said Mrs. Besant cheerfully. "There is nothing improbable about it. Very
possibly she has this faculty. It is not so uncommon as you think. But
its exercise is rather dangerous, and I hope she is well instructed."
"How?" I asked. "Oh," Mrs. Besant replied, "it is all right if she knows
what she is about, but it is just as dangerous to go waltzing about on
the astral plane as it is for a girl to go skylarking down a dark slum
when roughs are about. Elementals, with the desire to live, greedily
appropriating the vitality and the passions of men, are not the
pleasantest companions. Nor can other astrals of the dead, who have met
with sudden or violent ends, and whose passions are unslaked, be
regarded as desirable acquaintances. If she knows what she is about,
well and good. But otherwise she is like a child playing with dynamite."

"But what is an astral body?"

Mrs. Besant replied, "There are several astrals, each with its own
characteristics. The lowest astral body taken in itself is without
conscience, will, or intelligence. It exists as a mere shadowy phantasm
only as long as the material body lasts." "Then the mummies in the
Museum?" "No doubt a clairvoyant could see their astrals keeping their
silent watch by the dead. As the body decays so the astral fades away."
"But that implies the possibility of a decaying ghost?" "Certainly. An
old friend of mine, a lady who bears a well-known name, was once haunted
for months by an astral. She was a strong-minded girl, and she didn't
worry. But it was rather ghastly when the astral began to decay. As the
corpse decomposed the astral shrank, until at last, to her great relief,
it entirely disappeared."

Mrs. Besant mentioned the name of the lady, who is well known to many of
my readers, and one of the last to be suspected of such haunting.

Chapter II.

The Evidence of the Psychical Research Society.

In that great text-book on the subject, "The Phantasms of the Living,"
by Messrs. Gurney, Myers, and Podmore, the phenomenon of the Thought
Body is shown to be comparatively frequent, and the Psychical Research
Society have about a hundred recorded instances. I will only quote here
two or three of the more remarkable cases mentioned in these imposing
volumes.

The best case of the projection of the Thought Body at will is that
described, under the initials of "S. H. B.," in the first volume of the
"Phantasms," pp. 104-109. Mr. B. is a member of the Stock Exchange,