Part 4 (1/2)

She bade them each ”Good night,” and then started up the uncanny stairs. Near the top she paused in the darkness, and looking over the bal.u.s.trade into the hall below, seemed to be waiting. Perhaps she was not so completely in the shadow as she imagined, and perhaps Paul did not see aright, but through the gloom he thought he caught the flash of a diamond as it moved toward her lips 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 att.i.tude than he had a.s.sumed toward her? Had he neglected opportunities and failed to avail himself of privileges which he had unknowingly inherited?

For an instant the thought disturbed Mr. Henley's equilibrium, but a moment's reflection convinced him that the idea was not worth considering. Whatever it was he had seen upon the stairs he knew was not intended for his eyes, even if it had been meant for himself.

”Shall we smoke another pipe?” said Ah Ben. ”I'm something of an owl myself, and shall sit here for quite a while before retiring.”

Paul was glad of the opportunity, and accepted with alacrity. He hoped in the quiet of a midnight conversation to discover something about this peculiar man and his home. Perhaps he should also learn something of the girl, her strange life, and the Guirs.

”We may not be so comfortable as we would be in our beds,” continued the elder man, ”but there is a certain comfort in discomfort which ought not to be undervalued. Sleep, to be enjoyed, should be discouraged rather than courted.”

”Yes,” answered Paul, ”I believe Shakespeare has told us something about it in his famous soliloquy on that subject.”

”True,” replied Ah Ben, ”and I suppose there is no one living who has not felt the delusion of comfort. Like many other material blessings, it is to be had only in pills.”

Ah Ben had stretched his legs out toward the hearth, and while pa.s.sing his hand across his withered cheek, had closed his eyes in reverie. The dim and uncertain shadows made the room seem like some vast cavern, whose walls were mythical and whose recesses unexplored.

The lamp had expired to a single spark, and there was nothing to reveal their presence to each other except the red glow from the embers.

”No,” said the man, continuing to speak with his eyes still closed, ”luxury is not necessary to a man's happiness, although he has persuaded himself that it is so.”

”Perhaps not,” Paul admitted, ”although I contend that a certain amount of comfort is.”

”By no means. There was never a greater fallacy, although I am free to admit that under certain conditions it may conduce to that end.

But tell me, have you never seen one happy amid the greatest physical privations?”

”Not absolutely.”

”No, not absolutely; the absolute does not belong to the finite. I refer to what most men would consider happiness.”

”Oh, if you're talking about saints, they're outside my experience.”

A faint smile played over Ah Ben's face as he answered:

”Saints, my dear sir, are no more to me than to you. Have you ever seen a prize fight?”

”Oh, yes; several.”

”Do you not believe that the winner of a prize fight, even when covered with bruises, and suffering in every bone of his body, is happier at the moment of victory than he was the previous morning while lying comfortably in his bed?”

”I dare say; but now you're speaking of--”

”Happiness,” suggested Ah Ben, ”and if you will pardon me for saying so--for possibly I may have thought more upon this subject than you have--I can tell you the one essential which lies at the root of all happiness, without which it can never be acquired, but with which it is certain to follow.”

”And what is that?” inquired Paul, with interest.

”_Power_” said Ah Ben, with an a.s.surance that left no doubt of the conviction of the speaker.

”I suppose that is a kind of stepping-stone to contentment,” answered Paul, reflectively.

”Precisely; for no man who lacks the power to accomplish his desires can know contentment. But contentment is transitory, and rests upon power. Power alone is the cornerstone of happiness.”