be she whom o

he beginning; and although you came to this house with the intention of deceit, I feel sure that in the more serious situatio

o," answe

she marries, with all her heart and soul; and you can readily understand, ostracized as we are, how difficult it has been to find such a one. For more than a century we have sought in vain, and I have pressed every oppo

ove my devotion to your daugh

ou are dealing with a nature far more intense, and with far greater capacity to love, than any you have ever known. While the most fervid desire of Dorothy's life has doubtless b

; and knowing how much you have suffered, it shall be my aim to help and comfort you; for have you not shown me how close is the other world, and

hat surrounded him, Paul bade Ah Be