Part 13 (1/2)

Occasionally a pa.s.ser-by would nod to Ah Ben, who returned the salute familiarly, as if in recognition of an old friend; but no one stopped to talk.

”And you know some of these people!” cried Paul in astonishment.

”Some of them.” But a look of intense sadness had settled upon the old man's face, quite different from anything Henley had seen. For a moment neither spoke, and then Ah Ben, pa.s.sing the back of his hand across his forehead, said: ”Yes, Mr. Henley, I know them, but I am not of them; and as you see, they shun me.”

”I can not understand why that should be,” answered Paul, who was conscious of a growing attachment for his guide.

”I can not explain; but some day, perhaps, you may know. Let us continue our walk.”

Looking up at the marvelous examples of architecture that surrounded them, Paul observed that many of the houses had no windows, and inquired the reason.

”Windows and doors are here only a matter of taste, and not of necessity,” answered the elder man; ”the denizens of Levachan enter their houses wherever they please without experiencing the slightest obstruction. Likewise light and air are not here confined to special material and apertures for their admission. We are only just beginning to discover some of the possibilities of matter upon our plane of existence. Here these things are understood; for matter and spirit are one, their apparent difference lying in us.”

”Yes,” said Paul, ”and I perceive that the inhabitants move from place to place through the upper atmosphere in defiance of all law!”

”Law, Mr. Henley, is the operation of man's will. Where man through uncounted eons of time has believed himself the slave of matter, it becomes his master. I mean that the belief enslaves him, and not until he has worked his way out of the false belief, will he become free.”

They continued their walk through gardens of bewitching beauty, and amid lights so far transcending any previous experience of Henley's that he no longer even tried to comprehend Ah Ben's labored explanations. At last his guide, turning, abruptly said:

”Come, let us return; the time is growing short!”

”Time!” said Henley, with an amused expression. ”I thought you told me that time was only a mental condition!”

”True, I did,” said Ah Ben, with a return of the same inexpressibly sad look; ”but did I tell you that it had ceased to belong to me?”

There was no intimation of reproof, no endeavor to evade the remark; but Paul could not but observe the change in the man's manner as they retraced their steps. Indeed, he was conscious of an overpowering sadness himself, as he turned his back upon the strange scene.

”Come!” said Ah Ben, with authority, leading the way.

They pa.s.sed up the grand stairway to the terrace, entering the room at the same window by which they had left it, and Ah Ben closed the sash and drew the curtains behind them.

A moment later Paul went to the window and looked out. There was an old moon, and the forest beneath lay bathed in its mellow light. The sudden transition to his former state was no less astounding than the first.

”Which, think you, is the most real,” asked the old man, ”the scene before us now, or the one we have left behind?”

Paul could not answer. He was revolving in his mind the marvels he had just witnessed. He could not understand how hypnotism could have created such a world as he had just beheld. It was not a whit less tangible, visible, or audible than that in which he had always lived, and he could not help looking upon Ah Ben as a creature far removed from his own sphere of life. How had the man acquired such powers?

These and other thoughts were rus.h.i.+ng through his mind. Presently his host touched him lightly upon the shoulder, and said:

”Come, let us descend into the hall again, and finish our pipes.”

And so they wandered back through the silent house to the old pew by the fire; and Ah Ben, stirring up the embers and adding fresh fuel, said:

”Although it is late, Mr. Henley, I do not feel inclined for bed; and if you are of the same mind, should be glad of your company.”

Paul was glad of an excuse to sit up, and so settled himself upon the sofa, absorbed in meditation. The firelight flickered over their faces and the strange pictures on the wall, and the head of Tsong Kapa shone more plainly than ever before. The portraits on the stairs were as weird and incomprehensible as they had appeared on the first night of his arrival; and the old man and the girl, and their strange life, seemed even more deeply involved in mystery than they had upon that occasion. Paul was now beset with conflicting emotions. The gloom of the house was more oppressive than before; and were it not for his sudden and unaccountable affection for Dorothy, he might have left it at once, had it not again been for the vision of splendor and happiness just faded from his sight. He could not bear the thought of losing forever the sensation of life and power and ecstasy just beginning to dawn upon him, when so cruelly s.n.a.t.c.hed away; and but for Ah Ben he knew he should hope in vain for its return. Naturally, his emotions were strong and tearing him in opposite directions. The old man perceiving the depression of spirits into which his guest had fallen, reminded him gently of his warning regarding the shock of occult manifestation to those who were unprepared.

”It is not that so much,” answered Paul, ”as the regret I feel at having left it all behind. When a man has only just begun to experience the sensation of life--_of real life_--to find himself suddenly plunged back into a dungeon with chains upon his shoulders, you must admit the shock is terrible.”

”Do I not know it?” answered the old man feelingly. ”The return is far more to be dreaded than the escape into that life which you were at first inclined to call unreal; and yet, Mr. Henley, you must admit that it is difficult to decide the question of reality between the two worlds.”