"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 passed 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 rushing 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 snatched 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.