Dolly was going to school in Paris for a year . Business prevented my accompanying them even as far as New York , but Gilbert Chester , my wife 's brother , was going with them . They were to sail on the Aragon the next morning . `` I had written steadily for about an hour . At last , growing tired , I threw down my pen and , leaning back in my chair , was on the point of lighting a cigar when an unaccountable impulse made me turn round . I dropped my cigar and sprang to my feet in amazement . There was only one door in the room and I had all along been facing it . I could have sworn nobody had entered , yet there , standing between me and the bookcase , was a man -- and that man was my brother Charles ! `` There was no mistaking him ; I saw him as plainly as I see you . He was a tall , rather stout man , with curly hair and a fair , close-clipped beard . He wore the same light-grey suit which he had worn when bidding us good-bye on the morning of his departure for New Orleans . He had no hat on , but wore spectacles , and was standing in his old favourite attitude , with his hands behind him . `` I want you to understand that at this precise moment , although I was surprised beyond measure , I was not in the least frightened , because I did not for a moment suppose that what I saw was -- well , a ghost or apparition of any sort . The thought that flashed across my bewildered brain was simply that there had been some absurd mistake somewhere , and that my brother had never died at all , but was here , alive and well . I took a hasty step towards him . '' ` Good heavens , old fellow ! ' I exclaimed . ` Where on earth have you come from ? Why , we all thought you were dead ! ' `` I was quite close to him when I stopped abruptly .
Somehow I could n't move another XXXXX .
brain hands hat man mistake nobody pen school step suit