backed by his confidence and talent. I expect she's all right.

 His mocking voice rang in her ears
 His mocking voice rang in her ears. vague night-fires like spirits of the damned.'Does not this remind you of the turbid Nile. by the end of which the actors he wanted for the play he had been obliged to postpone would be at liberty. It was dirty and thumbed. After the toil of many years it relieved her to be earnest in nothing; and she found infinite satisfaction in watching the lives of those around her.'Don't be afraid. Their wisdom was plain. and a thick vapour filled the room.'Did you ever hear such gibberish in your life? Yet he did a bold thing. painfully. and it troubled her extraordinarily that she had lied to her greatest friend. her flashing eyes bright with the multi-coloured pictures that his magic presented. We'll meet at half-past seven. and from all parts. and photographs of well-known pictures. they went to that part of the museum where ancient sculpture is kept. the victory won. Arthur started a little and gave him a searching glance.

 which had little vitality and soon died. and the _concierge_ told me of a woman who would come in for half a day and make my _caf?? au lait_ in the morning and my luncheon at noon. you would accept without question as the work of the master. Their wisdom was plain.He spoke again to the Egyptian. But now Margaret could take no pleasure in its grace. before consenting to this. again raising his eyes to hers. There was always something mysterious about him. and in those ceremonies she could find no comfort. If you listen to him. She saw the horns and the long beard. are seized with fascination of the unknown; and they desire a greatness that is inaccessible to mankind. He was not a great talker and loved most to listen in silence to the chatter of young people. so I walked about the station for half an hour. The date of their marriage was fixed. The cabinet prepared for the experiment was situated in a turret. curling hair. He wrote in German instead of in Latin.

'She did as he told her. But it was possible for her also to enjoy the wonder of the world. Those effects as of a Florentine jewel. but had not the strength to speak. Arthur. as a result of many conversations. He was destined for the priesthood. in baggy corduroys. He placed it on the ground and for a moment waited. but the odd thing was that he had actually done some of the things he boasted of.'That is a compatriot of yours. of which he was then editor. There was still that vague. touching devotion. I have never been able to make up my mind whether he is an elaborate practical joker. I recognize the justice of your anger. and the long halls had the singular restfulness of places where works of art are gathered together. I tried to find out what he had been up to. and three times he rubbed the wound with his fingers.

 Since then she had worked industriously at Colarossi's Academy. and lay still for a moment as if it were desperately hurt. but I'm going to tea at the studio this afternoon. Nothing has been heard of him since till I got your letter.'And what else is it that men seek in life but power? If they want money. so that I can see after your clothes. I can with difficulty imagine two men less capable of getting on together. and his voice was hoarse. was the most charming restaurant in the quarter. He wrote in German instead of in Latin. but I can see to the end of my nose with extreme clearness. I have heard him preach a sermon of the most blasphemous sort in the very accents of the late Dean of Christ Church. with a friend of my own age. the Netherlands. It is possible that under certain conditions the law of gravity does not apply. When she went to see him with tears in her eyes. This was a man who knew his mind and was determined to achieve his desire; it refreshed her vastly after the extreme weakness of the young painters with whom of late she had mostly consorted. curling hair. at all events.

 but not a paltry. France. Arthur was ridiculously happy. There was in that beautiful countenance more than beauty. 'He interests me enormously. that he narrated the event exactly as it occurred. and in a moment a head was protruded. and this symbol was drawn on the new. and fell. He accepted her excuse that she had to visit a sick friend.''I have not finished yet.'For the love of God. and Susie had the conversation to herself. by weakening the old belief in authority. for Oliver Haddo passed slowly by. by the Count von K??ffstein and an Italian mystic and rosicrucian. the most marvellous were those strange beings. Porho?t's house. Susie willingly agreed to accompany her.

 and this gave her a chance to bring their conversation to matters on which Haddo was expert.'Now. She reproached Arthur in her heart because he had never understood what was in her. Here he not only devoted the leisure hours of forty years to this mysterious science. and it fell dead. Margaret shuddered. Suddenly he jerked up his tail. except Hermes Trismegistus and Albertus Magnus. which.Dr Porho?t had been making listless patterns with his stick upon the gravel. and they mingled their tears. and she remembered that Haddo had stood by her side. sad dignity; and it seemed to Margaret fit thus to adore God. and the more intoxicated he is. Like a bird at its last gasp beating frantically against the bars of a cage. and I had given up the search. brought about the beginning of free thought in science. then.'She remembered that her train started exactly at that hour.

 as now. He gave Haddo a rapid glance. and spiritual kingdoms of darkness. he was born of unknown but noble parents.'It's stupid to be so morbid as that.'You look upon me with disgust and scorn.'Why don't you kiss me?' she said. she began to draw the caricature which every new face suggested to her.He did not answer. As you flip through the pages you may well read a stanza which. 'It'll give me such pleasure to go on with the small allowance I've been making you. As she stood on the landing. He threw off his cloak with a dramatic gesture. and he drew out of the piano effects which she had scarcely thought possible. she has been dead many times.' she muttered to herself. but at the last moment her friend drew back; and as the triad or unity is rigorously prescribed in magical rites.'I'll write it down for you in case you forget. Miss Margaret admires you as much as you adore her.

''Of course you didn't tell him that I insisted on buying every stitch you'd got on. her flashing eyes bright with the multi-coloured pictures that his magic presented.'You knew I should come. he was a person of great physical attractions. He looked at Burdon.The fair was in full swing. 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.He had known Arthur Burdon ever since he was born. like most of these old fellows. curling hair had retreated from the forehead and temples in such a way as to give his clean-shaven face a disconcerting nudity. I surmised that the librarian had told him of my difficulty. They sat down beside the fire. and Margaret suggested that they should saunter towards the Madeleine.She started to her feet and stared at him with bewildered eyes. Miss Boyd.'Do not pay any attention to that gentleman. but in fact forces one on you; and he brought the conversation round cleverly to a point when it was obvious I should mention a definite book. more sinister and more ruthless than Crowley ever was.''I knew.

 as though it possessed a power of material growth. That vast mass of flesh had a malignancy that was inhuman. and it was terrible to see the satanic hatred which hideously deformed it. then took the boy's right hand and drew a square and certain mystical marks on the palm. much diminished its size. Her comb stood up. And I see a man in a white surplice. ill-lit by two smoking lamps; a dozen stools were placed in a circle on the bare ground.'I've tried. and in exhaustion she sank upon a bench. Then I thought she might have hit upon that time by chance and was not coming from England. and keeps their fallen day about her; and trafficked for strange evils with Eastern merchants; and. refused to continue. male and female. for she had never used it before. he was granted the estates in Staffordshire which I still possess. for you have the power to make him more unhappy than any human being should be.'You must know that I've been wanting you to do that ever since I was ten. for Moses de Leon had composed _Zohar_ out of his own head.

 But notwithstanding all this. and I will give you another. Haddo was left with Margaret. 'I'll bring you a horror of yourself. But I knew she hankered after these two years in Paris. strong yet gentle.''If you knew how lonely I was and how unhappy.'"Let the creature live. He waited till he had a free evening. and demands the utmost coolness. which he does not seem to know. They had a quaintness which appealed to the fancy. male and female. Then Margaret suddenly remembered all that she had seen.'You are very lucky. with the difficulty of a very fat person. and on the other side the uneven roofs of the Boulevard Saint Michel.

 that he narrated the event exactly as it occurred. Either Haddo believed things that none but a lunatic could. and he drew out of the piano effects which she had scarcely thought possible. and kept on losing them till it was naked as a newborn babe; but before two weeks had passed other feathers grew.She had learnt long ago that common sense. of the many places he had seen. with every imaginable putrescence. on a sudden. of the many places he had seen. He described the picture by Valdes Leal. Oliver watched them gravely. An abject apology was the last thing she expected. at the command of the _concierge_. Instinctively she knelt down by his side and loosened his collar. not of the lips only but of the soul. gnawing at a dead antelope. as it were.

 and the darkness of death afflicted them always. It was crowded. A group of telegraph boys in blue stood round a painter. she was seized often with a panic of fear lest they should be discovered; and sometimes. He was a fake. which flamed with a dull unceasing roar. Dr Porho?t had lent her his entertaining work on the old alchemists. which was then twenty-eight pounds. without interest.' laughed Susie.He stood up and went to the piano.'But why did you do it?' she asked him. Her face was hidden by a long veil. She wanted to beg Oliver to stop. however long I live. She walked through the streets as if nothing at all had happened. and the lashes were darkened with kohl: her fingers were brightly stained with henna.

 the terrier sprang at Oliver Haddo and fixed its teeth in his hand. The writhing snake dangled from his hand. seemed. It was certain.'I will buy tickets for you all. ran forward with a cry. his lips were drawn back from the red gums. but I dare not show it to you in the presence of our friend Arthur. wore a green turban. to make sense of it?_' If you were shown this line and asked what poet had written it.''If you knew how lonely I was and how unhappy. 'I'm enchanted with the mysterious meeting at Westminster Abbey in the Mid-Victorian era. for I felt it as much as anyone.'Margaret laughed charmingly as she held out her hands. That is Warren. and a tiny slip of paper on which was written in pencil: _The other half of this card will be given you at three o'clock tomorrow in front of Westminster Abbey_. You are but a snake.

'Miss Boyd could not help thinking all the same that Arthur Burdon would caricature very well. his eyes more than ever strangely staring. The night was fine. are _you_ a lion-hunter?' asked Susie flippantly.'You've never done that caricature of Arthur for me that you promised. he had acquired so great an influence over the undergraduates of Oxford. Margaret sprang forward to help him. but with an elaboration which suggested that he had learned the language as much from study of the English classics as from conversation. go. and I was able to take a bedroom in the same building and use his sitting-room to work in. or if. Sprenger's _Malleus Malefikorum_. the heart of roses and the depth of running water. but her legs failed her. He missed being ungainly only through the serenity of his self-reliance. and is the principal text-book of all those who deal in the darkest ways of the science. without recourse to medicine.

 show them. or misunderstood of the vulgar.'The old alchemists believed in the possibility of spontaneous generation.' said Arthur to Oliver Haddo. you'll hear every painter of eminence come under his lash. The man had barely escaped death.'Marie appeared again. and whose loveliness she had cultivated with a delicate care. she was growing still.' said Margaret.'What on earth's the matter?''I wish you weren't so beautiful. and I was able to take a bedroom in the same building and use his sitting-room to work in. Courtney. In the year 1698 some of it penetrated through the soil. Roughly painted on sail-cloth was a picture of an Arab charming snakes.'Miss Boyd's reward had come the night before. and an ice.

 weird rumours reached me.'Hasn't he had too much to drink?' asked Arthur frigidly. The pile after such sprinklings began to ferment and steam. her nerves shattered by all that she had endured. bringing out a novel once a year (which seldom earned more than the small advance the publisher had given me but which was on the whole respectably reviewed). by the pursuit of science.'The unlucky creature. He will pass through the storm and no rain shall fall upon his head. as a result of many conversations. He reigns with all heaven and is served by all hell. unsuitable for the commercial theatre.He opened the door. and she spoke of it only to ward off suspicion.Oliver Haddo seemed extraordinarily fascinated. It was like a procession passing through her mind of persons who were not human. 'and I soon knew by sight those who were frequently there. like most of us.

 and monstrous. as now. dear doctor. He had an infinite tact to know the feeling that occupied Margaret's heart. The leaves were slender and fragile. anguished eyes of a hunted beast. Her face was hidden by a long veil. 'There was a time when you did not look so coldly upon me when I ordered a bottle of white wine. Sprenger's _Malleus Malefikorum_.'Dr Porho?t closed the book. I was asked to spend week-ends in the country. He is thought to have known more of the mysteries than any adept since the divine Paracelsus. and to question it upon two matters. There was no pose in him. She poured out a glass of water. But they quarrelled at last through Haddo's over-bearing treatment of the natives. Dr Porho?t opened in person.

 shelled creatures the like of which she had never seen. For her that stately service had no meaning.'"What else does he see?" I asked the sorcerer. The _Primum Ens Melissae_ at least offers a less puerile benefit than most magical secrets. with paws pressed to their flanks. Its position on an island in the Seine gave it a compact charm. he made up for it with a diverting pleasantry that might very well have passed for humour. but Oliver Haddo waved his fat hand. Margaret and Arthur Burdon.' he cried. and took pains to read every word.'I shall start with the ice. and a wonderful feeling for country. Notwithstanding all you'd told me of him.'Not a word. He reminded one of those colossal statues of Apollo in which the god is represented with a feminine roundness and delicacy.'I want to ask you to forgive me for what I did.

 for I knew natives could be of no use to me. Though beauty meant little to his practical nature. She turned the drawings carelessly and presently came to a sheet upon which.'I will have a vanilla ice. I have two Persian cats. Once. as they stood chest on. and Arthur hailed a cab.Presently the diners began to go in little groups. with an entertaining flow of rather pompous language which made the amusing things he said particularly funny. and Burkhardt could only express entire admiration for his pluck.'But a minute later. and the further he gets from sobriety the more charming he is. He had a handsome face of a deliberately aesthetic type and was very elegantly dressed.. backed by his confidence and talent. I expect she's all right.