question philosophically considered, Sefton could have done no such
thing; but where no relations existed, he reasoned, or rather assumed,
the one could not be materially present to the other; _a fortiori_ there
could be no passing of the one through the other! Where the ghost was,
the hand was; both existed in the same space at the same time; therefore
the one did not penetrate the other! The ghost, he held, never saw
Sefton, knew or thought of his presence, or was aware of any intrusive
outrage from his hand! He shrunk none the less, however, from such
phantasmic presence as Sefton had described; a man's philosophy made but
a fool of him when it came to the pinch! He would indeed like to see a
ghost, but not to be alone with one!

Here came back to him a certain look in Lufa's face, which he had not
understood: was it possible she knew something about the thing? Could
this be the house where it took place, where the ghost appeared? The
room in which he sat was very old! the pictures in it none but for their
age would hang up on any wall! And the bed was huger and gloomier than
he had ever elsewhere seen! It was on the second-floor too! What if this
was the very room the officer slept in!

He must run into port, find shelter from the terrors of the shoreless
sea of the unknown! But all the harbor he could seek, was bed and closed
eyes! The dark is a strange refuge from the darkness--yet that which
most men seek. It is so dark! let us go further from the light! Thus
deeper they go, and come upon greater terrors! He undressed hurriedly,
blew out his candles, and by the light of the fire, glowing rather than
blazing, plunged into the expanse which glimmered before him like a lake
of sleep in the moonshine of dreams.

The moment he laid down his head, he became aware of what seemed