The Ghost of Guir House

"This is Ah Ben, Mr. Henley, of whom I have spoken," said Dorothy,

rising.

The old man extended his hand and bowed most courteously. He hoped

that they had had a pleasant drive from the station, and then took

his seat beside the fire.

Paul was dumfounded. Probably he was expected to know all about the

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

century. How could he so have misinterpreted what he had heard?

Ah Ben stretched his long bony fingers to the fire, and observed that

the nights were beginning to grow quite cold.

"Yes," said Henley, "I had hardly expected to find the season so far

advanced in your Southern home."

"Our altitude more than amends for our latitude," answered the old

man; and then, taking a pair of massive tongs from the corner of the

mantel, he stirred the balsam logs into a fierce blaze, starting a

myriad 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 scythe was broken; his limbs were in shackles, and his body

covered with chains. It was an original conception, and Henley could

not help asking if Time had really been checked in his onward march

at Guir House.

"Ah!" said Dorothy, "that is a symbol of a great truth; but I am not

surprised at your asking"; then, turning to the old man, added: "Mr.

Henley has not yet been shown to his room, and I am sure he would

like to see it. It is the west chamber."

"True," said Ah Ben, rising and taking a candle from the mantel,

which he lighted with a firebrand; "if Mr. Henley will follow me, I

shall take pleasure in pointing it out to him."

Paul followed the elder man up the black stairs, through devious

passages, and past doors with pictured panels, until he began to

wonder if he could ever find his way back again. At last they stopped

before a rough door, hung with massive hinges stretching half way

across it, discolored with rust, and looking as if they had not been

moved in an age, and which creaked dismally as Ah Ben entered.

"This will be your room," he said, bowing courteously, and placing

the candle upon the table near the chimney. He then reminded Henley

that their evening meal would soon be ready. "If there is anything

further which you will need, pray let me know," he added, and then

retired.