The Dissection Of A Soul
"The history of my life which I am about to relate to you is known to
no one, and I only reveal it now as it is necessary for the success of
the experiment I contemplate making that you should know all about me.
I am generally supposed to be a cosmopolitan as I speak many
languages, have travelled a great deal, and physically resemble the
natives of no particular country. As a matter of fact, however, I am
of mixed blood, my father being an Irish adventurer, and my mother a
pure-blooded Hindoo. This blending of the East and the West gave me on
the one hand a strong physique, and on the other a reflective brain,
so that I was eminently fitted for the strange career I chose to lead
during the earlier part of my life.
"My father went out to India when it was ruled by the H.E.I.C. and,
being an unscrupulous man, determined to make money in the easiest way
he could. A chance soon presented itself, for my mother, the daughter
of a high priest of Brahma, fell in love with his handsome face, and
yielding to his protestations of love, gave up her country, religion
and parents in order to fly with him, which she did, carrying with her
no inconsiderable amount of wealth, principally consisting of gems
stolen from the treasury of the temple.
"My parents came to England and, shortly after I was born, my mother,
unable to bear the rigour of the English climate, died, while my
father shortly afterwards followed her to the grave, being assisted
there, as I strongly suspect, by a Hindoo servant who resented his
treatment of my mother. This servant, by name Lai Chunder, then
returned to India, taking with him the remnant of the stolen jewels
and myself, the offspring of the ill-fated marriage. The jewels were
restored to the temple of the offended god, and I was given in charge
of my grandfather, the high priest, while Lai Chunder, having lost
caste by crossing the ocean, was purified before the shrine of Brahma
and then sent forth as a fakir to do penance for the rest of his life.
"Seeing that I was partly Irish, and the offspring of a man he hated,
my grandfather was not at all prepossessed in my favour, and I have
often wondered that he did not kill me by some subtle means known to
his sect, but whatever power may have withheld his hand, he did not do
so, but at first tolerated my presence and afterwards grew very fond
of me. My mixed blood prevented me from becoming a priest, but my
grandfather taught me all the lore of the temple, and being a
remarkably quick child I soon picked up a great deal of curious
knowledge. The East, as you know, has always been much more
accomplished in esoteric learning than the West, seeing that the
Asiatics study the operations of the spirit, while the Europeans
confine themselves mostly to the material wants of man, so that having
a vein of Eastern mysticism in my blood coming from my mother's side,
I became deeply versed in occult science.
"As the years rolled by, I was initiated into the most profound
mysteries and by subjecting my body to the ordeal of fasting, as
practised by the fakirs and yoghis of Hindostan, I gained a wonderful
command over the spiritual part of myself. Unluckily, my grandfather
died just as I was attaining the last secrets of Eastern psychology,
and, his influence being withdrawn, his fellow priests determined to
kill me as one knowing too much of their secrets and dangerous to the
brotherhood. Fortunately, however, my learning stood me in good stead
for I discovered my danger and fled from the neighbourhood. This would
not have saved me, seeing that the priests had at their command
secrets which, if used, would have annihilated me physically by
disintegrating my body, and sending my soul forth to the infinite
without its fleshy envelope.
"At this critical stage of my career, however, I chanced to meet my
old friend, Lai Chunder, who was still engaged in his life-long
penance, and by his power I was protected in a great measure from the
malignity of the Brahmins. Lai Chunder was a man who had a marvellous
knowledge of those secrets of psychological science for which the
self-complacent savants of Europe profess such profound contempt. For
them the Hindoo trinity of Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver,
and Siva the Destroyer, instead of being the visible emblems of a
subtle religious system, are merely the proof of a gross idolatry.
Thanks to my Indian blood, my initiation into the secret brotherhood,
and my acquaintance with the learned yoghi, Lai Chunder, I was enabled
to pierce the painted veil which hid the shrine from the eyes of the
common people and participate in the wonderful secrets of
metempsychosis won from the spiritual world through long centuries of
patient work.
"I remained a long time with Lai Chunder, submitted myself to
prolonged fastings, to terrible ordeals which required a soul of iron
to withstand, and after years of self-torture, months of motionless
contemplations, and long weeks of ardent study, I arrived at a
profound knowledge of the hidden mysteries of the spiritual world. The
ordeal was a frightful one, physically as well as mentally, but thanks
to the tremendous vital powers I inherited from my father, and the
subtle intellect which was the gift of my mother, I survived years of
anguish and suffering, attaining at last the wished-for goal. I could
leave this tenement of clay at will, and could send my astral body
whither I desired.
"I could indulge in the dreams of a god, and partake of the joys of
Paradise even before my body had perished from this earth. Willingly
would I have remained away for ever and let my pain-twisted, scarred
body return to the earth from whence it originally sprung, but the
laws of the Universe prevented me; my time had not yet come, and I was
forced to return at certain intervals and re-incarnate myself in this
body which I now wear.
"One secret Lai Chunder withheld from me--a secret which I ardently
desired to learn, namely, how to incarnate my own soul or that of
another human being's in a separate body. I have seen my master leave
his own body apparently lifeless, and re-incarnate his soul in a
corpse; the dead arose, walked, talked, and lived under the animating
influence of the soul of Lai Chunder, and then returned to its former
lifeless condition when the animating soul came back once more to its
accustomed tenement. This secret was withheld from me, as Lai Chunder
considered I had not achieved a sufficient degree of purification to
be blessed with such a boon, so in order to gain this last secret I
travelled to Thibet and took up my abode with the mystic brotherhood
who have their home in those distant wilds. I remained some years with
them, and, at last, having attained the highest degree of spirituality
possible for a denizen of this planet, I returned to Lai Chunder, whom
I found on the point of death. His hour had come, and his soul was
about to leave his emaciated body for the last time. Previous,
however, to his departure, being satisfied with my efforts to deserve
knowledge, he initiated me into the last secret of all, and then his
soul departed from this earth for ever, to return to the spirit world
from whence it originally came.
"When this took place I eagerly tried the effect of my newly-acquired
knowledge, and, leaving my own body, I projected my soul into the
shell of Lai Chunder. The experiment was entirely successful, for in
the guise of Lai Chunder I arose and walked, while at my feet my
former tenement remained motionless and empty. The laws of the
universe, however, forced me to return once more to my own body, and
having done so, I buried the mortal part of the yoghi in the earth to
resolve into its original elements, and then left India for Europe.
"I did this as I was still an object of enmity to the priests, and
although I now possessed spiritual powers equal to their own, was
unwilling to come into collision with them in any way. I had plenty of
money, and, as far as material wants were concerned, I was amply
provided; while, of course, my life-long studies gave me complete
command over the spiritual part of myself.
"I only arrived in England last year, and established myself in this
house, which I found convenient to the city and also isolated enough
to permit me to live my own life without comment. I have one servant,
whom I hired when I first settled down, and he serves me sufficiently
well--that is, he does everything necessary for my material wants, and
speaks to no one about the life I lead. I frequently leave my body for
days, and soar, untrammelled, through the wide expanse of the
infinite--I have strange visions, wild dreams, unexplainable
ecstacies--and my only regret is, that being bound by the laws of the
universe, which are fixed and unalterable, I have to return at certain
intervals to this body. Of course, my servant knows nothing of my
trances, as his knowledge of me is bounded by the life I lead in this
house.
"Curiously enough, in spite of my years of spiritual training, my
material desires were not yet conquered, and six months after my
arrival in this country I fell in love. What attracted me most about
the young lady I became attached to, was not her beauty of face and
form, although in both of these she was pre-eminent, but the strong
masculine spirit which inhabited her feminine body. I was introduced
to her through the medium of her father, on whom I called to deliver a
letter of introduction from a friend in India. Finding that my
material nature had surrendered to the spell she had cast over me, I
determined to marry her and initiate her into the mysteries of occult
science, so that, like myself, her soul would be able to leave her
body and fly side by side with mine through infinite space. She,
however, was already in love with a young man about her own age, and,
not finding my ancient years and my scarred and emaciated body
sufficiently attractive, refused to marry me--so, after many trials,
failing to shake her resolution, I gave up all thought of attaining my
object and returned here to await in patience the period of my
solution, when my soul will at last leave this body and reside for
ever in the unseen world which it loves.
"You may imagine that, now the only being I ever loved has so
disdainfully trampled on the affection I offered her, I have no wish
to stay on the earth longer than I can help. As I told you, however,
the laws of the universe do not permit me to leave my body until the
period appointed by God. Although I am now sixty years of age, and my
body has been exposed to tortures and privations which would have
killed an ordinary man, yet I still live on, and, so far as I can see,
there is no probability of my dying for some years. Ardently desiring,
however, to cut short my period of earth-life, I sought for some other
solution of the enigma besides death. I could not die, and I dare not
kill myself, for suicide is terribly punished in the spiritual world
as soul-murder, but by means of my communings, while in the spirit,
with the inhabitants of distant spheres, I have discovered that if I
can obtain a soul willing to inhabit my own body and work out its
allotted years, my own soul can leave the world for ever.
"This solution perplexed me very much, as I did not know where to find
a man who would be willing to leave his own body and incarnate himself
in this withered trunk which goes by the name of Dr. Michael
Roversmire.
"I thought, however, that chance might send me someone willing to do
what I wanted, and the garden door was left open by me so that some
stranger might be drawn hither by my strong desire for his services.
Had it been a burglar, I would have offered him the choice of being
arrested for his attempt to rob my house, or of being incarnated in my
body, enjoying my income and working out the balance of my life.
"Though some weeks have passed, no one came however, but to-night you
presented yourself, and I think you will be an excellent subject for
my purpose. You have committed a murder, and in your own body are in
danger of being hanged. I therefore propose that you should conceal
yourself in my frame and work out my allotted span of life, so that my
soul can leave the world without sin and mingle for ever with the pure
spirits who inhabit the unseen universe.
"You see, therefore, that if you are agreeable to my plan, I can
secure you from all earthly harm by incarnating your soul in my body.
As Adrian Lancaster, to-morrow will see you in prison, and a few
weeks, possibly on the scaffold, but concealed in the personality of
Dr. Michael Roversmire, you will be able to defy everyone and lead
whatever life you desire.
"Now I have told you my story you can ask me whatever questions you
please, but I think I have put the question plainly before you, and it
remains with yourself whether you will accede to my request and
incarnate yourself in my body or, as Adrian Lancaster, run the risk of
arrest and an ignominious death at the hands of the law."