Chapter 3

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."