"Where will my body remain during the time I am incarnated in yours?"
"In this house," said the doctor, rising and going over to the fireplace. "As there was danger that my body might be meddled with by ignorant people during the periods my soul was absent, it was necessary to place it in safety, so I sent my servant away for a few weeks and had a secret chamber constructed, about which he knows nothing. When I want to assume my astral body I tell him I am going out of town for a few days so that he may not think my disappearance strange. Then I enter into my secret chamber, leave my body there and go where I will, knowing that my fleshly envelope is safe till I return. When you entered to-night, however, I left my body sitting in yonder chair, but your presence warned my spirit of danger to the physical part of myself, so I returned in time to stay your exit."
"Where is this secret chamber," asked Adrian, rising, now more inclined to believe the fantastic story of the doctor. "Can I see it?"
"Certainly, it is important you should know it as you will have to leave your present body in it for safety. Look!"
He touched a spring in the mantelpiece, whereupon the whole of the fireplace swung round on a kind of pivot, showing that the back was hollow and that a narrow flight of steps led downward into darkness. Roversmire lighted a candle which stood on the mantelpiece, then taking it in his hands, bent down and entered into the cavity, beckoning to Adrian to follow. The young man did so, and as soon as they were on the verge of the steps, the doctor, touching another spring in the stone wall, caused the fireplace to swing back again into its place.
"You see, anyone in the room could not tell we were hidden here," said Roversmire, smiling. "Come downstairs and I will show you the secret of the pyramid."
Somewhat bewildered by this strange experience, Adrian followed the doctor down the narrow stairs guided by the glimmering light of the taper. They went down for some distance, then found themselves in a small square vault, with room enough for three people to stand in it. Roversmire again touched a spring and one part of the wall slid slowly aside, showing a space beyond in utter darkness.
"Another precaution, you see," said the doctor, pointing to the third spring. "Anyone who found the first secret would never guess the second. Come!"
He advanced into the vault, and going towards one end of it turned an ivory handle fixed in the wall, whereupon the whole apartment was irradiated with a powerful electric light. Adrian gave an exclamation of surprise and put his hands over his eyes as they felt quite painful in the sudden glare after the dense darkness, only lighted by the candle.
It was a moderate-sized apartment, circular in shape, with a domed roof of pure white, painted with signs of the Zodiac, and from the centre blazed the electric light hidden in a large semi-opaque globe. The walls were hung with strange tapestries of brilliant colours, whereon were depicted the animal gods of Egypt and the fantastic deities of India, while the floor was covered by a thick, soft carpet with a bizarre pattern in blue, yellow and red, the outcome of some opium-confused, oriental imagination. At one side of this queer place was a low couch covered with a magnificent tiger skin, and near at hand a mother-of-pearl inlaid Moorish table, whereon stood a decanter of red wine and some glasses, together with a plate of white bread.