and his bones were massive. but could not resist his fascination.

 wheeling perambulators and talking
 wheeling perambulators and talking. but it was hard to say whether he was telling the truth or merely pulling your leg. but Margaret had kept him an empty seat between herself and Miss Boyd. and then came to the room downstairs and ordered dinner. He opened his eyes. gnomes. to her outbursts. put down the sheet of paper and struck a match. He's a failure.'I think he has an extraordinarily good face. a smile that was even more terrifying than the frown of malice. She was touched also by an ingenuous candour which gave a persuasive charm to his abruptness.'Look. like most of us. not unlike the pipe which Pan in the hills of Greece played to the dryads.'Haddo told her that they could be married before the Consul early enough on the Thursday morning to catch a train for England. kissed her. or is he laughing up his sleeve at the folly of those who take him seriously? I cannot tell. but. adjuring it mentally by that sign not to terrify. Presently they came to a man who was cutting silhouettes in black paper.'No. but writhed strangely.He smiled.Arthur Burdon smiled. Margaret's animation was extraordinary.' he said. where a number of artists were in the habit of dining; and from then on I dined there every night. No one could assert that it was untrue.

 So it's Hobson's choice.'Shall I light the candles?' he said.' she cried.'Would you like to go on anywhere?' he said. He threw himself into an attitude of command and remained for a moment perfectly still.'I venture to think that no private library contains so complete a collection. and he wore a long grey beard. genially holding out his hand.'Do not pay any attention to that gentleman. 'because he interests me enormously. as a result of many conversations. No moon shone in the sky.'"When he has done sweeping. notwithstanding his affectations. and the darkness of death afflicted them always._'She ran downstairs. and he walked with bowlegs. The discovery was so astounding that at first it seemed absurd. at least a student not unworthy my esteem.She felt Oliver Haddo take her hands. It had been her wish to furnish the drawing-room in the style of Louis XV; and together they made long excursions to buy chairs or old pieces of silk with which to cover them.'I want to do something for you in return for what you have done for me. Beauty really means as much to her as bread and butter to the more soberly-minded. you'd take his money without scruple if you'd signed your names in a church vestry. and I can't put him off. He opened the mouth of it. who loved to dissect her state of mind. 'And who is the stout old lady by his side.Oliver Haddo seemed extraordinarily fascinated.

She braced herself for further questions. large and sombre. my dear Clayson. though an odious attraction bound her to the man. Sometimes.''I'm sure Mr Haddo was going to tell us something very interesting about him. much diminished its size. For some reason Haddo made no resistance. for by then a great change had come into my life. towering over her in his huge bulk; and there was a singular fascination in his gaze. When I scrambled to my feet I found that she was dying.'Will you never forgive me for what I did the other day?'She answered without looking at him. and she could not let her lover pay. He was a surgeon on the staff of St Luke's.'His name is not so ridiculous as later associations have made it seem.'I will buy tickets for you all. At first Susie could not discover in what precisely their peculiarity lay. she was growing still.' laughed Susie. and it is certainly very fine. his astral body having already during physical existence become self-conscious. It was a faint. and it struggled with its four quaint legs. shepherds. if we want to go to the fair we must start. A fierce rage on a sudden seized Arthur so that he scarcely knew what he was about. he dressed himself at unseasonable moments with excessive formality. The dog ceased its sobbing.Nancy ClerkIt was an old friend.

There was an uncomfortable silence. and rubbed itself in friendly fashion against his legs. At last three lions appeared over a rock. recovering herself first.Oliver's face turned red with furious anger. The room was large. She has a wrinkled face and her eyes are closed. which was then twenty-eight pounds. she has been dead many times. They think by the science they study so patiently. Then he advanced a few steps. harmless youth who sat next to Margaret. 'I'll bring you a horror of yourself. In Arthur's eyes Margaret had all the exquisite grace of the statue.' smiled Margaret.'You look upon me with disgust and scorn. and he walked with bowlegs. Finally he had a desperate quarrel with one of the camp servants. but had not the presence of mind to put him off by a jest. He worked very hard.'What on earth's the matter?''I wish you weren't so beautiful. and Arthur looked at him with amazement.'Having succeeded in capturing the attention of everyone in the room. and she saw a lovely youth. quickly; and the hurricane itself would have lagged behind them. and it was with singular pleasure that Dr Porho?t saw the young man. priceless gems. For the most part they were in paper bindings.'Then he pointed out the _Hexameron_ of Torquemada and the _Tableau de l'Inconstance des D??mons_.

 It was uncanny. Arthur started a little and gave him a searching glance.'Arthur Burdon made a gesture of impatience. and winged serpents. Dr Porho?t had spoken of magical things with a sceptical irony that gave a certain humour to the subject. 'but he's very paintable. was the mother of Helen of Troy. I have never been able to make up my mind whether he is an elaborate practical joker. It contained half a card. and Roman emperors in their purple. Oliver Haddo had scarcely mentioned his name and yet had poisoned her mind.'The divine music of Keats's lines rang through Arthur's remark. She wished him to continue. were narrow and obtuse. Her features were chiselled with the clear and divine perfection of this Greek girl's; her ears were as delicate and as finely wrought. She desired with all her might not to go. and on the strength of that I rashly decided to abandon doctoring and earn my living as a writer; so. but I never ceased cordially to dislike him. She did not know why she wanted to go to him; she had nothing to say to him; she knew only that it was necessary to go.' said Dr Porho?t. What did it mean? Susie could have cried out. but the priest's faith and hers were not the same. And this countenance was horrible and fiendish. 'I'm sorry. Margaret shuddered. but secretly she was not displeased. 'I assure you that.'They meant to have tea on the other side of the river. but she had been strangely affected last night by the recollection of Haddo's words and of his acts.

 and formed a very poor opinion of it; but he was in a quandary. and he piped a weird. It had all the slim delicacy of a Japanese print. the organic from the inorganic.' pursued Haddo imperturbably. ye men of Paris. No unforeseen accident was able to confuse him. and the acrid scents of Eastern perfumes. It appeared as if his story affected him so that he could scarcely preserve his composure. that the ripe juice of the _aperitif_ has glazed your sparkling eye. and he lived on for many disgraceful years.Dr Porho?t had been making listless patterns with his stick upon the gravel.''Or.' he laughed. They stood in a vast and troubled waste. and was not disposed to pay much attention to this vehement distress. and he made it without the elaborate equipment. We told him what we wanted. The spirits were about a span long. and looked with a peculiar excitement at the mysterious array. He had thrown himself into the arrogant attitude of Velasquez's portrait of Del Borro in the Museum of Berlin; and his countenance bore of set purpose the same contemptuous smile. for he was become enormously stout. You won't try to understand. who was waiting for them to start. Without a word she rose to her feet and from a box took a white rabbit. The eyes of most people converge upon the object at which they look. practical man. There had ever been something cold in her statuesque beauty. Her heart sank.

' he answered. They separated. are impressed with the dignity of man.'If you wish it. from which my birth amply protects me. and in a moment a head was protruded. She took up a book and began to read. She seemed to stand upon a pinnacle of the temple. He sent her to school; saw that she had everything she could possibly want; and when. and she had little round bright eyes. 'I should get an answer very soon. But the students now are uneasy with the fear of ridicule. so that she might see he used no compulsion. I waited. Margaret walked slowly to the church. She left him to himself for a while.'You look as if you were posing.'Dr Porho?t looked up with a smile of irony. She had ceased to judge him. and she was ceasing to resist.'Sit down. I had hit her after all. and fair.'Not a word. and they were very restful. and the Merestons. thanks. She shuddered to think of the dull house in Harley Street and the insignificance of its humdrum duties. As their intimacy increased.

 He never hesitated. and his ancestry is no less distinguished than he asserts. This was a large room. and still they went quickly. another on Monday afternoon. he is proof against the fangs of the most venomous serpents. To have half a dozen children was in her mind much more important than to paint pictures. He gravely offered one to each of his guests. and he lived on for many disgraceful years.Then all again was void; and Margaret's gaze was riveted upon a great. I want all your strength. and it occurred to him that it might just serve to keep his theatre open for a few weeks. Some authors enjoy reading their old works; some cannot bear to. and remembered with an agony of shame the lies to which she had been forced in order to explain why she could not see him till late that day. Courtney. It was remote and strange. 'It'll give me such pleasure to go on with the small allowance I've been making you. It was like an overwhelming fragrance and she could hardly bear it.I tell you that for this art nothing is impossible. Haddo's eyes were fixed upon hers. he received the philosopher's stone from Solomon Trismosinus. He looked at Haddo curiously. and to surround your body with bands of grey flannel will certainly not increase your talent. I will give the order for you to be driven home. when first she and Margaret were introduced into this society. there you have a case that is really interesting.''Eliphas Levi talked to me himself of this evocation. she had been almost flattered. her hands behind her.

 One opinion. you had better go away. freshly bedded. I want to look at all your books. For some reason Haddo made no resistance. with a smile. and her heart was in a turmoil.'I shall start with the ice. which seemed more grey than black.There was a knock at the door. please stay as long as you like. and the further he gets from sobriety the more charming he is. "It is enough. It seemed to her that she had got out of Paris all it could give her. when he first came up. as a result of many conversations. but it could not be denied that he had considerable influence over others.'The rest of the party took up his complaint. smiling. curled over the head with an infinite grace. Haddo's eyes were fixed upon hers. in tails and a white tie. could hardly restrain a cry of terror.'Let us drink to the happiness of our life.' he answered. soulless denizens of the running streams or of the forest airs. whose face was concealed by a thick veil. All about me was the immensity of Africa and the silence. I have two Persian cats.

 David and Solomon were the most deeply learned in the Kabbalah.'Arthur protested that on the contrary the passion of hunger occupied at that moment his heart to the exclusion of all others. He placed it on the ground in the middle of the circle formed by the seats and crouched down on his haunches. operating. blushing as though she had been taken in some indiscretion. they took a cab and drove through the streets. He was no longer the same man. 'I don't know what is the matter with me.'He got up and moved towards the door. not only in English. The native closed the opening behind them. Her laughter was like a rippling brook.'Oh.'Arthur gave a little laugh and pressed her hand. where the operator. they appeared as huge as the strange beasts of the Arabian tales. But I can't sacrifice myself.''I promise you that nothing will happen. he asked him to come also. when this person brought me the very book I needed. when there can be no possible excuse. the filled cup in one hand and the plate of cakes in the other.' he said. She went along the crowded street stealthily. for there was in it a malicious hatred that startled her. Margaret hoped fervently that he would not come.' he said.'Fiddlesticks! The fashion is always beautiful.''Well.

 smoke-grimed weeds of English poor. The door is open. if her friend chaffed him. I felt that. He could not resist taking her hand. Arnold of Villanova. She was in the likeness of a young girl. It was like a procession passing through her mind of persons who were not human. She is never tired of listening to my prosy stories of your childhood in Alexandria. he flung his arms around Margaret. When the boy arrived. for heaven's sake ask me to stay with you four times a year. on which were all manner of cabbalistic signs. so I descended with incredible skill down the chimney. It choked the two women. In two hours he was dead.' said she. Porho?t translated to the others. and made a droning sound. indolent and passionate. One told me that he was tramping across America. They could not easily hasten matters. Galen. It seemed to her that she had got out of Paris all it could give her. Margaret's terror. She admired him for his talent and strength of character as much as for his loving tenderness to Margaret.' he said. He was vain and ostentatious. Her skin was colourless and much disfigured by freckles.

 A gallant Frenchman had to her face called her a _belle laide_.' he said. who have backed zero all the time. It confers wealth by the transmutation of metals and immortality by its quintessence. They might see anything that had been written or spoken. but in those days was extremely handsome. and Dr Porho?t. and fell. They were not large. Letters and the arts meant little to him.' cried Warren. Seen through his eyes.'Arthur stared at him with amazement. He leaned against the wall and stared at them. whose pictures had recently been accepted by the Luxembourg. The drawn curtains and the lamps gave the place a nice cosiness.'Can you get a pastille out of my pocket?'He swallowed a white tabloid. Then the depth of the mirror which was in front of him grew brighter by degrees. she talked and you listened with the delighted attention of a happy lover. but she looked neat in her black dress and white cap; and she had a motherly way of attending to these people. incredulously.' said Arthur. He was spending the winter in Paris. It was one of the greatest alchemical mysteries. Though the door was closed behind them and they were out of earshot. 'I'm sorry. which she took out of a case attached to his watch-chain. I knew that Oliver Haddo was his companion in that journey and had meant to read it on this account. There were ten _homunculi_--James Kammerer calls them prophesying spirits--kept in strong bottles.

 The face was horrible with lust and cruelty. whose memory for names was defective.'Arthur had an idea that women were often afflicted with what he described by the old-fashioned name of vapours. Susie began to understand how it was that. It did not take me long to make up my mind.' said the doctor. Oliver Haddo had scarcely mentioned his name and yet had poisoned her mind. Can't you see the elderly lady in a huge crinoline and a black poke bonnet.'With that long nose and the gaunt figure I should have thought you could make something screamingly funny. and the white cap was the _coiffe_ that my mother wore. The woman in the corner listlessly droned away on the drum.The other shrugged his shoulders. Half-finished canvases leaned with their faces against the wall; pieces of stuff were hung here and there.''I shall never try to make it. and educated secretly in Eastern palaces. naturally or by a habit he had acquired for effect. When Arthur recovered himself.''What is there to be afraid of?' she cried.'We'll do ourselves proud.' he commanded. yet existed mysteriously. and they seemed to whisper strange things on their passage.' cried Susie gaily. and these were filled with water. and turned round. and it was due to her influence that Margaret was arrayed always in the latest mode. The young man who settles in the East sneers at the ideas of magic which surround him. I dare say you remember that Burkhardt brought out a book a little while ago on his adventures in Central Asia. and concluded that in the world beyond they are as ignorant of the tendency of the Stock Exchange as we are in this vale of sorrow.

 is perhaps the secret of your strength. By some accident one of the bottles fell one day and was broken. as a man taps a snuff-box. She saw cardinals in their scarlet. Margaret withdrew from Arthur's embrace and lightly looked at her friend. Steam bands thundered out the popular tunes of the moment. She regained at least one of the characteristics of youth. of unimaginable grace and feeling and distinction--you can never see Paris in the same way again. like a man suddenly awaked from deep sleep. Susie was astounded. and we had a long talk. It was characteristic that. Like a man who has exerted all his strength to some end. with his soft flesh and waving hair. Work could not distract her. I didn't mean to hurt you. and wrote a full-page review of the novel in _Vanity Fair_. He was a fine man. and they mingled their tears. The atmosphere was extraordinarily peaceful. _monsieur_. perhaps two or three times. like a man racked by torments who has not the strength even to realize that his agony has ceased. if evidence as conclusive were offered of any other historical event. as if heated by a subterranean fire. but had not the courage. the sorcerer threw incense and one of the paper strips into the chafing-dish. then.She felt Oliver Haddo take her hands.

 but Eliphas experienced such a sudden exhaustion in all his limbs that he was obliged to sit down.'What a fool I am!' thought Susie. At last he took a great cobra from his sack and began to handle it. and her pity waned as he seemed to recover.He opened the door. the atmosphere of scented chambers.They began a lively discussion with Marie as to the merits of the various dishes. looking round with terror.''Your friend seems to have had as little fear of spooks as you have of lions.* * * * *Wednesday happened to be Arthur's birthday. His features were regular and fine. They sat down beside the fire.''Don't be so spiteful. He covertly laid down the principles of the doctrine in the first four books of the Pentateuch.'Susie's passion for caricature at once asserted itself. to occupy myself only with folly. but his remained parallel. he began to talk as if they were old acquaintances between whom nothing of moment had occurred. She was vaguely familiar with the music to which she listened; but there was in it. horribly repelled yet horribly fascinated. Steam bands thundered out the popular tunes of the moment. and it is the most deadly of all Egyptian snakes. I should have died. with a scarlet lining; and Warren.Dr Porho?t spoke English fluently. for it seemed to him that something from the world beyond had passed into his soul.'I could show you strange things if you cared to see them. and threw into his voice those troubling accents. my O'Brien.

 Last year it was beautiful to wear a hat like a pork-pie tipped over your nose; and next year. But Susie. and concluded that in the world beyond they are as ignorant of the tendency of the Stock Exchange as we are in this vale of sorrow. The drawn curtains and the lamps gave the place a nice cosiness. would have made such an admission to the lover who congratulated them on the success of their costume. it is by no means a portrait of him.'The lovers laughed and reddened. in a more or less finished state. I tried to find out what he had been up to.'Oliver turned to the charmer and spoke to him in Arabic. She was touched also by an ingenuous candour which gave a persuasive charm to his abruptness.' laughed Susie. The door is open. On his head was the national tarboosh. Margaret had lately visited the Luxembourg. but with a certain vacancy. One day.'When?''Very soon. and she laughed as she saw in fancy the portly little Frenchman. and Susie had the conversation to herself. and Arthur came in. It seemed no longer to matter that she deceived her faithful friends. I lost; and have never since regained. Margaret sprang to her feet. the snake darted forward. while his eyes rested on them quietly. not to its intrinsic beauty. At length she could control herself no longer and burst into a sudden flood of tears. He was grossly.

'Arthur had an idea that women were often afflicted with what he described by the old-fashioned name of vapours. was of the sort that did not alter. The fore feet and hind feet of the lioness are nearly the same size. in ample robes of dingy black. and very happy. operating. it lost no strength as it burned; and then I should possess the greatest secret that has ever been in the mind of man. And Jezebel looked out upon her from beneath her painted brows. And she seemed hardly ready for marriage. vehement intensity the curious talent of the modern Frenchman.'He gave a low weird laugh. no answer reached me. and they stared into space. Count von K??ffstein.' said Dr Porho?t. I shan't feel safe till I'm actually your wife. by contrast. I saw this gentleman every day. and his hair had already grown thin.'I've never met a man who filled me with such loathing. Mr Haddo has given you one definition of magic. Everything tended to take him out of his usual reserve. which flamed with a dull unceasing roar. many of the pages were torn.' cried Margaret vehemently. as if in pursuance of a definite plan. gravely brushing his coat.'She cried. He asked himself whether he believed seriously these preposterous things.

 and darkness fell across her eyes. they were to be married in a few weeks. second-hand.'Having succeeded in capturing the attention of everyone in the room. but Margaret and Arthur were too much occupied to notice that she had ceased to speak. With Circe's wand it can change men into beasts of the field. She gave a little cry of surprise. her words were scarcely audible.'His voice was quite natural once more. of all the books that treat of occult science. Downstairs was a public room. and whether a high-heeled pointed shoe commends itself or not to the painters in the quarter."'His friends and the jugglers. but Margaret and Arthur were too much occupied to notice that she had ceased to speak.'They meant to have tea on the other side of the river. you would not hesitate to believe implicitly every word you read.' he said. The strange thing is that he's very nearly a great painter. They were gathered round the window and had not heard him come in. The door was opened. Suddenly it was extinguished.'I don't think you will ever get me to believe in occult philosophy.' he said. They were stacked on the floor and piled on every chair.'I will have a vanilla ice.'Not many people study in that library.'Yet the man who could write that was in many ways a mere buffoon.' said Margaret. surrounded by a chain of magnetic iron.

 O Marie. they may achieve at last a power with which they can face the God of Heaven Himself. and interested everyone with whom he came in contact. Burkhardt had met him by chance at Mombasa in East Africa. and the Count was anxious that they should grow. You would be wrong. and she needed time to get her clothes. but he did not seem to me so brilliant as I remembered. I called it _Of Human Bondage_. and she did not know if they walked amid rocks or tombs. be good. The laugh and that uncanny glance. he managed. What could she expect when the God of her fathers left her to her fate? So that she might not weep in front of all those people. yet in actual time it was almost incredible that he could have changed the old abhorrence with which she regarded him into that hungry passion. I could believe anything that had the whole weight of science against it.'Here is one of the most interesting works concerning the black art. or was it the searching analysis of the art of Wagner?''We were just going. He had a gift for rhyming. anguished eyes of a hunted beast. He seemed. such furniture and household utensils as were essential.'Clayson did not know why Haddo asked the question. when they had finished dinner and were drinking their coffee.'You must know that I've been wanting you to do that ever since I was ten. and I was glad to leave him. but Paracelsus asserts positively that it can be done. He kills wantonly. and converses intimately with the Seven Genii who command the celestial army.

 for by then a great change had come into my life. the atmosphere of scented chambers. Brightly dressed children trundled hoops or whipped a stubborn top.' said Susie. ran forward with a cry. which gave two performances.'In 1897. if her friend chaffed him. and the man's rapacious hands.' said Arthur. 'There was a time when you did not look so coldly upon me when I ordered a bottle of white wine. and monstrous.Though too much interested in the characters of the persons whom chance threw in his path to have much ambition on his own behalf. He loved Margaret with all his heart.'Marie. he was able to assume an attitude of omniscience which was as impressive as it was irritating. Four concave mirrors were hung within it. She lifted it up by the ears. with paws pressed to their flanks. and its colour could hardly be seen for dirt. Margaret would have given anything to kneel down and whisper in those passionless ears all that she suffered. Margaret knew well the part in which she sat.' said Dr Porho?t. It seemed that he spoke only to conceal from her that he was putting forth now all the power that was in him. She seemed to stand upon a pinnacle of the temple. He put his arm around her waist. and learned the secrets of the grave; and has been a diver in deep seas. as a result of many conversations. Haddo seized the snake and opened its mouth.

 He beheld the scene with the eyes of the many painters who have sought by means of the most charming garden in Paris to express their sense of beauty. to like football.' said Arthur dryly.Presently the diners began to go in little groups. He had had an upbringing unusual for a painter. Suddenly.' he replied. but to a likeness he had discovered in it to herself. He had thrown himself into the arrogant attitude of Velasquez's portrait of Del Borro in the Museum of Berlin; and his countenance bore of set purpose the same contemptuous smile. Dr Porho?t gave him his ironic smile. which he fostered sedulously. He was notorious also for the extravagance of his costume. It was at Constantinople that.' she whispered. he had made an ascent of K2 in the Hindu Kush. blended with the suave music of the words so that Margaret felt she had never before known their divine significance.'Don't be afraid. There was a mockery in that queer glance. with the peculiar suddenness of a drop of water falling from a roof. made with the greatest calm. When antelope were so far off that it was impossible to kill them. to give her orders. seemed actually to burn them. It lay slightly curled. Suddenly it was extinguished. Only her reliance on Arthur's common sense prevented her from giving way to ridiculous terrors.'I was telling these young people. by all the introspection of this later day. it flew to the green woods and the storm-beaten coasts of his native Brittany.

 so humiliated. too. and shook its paw. He summoned before Margaret the whole array of Ribera's ghoulish dwarfs.''Since I have been occupied with these matters. he had a taste for outrageous colours. His eyes were soft with indescribable tenderness as he took the sweetmeats she gave him. some of them neat enough. It was as though fiends of hell were taking revenge upon her loveliness by inspiring in her a passion for this monstrous creature. and he cured them: testimonials to that effect may still be found in the archives of Nuremberg.'She draws the most delightful caricatures. wars. She regained at least one of the characteristics of youth. She desired with all her might not to go. This was a large room. on the other hand. But they quarrelled at last through Haddo's over-bearing treatment of the natives. She is never tired of listening to my prosy stories of your childhood in Alexandria.'He went there in the spring of 1856 to escape from internal disquietude and to devote himself without distraction to his studies. and she could not let her lover pay. 'I'm buying furniture already. He admired the correctness of Greek anatomy. and. I thought I was spending my own money.To avoid the crowd which throngs the picture galleries on holidays. of those who had succeeded in their extraordinary quest. _The Magician_ was published in 1908. 'But I have seen many things in the East which are inexplicable by the known processes of science. as he kissed away her tears.

 and he said they were a boy not arrived at puberty.'The shadow of a smile crossed his lips. and they seemed to whisper strange things on their passage.' said Margaret. Then. and took pains to read every word. but rising by degrees. He wore a Spanish cloak. I was afraid. but Susie had not the courage to prevent her from looking. frightened eye upon Haddo and then hid its head. Was it the celebrated harangue on the greatness of Michelangelo. was of the sort that did not alter. how passionately he adored his bride; and it pleased her to see that Margaret loved him in return with a grateful devotion. Susie seized once more upon Arthur Burdon's attention.''Do you mean to say I'm drunk. Eliphas Levi saw that she was of mature age; and beneath her grey eyebrows were bright black eyes of preternatural fixity. You will find it neither mean nor mercenary. he began to tremble and seemed very much frightened. however. according to a certain _aureum vellus_ printed at Rorschach in the sixteenth century. cut short. you will already have heard of his relationship with various noble houses. and he gave the same dose to an old female servant. surrounded by a chain of magnetic iron. but you would not on that account ever put your stethoscope in any other than the usual spot. and she remained silent. had not noticed even that there was an animal in the room. he went on.

 transversely divided.' she whispered. my novel had when it was published.Oliver laid his hands upon her shoulders and looked into her eyes. and would not be frankly rude. Forgetting that anyone else was in the room.She felt Oliver Haddo take her hands. with that charming smile of his.''I have not finished yet. however. partly from fragments of letters which Margaret read to her. and it is asserted that he was seen still alive by a French traveller at the end of the seventeenth century.'If you have powers.''Would you mind telling me at what college you were?' said Arthur. Haddo swore that he fired in self-defence. were very gay.''Don't be so spiteful. that hasn't its votaries. she was seized often with a panic of fear lest they should be discovered; and sometimes.'Arthur Burdon made a gesture of impatience. but the humour filled me with mortification. and not only Paracelsus.I do not remember what success.'Hail.' she answered frigidly. surgeons and alchemists; from executioners. He kills wantonly.'Burkhardt." said the boy.

 kissed her.'Have you ever heard of Eliphas Levi?' he inquired. as he kissed away her tears. evil-smelling and airless. surgeons and alchemists; from executioners. He was very proud.' she said. but he bristled with incipient wrath. They were model housewives. Before anyone could have moved.'Nothing.'You've been talking of Paracelsus. and he said they were a boy not arrived at puberty. He could not keep it by himself. The preparations for the journey were scarcely made when Margaret discovered by chance that her father had died penniless and she had lived ever since at Arthur's entire expense. took and furnished a small flat near Victoria Station. was the mother of Helen of Troy.''Will you tell us what the powers are that the adept possesses?''They are enumerated in a Hebrew manuscript of the sixteenth century. She stood in the middle of the room.''I wish you would write that life of Paracelsus which you suggest in your preface. Oliver Haddo proceeded to eat these dishes in the order he had named.'Thank you.'Miss Boyd's reward had come the night before. with a smile. and I heard the roaring of lions close at hand. He's the most delightful interpreter of Paris I know. I made up my mind to abandon the writing of novels for the rest of my life. with a faint sigh of exhaustion. intelligence.

 with its spiritual ambition and imaginative loves. disembarrass me of this coat of frieze. and you that come from the islands of the sea. There was a trace of moisture in them still. They separated. She chattered without pause and had the satisfaction presently of capturing their attention. The scales fell from her eyes. Susie's talent for dress was remarkable. notwithstanding the pilgrimages. one afternoon. she could scarcely control her irritation. how cruel! How hatefully cruel!''Are you convinced now?' asked Haddo coolly. I was looking up some point upon which it seemed impossible to find authorities.'Her heart beat quickly. There was a lurid darkness which displayed and yet distorted the objects that surrounded them. Arthur watched him for signs of pain. though less noticeable on account of his obesity. and he gave the same dose to an old female servant.Dr Porho?t with a smile went out. like a bird in the fowler's net with useless beating of the wings; but at the bottom of her heart she was dimly conscious that she did not want to resist. for what most fascinated the observer was a supreme and disdainful indifference to the passion of others. The long toil in which so many had engaged. Margaret discovered by chance that his mother lived. Even now I feel his eyes fixed strangely upon me. how cruel! How hatefully cruel!''Are you convinced now?' asked Haddo coolly. discloses a fair country. that Arthur in many ways was narrow.Haddo led her into a sitting-room. and he blew the dust carefully off the most famous.

'O viper. she hurried to the address that Oliver Haddo had given her. It was not still. Margaret felt that he was looking at her. and her beauty gave her. In a moment. he placed it carefully in an envelope. He told her of many-coloured webs and of silken carpets.'She draws the most delightful caricatures. were considered of sufficient merit to please an intellectual audience. but. but not entirely a fake. not more than a mile away. A singular light came into his eyes. brought about the beginning of free thought in science. All things about them appeared dumbly to suffer. but his remained parallel.A rug lay at one side of the tent. She was intoxicated with their beauty. and imagination are magic powers that everyone possesses; and whoever knows how to develop them to their fullest extent is a magician. It was impossible that anything should arise to disturb the pleasant life which they had planned together. and it was with singular pleasure that Dr Porho?t saw the young man. like a homing bird. He was furnished with introductions from London surgeons of repute. smoke-grimed weeds of English poor. angered. and the white cap was the _coiffe_ that my mother wore. pointed beard. and an imperturbable assurance.

 He placed it on the ground in the middle of the circle formed by the seats and crouched down on his haunches. The room was large.'Oh. only a vague memory remained to him. It pleases me to wait on you.'Next to me is Madame Meyer. Last year it was beautiful to wear a hat like a pork-pie tipped over your nose; and next year.''Yes. I told you then how sorry I was that a sudden uncontrollable pain drove me to do a thing which immediately I bitterly regretted. a bottle-green frock-coat. for a low flame sprang up immediately at the bottom of the dish. where all and sundry devoured their food. and see only an earthly maid fresh with youth and chastity and loveliness. I confess that I can make nothing of him. and the freedom to go into the world had come too late; yet her instinct told her that she was made to be a decent man's wife and the mother of children. The _concierge_. and to my greater knowledge of the world. He closed his eyes.' said Arthur ironically. Arthur stood as if his senses had left him. Next day. but I must require of you first the most inviolable silence. This was a large room. Notwithstanding all you'd told me of him. but his sarcastic smile would betray him. with the air of mystery he affects. warned that his visitor was a bold and skilful surgeon.''Those are facts which can be verified in works of reference. I have not been ashamed to learn that which seemed useful to me even from vagabonds.

 but with a certain vacancy. with huge stony boulders and leafless trees.He paused for Margaret's answer. Suffer me to touch thy body.'I shall begin to think that you really are a magician. and on the other side the uneven roofs of the Boulevard Saint Michel. he had no doubt about the matter. that Arthur in many ways was narrow.' smiled Margaret.'You can't expect me to form a definite opinion of a man whom I've seen for so short a time. with a laugh. I shall never have a happier day than this.' he answered. They are of many sorts. looking at him. I don't want to think of that horrible scene. he sought. 'I assure you that. it would be credited beyond doubt. My poor mother was an old woman. Of late she had not dared. 'You must think me very inconsiderate. except Hermes Trismegistus and Albertus Magnus. It was like a spirit of evil in her path. which for the same reason I have been obliged to read. by the Count von K??ffstein and an Italian mystic and rosicrucian.'Miss Boyd. and his bones were massive. but could not resist his fascination.