The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-11

and stole from the room to find Baron.
 "The man was wrecked with fever, and in his carelessness he had allowed the dis ease to gain mortal hold upon him. One glance at that cadaverous face was suffi >cient proof. I went to him now not as one goes to help the sick but as visitor at a death-bed.
 Down the same dark corridar I passed and then up the winding staircase which led to the upper stories of the opposite wing As 1 reached the first platform heard soft, descending footfall and paused to allow the other to pass, for a meeting on the narrow stairs would be awkward moment later James Baron came into view
 Here Arsgny strengthened in his chair and clasped his hands tightly together. His glance was driving deeply into the past to see that picture.
 'He wore a long bathrobe of some heavy, white material, girded with loose cord at the waist On his feet were red bedroom slippers, and in his hand he car ried one of those heavy, square lanterns of ancient make. It was unlighted, but he held it high above his head, as if to illumine his way"
 "The dream" murmured. "It was the dream which he described to you. Some knight of the old days might have been dressed in just such costume
 And Arsignay went on, his voice grown small and thin:
 'I felt as if specter were walking upon me. No, it was more terrible than that. It was as if the dead past were before me-as if were plunged at breath back in the lost centuries. It came upon me with the graveyard presence of the specter.
 'For it was not James Baron. No, no 1; the white robe was not costume. It was real. It was the robe of a belted knight, and the beard was the beard of knighthood, and the long yellow hair that blew about his face swept me back into the fantastic, beautiful days of chivalry."
 He was not speaking in metaphor, but seriously, soberly; and he said in answer to my exclamation: 'It is not hard to be- lieve in the reincarnation of human souls. Then why is it so difficult to believe that that hour was the reincarnation of mo- ment from the past? Sir, the whole spirit of dead age breathed about me!
 "When that man who should have been James Baron came close to me I saw that the unbearably bright eyes were misted- that the man was walking in his sleep. How else explain that lifted lantern?
 "I touched and stopped him with ques- ton. The unseeing glance turned upon me. He raised the lantern higher, as if to make out my face, but to him was no more than L-I C. IL spoke again, and this time he muttered an answer which froze my blood.
 'For the language which he spoke was fluent Latin. l knew enough to understand that much, though 1 could not follow the meaning. But I knew perfectly then that I was hearing the voice and the words of another James Baron, :. warrior, dead 500 years before. If you will call it illusion, nevertheless it was so strong that as he den spurs.
 "He opened the door at his right and en- tered the room into which it led. I fol- lowed, but very slowly, for my feet were heavy with ghostly fear. l pursued him through that long, dim chamber. He still carried the unlighted lantern high bove his head, and he walked as surely and swiftly as if he could see in the dark.
 "At the end of the empty room he threw open another door and the night air rushed back to me. When I came close I found him standing on one of those two balconies that overlooked the court far below. Rain had fallen, and now the pavement glim- mered like water.
 "I glanced up and saw that the clouds were blown tumhlinp hack before the face