"Has it?" cried the old man, his eyes fixed full upon Henley's face.

"I admit," he continued, "that it has taught us to rely upon luxuries that eat out the life while pampering the body. It has taught us to depend upon the poison that paralyzes the will, and that personal power we were speaking of. It has done much for man, I grant you, but its efforts have been mainly directed to his destruction."

"No man can be happy without health," answered Paul, "and surely you will admit that the discoveries of the last few decades have done much to improve his physical condition."

He was nestling back into the corner of his lounge, where the shadow of the mantelpiece screened his face, and enabled him to look directly into Ah Ben's eyes, now fixed upon him with strange intensity. There was a power behind those eyes that was wont to impress the beholder with a species of interest which he felt might be developed into awe; and yet they were neither large nor handsome, as eyes are generally counted. Deep set, mounted with withered lids and s.h.a.ggy brows, their power was due to the manifestation of a spiritual force, a t.i.tanic will, that made itself felt, independent of material envelopment. It was the soul looking through the narrow window of mortality.

"Health?" said Ah Ben, repeating Henley's last idea interrogatively, and yet scarcely above a whisper.

"Yes, health," answered Paul. "I maintain that the old maxim of 'early to bed' says something on that score, as well as on that of wealth."

"True, but you said that a man must needs be healthy to be happy."

"That's it, and I maintain that it's a pretty good a.s.sertion."

"There again we must differ. Happiness should be independent of bodily conditions, whether those conditions mean outward luxury or inward ease. I must again refer you to the prize-fighter. But if you will pardon me, I think you have put the cart before the horse; for once having granted that personal power, happiness must ensue, and your health as a necessity follow. First cultivate this occult force, and we need submit to no physical laws; for inasmuch as the higher controls the lower, we are masters of our own bodies."

"That is a pretty good prescription for those who are able to follow it, but for my humble attainments I'd rather depend on physic and a virtuous life."

"Quite so," answered Ah Ben, thoughtfully, "but, speaking frankly, this limitation of your powers to the chemical action of your body only shows the narrowness of your scientific training. Had men been taught the power of the will as the underlying principle of every effect, one drug would have proved quite as efficacious as another, and bread pills would have met the requirements of the world."

"But in the state of imbecility in which we happen to find ourselves," added Paul, "I should think that a judicious application of the world's wisdom would be better than trifling with theories one does not comprehend."

"As I said just now," observed Ah Ben, "I have no desire to force my private views upon another, but I must distinctly object to the word 'theory,' as a.s.sociated with my positive knowledge on this subject.

Every man must do as he thinks right, and as suits him best; but, for my part, I have disregarded all the physical laws of health during an unusually long life."

Paul straightened himself up, and looked at his host in the hope of a further explanation.

"I don't think I quite understand you!"

"Yes," said Ah Ben, repeating the sentence slowly and emphasizing the words, "_I disregard all laws usually considered essential to living at all_!"

Henley was silent for a minute in a vain effort to decide whether or not he were speaking seriously. He could not help remembering his abstinence from food, but at the time had not doubted the man had eaten between meals.

"Then you certainly ought to know all about it," he continued, relaxing into his former position, but quite unsettled as to Ah Ben's intention.

"You must admit that I have had sufficient time to be an authority unto myself, if not to others," added the old man. And then as he pressed the ashes down into the bowl of his pipe with his long emaciated fingers, and watched the little threads of smoke as they came curling out from under his thick moustache, Paul could only admit that the gravity of his bearing was inconsistent with a humorous interpretation of his words.

"You interest me greatly," resumed Henley, after scrutinizing the singular face before him for several minutes, in a kind of mesmeric fascination, "and I should like to ask what you mean by the cultivation of this occult power of which you spoke?"

"It is only to be acquired by the supremest quality of self-control, as I told you yesterday," answered Ah Ben; "but when once gained, no man would relinquish it for the gold of a thousand Solomons! You would have proof of what I tell you? Well, some day perhaps you will!"

Henley started. The man had read his thoughts. It was the very question upon his lips.

"You are a mind reader!" cried Paul. "How did you know I was going to ask you that?"

Ah Ben made no answer; he did not even smile, but continued to gaze into the fire and blow little puffs of smoke toward the chimney.

"You referred just now to the prize-fighter," Paul resumed after a few minutes, "but I am going to squelch that argument."

"Yes," Ah Ben replied, now with his eyes half closed, "you are going to tell me that, although the man may have been battered and bruised, he really feels no pain, because of the unnatural excitement of the moment; but there you only rivet the argument against yourself; for I maintain--and not from theory, but from knowledge--that that very excitement is an exaltation of the spirit, which may be cultivated and relied upon to conquer pain and the ills of the flesh forever!"

"It would go far indeed if it could do all that, although I believe there is something in what you say, for in a small way I have seen it myself."

"Yes, we have all seen it in a small way; and does it not seem strange that men have never thought of cultivating it in a larger way, through the exercise of their will in controlling their minds and bodies? This exaltation of spirit is only attained through effort, or some great physical shock. It is the secret of all power; it conquers all pain, and makes disease impossible."

"Makes disease impossible!" cried Paul in astonishment.

"Yes," answered the elder man quietly. "This soul power, of which I speak, is the hidden akasa in all men--it is the man himself--and when once recognized, the body is relegated to its proper sphere as the servant, and not the master; then it is that man realizes his own power and supremacy over all things."

"But," persisted Henley, "if you go so far as to say that this occult or soul power can conquer disease, you would have us all living forever!"

"We do live forever," answered Ah Ben.

"Yes, after death; but I mean here!"

"_There is no such thing as death_!" remarked Ah Ben quietly, as if he were merely giving expression to a well-established scientific fact.

"And yet we see it about us every day," Paul replied.

"There you are wrong, for no man has ever seen that which never occurs!"

"You are quibbling with words," suggested Henley.

"There is a change at a certain period in a man's life, which, from ignorance, people have agreed to call death. But it is a misnomer, for man never dies. He goes right on living; and it is generally a considerable time before he realizes the change that has taken place in him. He would laugh at the word death, as understood upon earth, as indeed he frequently does, for he is far more alive than ever before."

"You speak as if you knew all this," said Paul. "One might almost imagine that you had been in the other world yourself."

"_Had been_!" exclaimed the old man with emphasis. "_I am in it now, and so are you. But there is a difference between us; I know that I am in it, because I can see it, and touch it, and hear it; while you are in it without knowing it_."

There was an air of authority that impressed the hearer with the conviction of the speaker. This was not theory; it was the result of experience. There was a difference as vast as the night from the day.

"I suppose, when I am dead, I shall know these things too," said Paul meditatively.

"No," answered Ah Ben, "not when you are dead, but when you have been born--when you have come into life."

"Pardon me," answered Paul, pondering on the man's strange a.s.sertion; "but this knowledge of yours is in demand more than all other knowledge. Positive information about the other world is what men have sought through all the ages; why do you not impart it to them?"

"Impart it!" exclaimed Ah Ben. "Can you explain to one who has been born blind what it is to see? Can you impart to such a man any true conception of the world in which he has always lived? But _couch_ his eyes, remove the worthless film that has covered them, and for the first time he realizes the glorious world surrounding him. Likewise _couch_ the body, remove the sh.e.l.l that covers the spirit, and it is born."

"I perceive, then, that it is only through death that most of us can hope to gain this knowledge."

"Death, if you prefer the word," said Ah Ben. "Yes, it is the death of the film over the eye that reveals the world to the blind; but I should hardly say that the man was dead because he had so entered into another existence."

"Would you mind telling me how it is that you have gained this knowledge in such obvious exception to the rule!"

"The power of the occult is dormant in all men," answered Ah Ben; "and as I have already said, may be developed slowly, through the exercise of the will, or suddenly, as in some great physical shock, and of a necessity comes to all in the event called death. Were I to tell you how _I_ acquired this knowledge, Mr. Henley, it would startle you, far more than any exhibition of the power itself. No, I can not tell you; at least, not at present; perhaps some day you may be better prepared to hear it."

The spark in the hanging lamp had almost expired, and the fire was reduced to a mere handful of coals, casting an erubescent glow over the pew and its occupants. Ah Ben stretched his hand toward the chimney, and as he did so, a ball of misty light appeared against it, just below the mantel. It was ill defined and hazy, like the reflection a firefly will sometimes make against the ceiling of a darkened room; but it was fixed, and Paul was sure it had not been there a moment before.

"Do you see that?" asked the old man, breaking the silence.