Why should one be afraid of a ghost! And I saw at a glance that, as you say, you were in the flesh.

I suppose you have come to inquire about your money.

It is quite safe, my dear sir, and at your disposal, and you will find that it has materially increased.

I will call for the ledger, and you shall see." The ledger was brought in by a business-looking young man, whom the old merchant introduced to me as his nephew and partner, Mynheer Bernhard Van Voorst.
"This is Mr.Fortescue, Bernhard," he said, "the English gentleman who was dead--I mean that I thought he was dead, but is alive--and who many years ago left in my hands a sum of about two thousand piasters.

Turn to his account and see how much there is now to his credit ?" "At the last balance the amount to Mr.Fortescue's credit was six thousand two hundred piasters."[2] [2] At the time in question, "piaster" was a word often used as an equivalent for "dollar," both in the "Gulf ports" and the West Indies.
"You see! Did I not say so?
Your capital is more than doubled." "More than doubled! How so ?" "We have credited you with the colonial rate of interest--ten per cent .-- as was only right, seeing that you had no security, and we had used the money in our business; and my friend, compound interest at ten per cent, is a great institution.