he has no more use for worldly wealth than he has for the drainings
of a sewer."

"Do you mean to say that by a course of life--"

"I do, and it is this: _Self-control is the law of psychic power_."

"Then, according to your theory, the better mastery a man has over
himself, the more he can accomplish and the greater his happiness?"

"I go still further," the old man continued. "I claim that _self-control
is the only source of happiness, and that he who can control his
body--and by this I mean his eyes, his nerves, his tongue, his appetites
and passions--can control other men; but he who is master of his mind,
his thoughts, his desires, his emotions, has the world in a sling. Such
a man is all powerful; there is nothing he can not accomplish; there is
no force that can stand against him_."

The fire had died out, save for a few glowing embers, but Ah Ben's
singular face seemed to draw unto itself what light there was, and to
hold Henley's eyes in a kind of mesmeric fascination. He had put off
going to bed for the sole purpose of gaining some knowledge of the
house and its inmates; and yet now, with apparently nothing to hinder
his investigations, he felt an unaccountable diffidence about making
the inquiries. An impression that the man was a mind-reader had
doubtless increased this embarrassment, and yet he had had no
evidence of this kind, nor anything to indicate such a fact beyond
the keen, penetrating power of those marvelous eyes. Paul felt that
there was a mental chasm, deep and wide and impassable, that yawned
between him and the strange individual before him. Such stupendous