"Nevertheless," urged Paul, "if you won't consider me a trifler, I
should like to see a further manifestation of the power."

Ah Ben looked at him compassionately.

"Pardon me, Mr. Henley," he said, "but it is not always well to
gratify our curiosity upon such a subject; but if you seriously wish
it, and can believe in me as an honest and honorable custodian of the
power, and will prepare yourself for a serious mental shock, I will
show you something."

"Before proceeding," said Paul, "I should like to ask you a question.
Was the room I saw through the chimney a real room? I mean had it any
material existence upon earth?"

"Most assuredly. It was a scene in my early childhood, and originated
in the Valley of the Jhelum, in the Punjab. The officer and lady were
my parents. It was the last time I ever saw them. I was the boy."

"May I ask how it is possible to reproduce a scene so long passed out
of existence, and which took place so many thousand miles away?"

"Easily told, but not so easily understood by one whose mind has
never been trained to think in these occult channels," answered the
elder man; "for to understand the thing at all, you must first divest
your mind of time and space as outside entities, for these are in
reality but modes of thought, and have only such value as we give
them. India, doubtless, seems very far to you, but to one whose
powers of will have been sufficiently developed, it is no farther
than the wall of this room. So it is with time. How can we see that
which no longer exists? But a little reflection will show us that
even on the physical plane we see that which does not exist every day
of our lives. Look at the stars. The light by which some of them are
recognized has been millions of years in transit, so that we do not
behold them as they are tonight, but as they were at that remote
period of time; meanwhile they may have been wrecked and scattered in
meteoric dust."