The Ghost of Guir House

Paul looked aghast. Easy enough was it now to comprehend how the man

had talked so familiarly of death and the next life after having

actually crossed the threshold and passed into 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 man. Paul felt sure of it. And yet here were

revealed mysteries never dreamed of; one of which was even now

producing an occult spell. Henley drew a deep breath in agony of

spirit.

After a moment's pause, the old man continued: "Ghosts, Mr. Henley, are as real as you; and when a spirit returns to

earth in visible form, it is the result of some disquieting influence

immediately before the death of the body, or, as I might say,

previous to the new life. At the hour of physical birth, such

influences cause idiocy or such imperfection of the bodily functions

that death ensues, and the spirit returns to seek another entrance

into 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;

and if this continues, he becomes not only a haunting spirit, but a

materialized one, visible to certain people under certain conditions,

and compelled to live out his life amid the scenes which had so

attracted him. This, Mr. Henley, has been my case. I shall live upon

earth, and be visible to the spiritually susceptible, until the

strong impression made at the hour of death shall have worn away."

"And the young lady, is she your daughter?" inquired Paul.

"She is my daughter," answered the old man solemnly.

"How comes it, then, that she addresses you by so singular a name?"

"It is the one she first learned to use in infancy. As I partially

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

English. The name Ah Ben belongs to the maternal side of my family."

"Another question--more vital than any I have yet asked, because it

concerns my own well-being and happiness," continued Paul; "how is it

possible that Dorothy can live in a place like this with a being who

is only semi-material?