introspection of this later day. he flung his arms around Margaret.

 It confers wealth by the transmutation of metals and immortality by its quintessence
 It confers wealth by the transmutation of metals and immortality by its quintessence. The spirits were about a span long. David and Solomon were the most deeply learned in the Kabbalah.'Arthur got up to stretch his legs. but at the last moment her friend drew back; and as the triad or unity is rigorously prescribed in magical rites.'When you want me you will find me in the Rue de Vaugiraud. She was proud to think that she would hand over to Arthur Burdon a woman whose character she had helped to form. Though his gaze preserved its fixity. With singular effrontery. whereby he can cut across. She poured out a glass of water. she has been dead many times. He was proud of his family and never hesitated to tell the curious of his distinguished descent.'I'm so sorry. and she talked all manner of charming nonsense. very small at first.'Don't be so foolish. the seashore in the Saint Anne had the airless lethargy of some damasked chapel in a Spanish nunnery. and only seventeen when I asked her to marry me. she would scarcely have resisted her desire to wear nondescript garments of violent hue. Only one of these novels had any success. and I'm making a good deal already by operating. A maid of all work cooked for us and kept the flat neat and tidy. There was romance and laughter in his conversation; and though.' said Susie. There was a trace of moisture in them still.' he said. is its history. After all.

 His fingers caressed the notes with a peculiar suavity. An attempt to generate another. titanic but sublime.'Do my eyes deceive me. made by the Count without the assistance of the Abb??. and it was plain that soon his reputation with the public would equal that which he had already won with the profession. He took the bowl in his hands and brought it to her. lovely and hideous; and love and hate. I knew he was much older than you. but with a certain vacancy. Now their lips met.''It's dreadful to think that I must spend a dozen hours without seeing you. As I read _The Magician_.'I was telling these young people. Margaret cried out with horror and indignation. I don't know what you've done with me. of them all. 'I shall die in the street. I see no reason why he should not have been present at the battle of Pavia. The grass was scattered with the fallen leaves. and she took the keenest pleasure in Margaret's comeliness. power over God Himself.'Here is somebody I don't know. showed that he was no fool. waiting for Arthur's arrival. on which were all manner of cabbalistic signs. The _Primum Ens Melissae_ at least offers a less puerile benefit than most magical secrets. you mustn't expect everyone to take such an overpowering interest in that young man as you do. who sought.

 And she takes a passionate interest in the variety of life. In a moment. one afternoon. She felt like an adventurous princess who rode on her palfrey into a forest of great bare trees and mystic silences. with the good things they ate. I have copied out a few words of his upon the acquirement of knowledge which affect me with a singular emotion.'She was too reticent to say all she felt. It was as though fiends of hell were taking revenge upon her loveliness by inspiring in her a passion for this monstrous creature.'Marie. crowding upon one another's heels. She appeared to travel at an immeasurable speed. and he had studied the Kabbalah in the original. They were stained with iron-mould. It was a remedy to prolong life. In any case he was contemptible.' said Arthur dryly.'I shall begin to think that you really are a magician. intemperate and boastful. Arthur watched him for signs of pain. They walked out of the gallery and turned to the quay. and the flowers. they may achieve at last a power with which they can face the God of Heaven Himself. she has been dead many times. but his words saved her from any need for explanation.' said Susie Boyd." he said. but men aim only at power.'"Do you see anything in the ink?" he said. The names of the streets recalled the monarchy that passed away in bloodshed.

'If you have powers. power over all created things.He smiled. near the Gare Montparnasse.''Well?''You know. his arm was immediately benumbed as far as the shoulder.'I think he has an extraordinarily good face.'Then he pointed out the _Hexameron_ of Torquemada and the _Tableau de l'Inconstance des D??mons_. The lovers were silent. She couldn't help it. Except that the eyes.''I don't know how I can ever repay you. with every imaginable putrescence. and she heard Oliver laugh in derision by her side.'Arthur stared at him with amazement.' he answered. At last he took a great cobra from his sack and began to handle it. She greeted him with a passionate relief that was unusual.' cried Susie gaily.'"What else does he see?" I asked the sorcerer. It was called _Die Sphinx_ and was edited by a certain Dr Emil Besetzny. and Margaret suggested that they should saunter towards the Madeleine.'I thought once of writing a life of that fantastic and grandiloquent creature. Susie.Oliver Haddo stood too. I really should read it again. he spoke. All about me was the immensity of Africa and the silence. Suddenly it was extinguished.

 It seemed hardly by chance that the colours arranged themselves in such agreeable tones. He walked by her side with docility and listened. very thin. in the attitude of a prisoner protesting his innocence. meditating on the problems of metaphysics. Oliver Haddo found this quality in unlikely places. 'and I soon knew by sight those who were frequently there. the terrier sprang at Oliver Haddo and fixed its teeth in his hand. She was a plain woman; but there was no envy in her. adjuring it mentally by that sign not to terrify. He had a gift for caricature which was really diverting.'Did you ever hear such gibberish in your life? Yet he did a bold thing. by Delancre; he drew his finger down the leather back of Delrio's _Disquisitiones Magicae_ and set upright the _Pseudomonarchia Daemonorum_ of Wierus; his eyes rested for an instant on Hauber's _Acta et Scripta Magica_. many years after his wife. Susie could not prevent the pang that wrung her heart; for she too was capable of love. The committee accepted _A Man of Honour_. His sunken eyes glittered with a kindly but ironic good-humour. She saw cardinals in their scarlet. Margaret drew back in terror. Promise that you'll never forsake me. They had a quaintness which appealed to the fancy. and if some. when he first came up. indeed. they had at least a fixed rule which prevented them from swerving into treacherous byways. un potage. like his poems. and did as she bade him. the Netherlands.

'We're going to fix the date of our marriage now. and they agreed to go together. she began to draw the caricature which every new face suggested to her. The night was fine. She had no time to think before she answered lightly. It is possible that you do not possess the necessary materials. and the shuffle of their myriad feet. It was irritating to be uncertain whether. I can with difficulty imagine two men less capable of getting on together. To my shame. She took up a book and began to read. He had read his book. it's one of our conventions here that nobody has talent. No harm has come to you. She felt a heartrending pang to think that thenceforward the consummate things of art would have no meaning for her. she gave him an amorous glance. It was strange and terrifying. and she was curiously alarmed. For there would be no end of it.''I wish you would write that life of Paracelsus which you suggest in your preface.'I never know how much you really believe of all these things you tell us. are seized with fascination of the unknown; and they desire a greatness that is inaccessible to mankind. and he only seeks to lead you from the narrow path of virtue. and to my greater knowledge of the world.'Marie brought him the bill of fare. harmless youth who sat next to Margaret. if not a master. In mixed company he was content to listen silently to others. but never after I left Paris to return to London.

Susie noticed that this time Oliver Haddo made no sign that the taunt moved him. I did not read it.' he said.Susie could not persuade herself that Haddo's regret was sincere. and finally the officiating clergy. The lightning had torn it asunder. It was irritating to be uncertain whether. It made Margaret shudder with sudden fright. And now everyone is kneeling down. Margaret discovered by chance that his mother lived. his son. He lifted his eyes slowly.'"Do you see anything in the ink?" he said. It certainly added authority to what he said.' said Margaret.'I had almost forgotten the most wonderful. She scarcely knew why her feelings towards him had so completely changed. But when Moses de Leon was gathered to the bosom of his father Abraham. The champagne went quickly to her head. The narrow streets. I feel your goodness and your purity. art.' he commanded. magic and the occult. He. but the journey to the station was so long that it would not be worth Susie's while to come back in the interval; and they arranged therefore to meet at the house to which they were invited. I'm only nervous and frightened.'False modesty is a sign of ill-breeding.'The first time I saw her I felt as though a new world had opened to my ken.

 curling hair had retreated from the forehead and temples in such a way as to give his clean-shaven face a disconcerting nudity. the atmosphere of scented chambers. He began to walk up and down the studio. but rising by degrees. it was found that the spirits had grown to about a span and a half each; the male _homunculi_ were come into possession of heavy beards. I never saw him but he was surrounded by a little crowd. And there are women crying. for heaven's sake don't cry! You know I can't bear people who weep. _cerastes_ is the name under which you gentlemen of science know it. showed that he was no fool.''You see. indeed. looking up with a start. since by chance I met the other night at dinner at Queen Anne's Gate a man who had much to tell me of him. which for the same reason I have been obliged to read. Crowley. and the darkness of death afflicted them always. And if she lay there in her black dress. but the odd thing was that he had actually done some of the things he boasted of. The beauty of the East rose before her. As she walked along the interminable street that led to her own house.'Oliver Haddo began then to speak of Leonardo da Vinci. icily. to that part of Paris which was dearest to her heart. there might have been no life in it. must have the greatest effect on the imagination. the sorcerer threw incense and one of the paper strips into the chafing-dish.Susie hesitated for a moment. and we want you to dine with us at the Chien Noir.

 and were sauntering now in the gardens of the Luxembourg. Haddo swore that he fired in self-defence. It turned out that he played football admirably. having been excessively busy. but I couldn't see that it was leading me anywhere. Yet Margaret continued to discuss with him the arrangement of their house in Harley Street. She was astonished at the change in his appearance.'If you wish it. with the flaunting hat?''That is the mother of Madame Rouge. he came.She was unwilling to take it. Porho?t's house. showed that he was no fool.' smiled Susie. and it struggled with its four quaint legs.Clayson had a vinous nose and a tedious habit of saying brilliant things.' cried Susie gaily. and she looked away. intelligence. kind creature. Beyond.' said Arthur. Arthur's lips twitched. and tawny distances.'You suffer from no false modesty. by weakening the old belief in authority. It was certain. He commanded it to return. almost authenticated.

 which represents a priest at the altar; and the altar is sumptuous with gilt and florid carving. When the boy arrived. but it seemed to Eliphas Levi that the questions were answered in his own mind.He turned his eyes slowly. Art has nothing to do with a smart frock. They are of many sorts. and he knows it. I tried to find out what he had been up to. in desperation. with his inhuman savour of fellowship with the earth which is divine. and I had received no news of her for many weeks. by the Count von K??ffstein and an Italian mystic and rosicrucian.''That is an answer which has the advantage of sounding well and meaning nothing. He held himself with a dashing erectness. she has been dead many times.'Take your hand away. His father was a bootmaker.'How on earth did you get here?' cried Susie lightly.'I saw the place was crowded. He worked very hard. Margaret stopped as she passed him. he managed. His features were regular and fine.'Sometimes I am haunted by the wild desire to have seen the great and final scene when the irrevocable flames poured down the river. She left everything in his hands.'I will have a vanilla ice. Presently they came to a man who was cutting silhouettes in black paper. and would have no reconciliation.Then I heard nothing of him till the other day.

 on one of my journeys from Alexandria. They must return eventually to the abyss of unending night. like serpents of fire tortured by their own unearthly ardour.''I promise you that nothing will happen. but Oliver Haddo's. in tails and a white tie. gay gentlemen in periwigs. Galen. laughing. which was worn long.''I think only English people could have behaved so oddly as you. dared to write it down till Schimeon ben Jochai.' answered Susie irritably.' she said dully.'"I see a man sweeping the ground. 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.' he said. But notwithstanding all this. he was plainly making game of them. The sources from which this account is taken consist of masonic manuscripts. intemperate and boastful. but Margaret had kept him an empty seat between herself and Miss Boyd. In two hours he was dead. and within a month I was on my way to Paris. He reminded one of those colossal statues of Apollo in which the god is represented with a feminine roundness and delicacy. but never after I left Paris to return to London. such as the saints may have had when the terror of life was known to them only in the imaginings of the cloister.'He always reminds me of an Aubrey Beardsley that's been dreadfully smudged. and they were moist with tears.

 Crowley told fantastic stories of his experiences.'Margaret smiled and held his hand. Something stronger than herself seemed to impel her. you may have heard. Haddo's eyes were fixed upon hers. and that her figure was exceedingly neat. he placed it carefully in an envelope. when this person brought me the very book I needed. With his twinkling eyes. The privileges of him who holds in his right hand the Keys of Solomon and in his left the Branch of the Blossoming Almond are twenty-one.'What should you know of that lust for great secrets which consumes me to the bottom of my soul!''Anyhow.'Arthur saw a tall. and he turned to her with the utmost gravity.'I implore your acceptance of the only portrait now in existence of Oliver Haddo. they took a cab and drove through the streets. and went. The circumstances of the apparition are so similar to those I have just told you that it would only bore you if I repeated them. and it opened. my son-in-law. and did as she bade him. hardly conscious that she spoke. 'Yet he is the most interesting of all the alchemists. and she seemed still to see that vast bulk and the savage. with the scornful tone he used when referring to those whose walk in life was not so practical as his own.At the time I knew him he was dabbling in Satanism.'"I see four men come in with a long box. In a moment Oliver Haddo stood before her. But the delight of it was so great that he could scarcely withhold a cry of agony. George Haddo.

 and heavy hangings. so that he might regain his strength. with no signs now that so short a while ago romance had played a game with her. and. and it is asserted that he was seen still alive by a French traveller at the end of the seventeenth century. She gave a little cry of surprise. so that he might regain his strength. and she did not know if they walked amid rocks or tombs. when he thought that this priceless treasure was his. or else he was a charlatan who sought to attract attention by his extravagances. We could afford to wait.'He took a long breath.''I met him once.'Look. and it appears that Burkhardt's book gives further proof. You'll never keep your husband's affection if you trust to your own judgment. A lover in ancient Greece. half cruel. wondering if they were tormented by such agony as she.Then. and together they brought him to the studio. I don't think he is. quivering still with the extremity of passion. I might so modify it that. and he owns a place in Staffordshire which is almost historic. or whether he is really convinced he has the wonderful powers to which he lays claim. brilliant eyes. Burkhardt had met him by chance at Mombasa in East Africa. icily.

'Well.'He's frightened of me. put his hand to his heart. and his love. they were to be married in a few weeks. Like a bird at its last gasp beating frantically against the bars of a cage.'What on earth do you suppose he can do? He can't drop a brickbat on my head. brilliant eyes. his eyes fixed steadily on the speaker. une sole. We shall be married in two years. kissed her. By crossing the bridge and following the river. nor a fickle disposition the undines. It was comparatively empty. He went down. in 1775.'He went there in the spring of 1856 to escape from internal disquietude and to devote himself without distraction to his studies. 'Consider for example the _Tinctura Physicorum_. Margaret could scarcely resist an overwhelming desire to go to him. he dressed himself at unseasonable moments with excessive formality. and very happy. made by the Count without the assistance of the Abb??.'And what else is it that men seek in life but power? If they want money. and the troublous sea of life whereon there is no refuge for the weary and the sick at heart.' he answered. and on the strength of that I rashly decided to abandon doctoring and earn my living as a writer; so. Jews. though it adds charm to a man's personality.

 because I love him so much that all I do is pure delight. and if some. as though he were scrutinising the inmost thought of the person with whom he talked. and he won't be such an ass as to risk that!'Margaret was glad that the incident had relieved them of Oliver's society. with his round. She saw cardinals in their scarlet. you will already have heard of his relationship with various noble houses. and their eyes were dull with despair. how I came to think of writing that particular novel at all.'My dear. drawing upon his memory. crowding upon one another's heels. their movements to and fro. He leaned back in his chair and roared. he found a baronial equipage waiting for him. In two hours he was dead.'He was dressed in a long blue gabardine.'Dr Porho?t interposed with introductions. It is impossible to know to what extent he was a charlatan and to what a man of serious science.''Eliphas Levi talked to me himself of this evocation. I have sometimes thought that with a little ingenuity I might make it more stable. rather. not at all the sort of style I approve of now.'The first time I saw her I felt as though a new world had opened to my ken.' she cried. where all and sundry devoured their food. They were model housewives. The coachman jumped off his box and held the wretched creature's head. were alloyed with a feeling that aroused in her horror and dismay.

 It certainly added authority to what he said. that she turned away to enter Dr Porho?t's house. and if he sees your eyes red. rough hewn like a statue in porphyry. for he was become enormously stout. They sat side by side and enjoyed the happiness of one another's company. he was extremely handsome. lightly. Evil was all about her. it will be beautiful to wear a bonnet like a sitz-bath at the back of your head. Arthur turned to Margaret. was first initiated into the Kabbalah in the land of his birth; but became most proficient in it during his wanderings in the wilderness. He was puzzled.He hit Haddo in the face with his clenched fist. As a rule. Though he could not have been more than twenty-five. She had found in them little save a decorative arrangement marred by faulty drawing; but Oliver Haddo gave them at once a new. For to each an inner voice replied with one grim word: dead. from which my birth amply protects me. His face beamed with good-nature.He was too reticent to proceed to any analysis of his feelings; but he knew that he had cared for her first on account of the physical perfection which contrasted so astonishingly with the countless deformities in the study of which his life was spent. He was a small person. which loudly clamoured for their custom. and the Rabbi Abba. cut short. Fortunately it is rather a long one.There was a knock at the door. which outraged and at the same time irresistibly amused everyone who heard it. Margaret could hear her muttered words.

 and still they went quickly. He had a gift for caricature which was really diverting. She has a wrinkled face and her eyes are closed.' she answered. low laugh and stretched out her hand on the table. interested her no less than the accounts. however. for the trivial incident showed once more how frank the girl was. In two of the bottles there was nothing to be seen save clear water. He put his arm around her waist. Their eyes met. made by the Count without the assistance of the Abb??.'"Do you see anything in the ink?" he said. but this touch somehow curiously emphasized her sex. it would be credited beyond doubt. With a little laugh. Within was a lady in black satin. At the entrance.I have heard vaguely that he was travelling over the world. The union was unhappy. He was certainly not witty. On the sixth day the bird began to lose its feathers.She was unwilling to take it. but he did not seem to me so brilliant as I remembered. It was a vicious face.' replied the doctor. Her soul yearned for a beauty that the commonalty of men did not know. I don't know what you've done with me.Susie knew.

'He took down a slim volume in duodecimo. and the whole world would be consumed. he had no doubt about the matter. but she was much too pretty to remain one. He threw himself into an attitude of command and remained for a moment perfectly still. 'but I'm not inclined to attribute to the supernatural everything that I can't immediately understand. 'Lesebren. Crowley told fantastic stories of his experiences. getting up. He was highly talented. full existence.' he answered. for their house was not yet ready. she told him of her wish to go to Paris and learn drawing. with a large cross in his hands. for his appearance and his manner were remarkable. Though he could not have been more than twenty-five. Galen. 'And what is he by profession?'Dr Porho?t gave a deprecating smile. cruel yet indifferent. uncouth primeval things. but secretly she was not displeased. to the universal surprise. nor the majesty of the cold mistress of the skies. and she took a first glance at them in general. The telegram that Susie had received pointed to a definite scheme on Haddo's part. which neither Pope nor Emperor could buy with all his wealth. and his gaunt face grew pale with passion. wondered with a little pang why no man like that had even cared for her.

 As though fire passed through her. _The Magician_ was published in 1908. and was prepared to take it off our hands. but got nearer to it than anyone had done before. and head off animals whose spoor he has noticed. I hardly recognized him. what do you think?' she asked. he was a foolish young thing in love. Sometimes. in that which they have of power to refine and make expressive the outward form." he said. 'I was rather afraid you'd be wearing art-serges. Sometimes. Arthur turned to Margaret. He spoke English with a Parisian accent. Margaret drew back in terror. mistakes for wit. according to a certain _aureum vellus_ printed at Rorschach in the sixteenth century. he flung his arms around Margaret. however. at the same time respected and mistrusted; he had the reputation of a liar and a rogue.'I don't want you to be grateful to me. Listen:'After me. which are the most properly conducted of all their tribe.'Shall I light the candles?' he said.'I don't want you to be grateful to me.'The night had fallen; but it was not the comfortable night that soothes the troubled minds of mortal men; it was a night that agitated the soul mysteriously so that each nerve in the body tingled. Haddo stopped him. and Haddo passed on to that faded.

 He had never met a person of this kind before. but his name is Jagson.'But Miss Dauncey has none of that narrowness of outlook which. the sins of the Borgias. with his inhuman savour of fellowship with the earth which is divine. and some excellent pea-soup.Dr Porho?t smiled.They began a lively discussion with Marie as to the merits of the various dishes. Though the door was closed behind them and they were out of earshot. As if he guessed her thought. in one way and another. left her listless; and between her and all the actions of life stood the flamboyant. and wrote a full-page review of the novel in _Vanity Fair_. and." he said. The only difference was that my father actually spoke. and Haddo passed on to that faded. His face beamed with good-nature.' returned Susie. number 209. I have finished with it for good and all. for I felt it as much as anyone. His stillness got on her nerves. with a capacious smile of her large mouth which was full of charm. and there are shutters to it.Oliver leaned back and placed his two large hands on the table. He forgot everything. very pleased. He summoned before Margaret the whole array of Ribera's ghoulish dwarfs.

 It gave them a singular expression. even to Arthur. very thin. And I see a man in a white surplice.'Margaret shuddered. He walked by her side with docility and listened. and she was an automaton. She did not know if he loved her. and her mind was highly wrought. It gave the impression that he looked straight through you and saw the wall beyond. 'My father lost his power of speech shortly before he died. and though I honestly could not bear him. and she realized with a start that she was sitting quietly in the studio. and looked with a peculiar excitement at the mysterious array. no answer reached me. he would go into no details.' he said. The _Primum Ens Melissae_ at least offers a less puerile benefit than most magical secrets. and the mobile mouth had a nervous intensity which suggested that he might easily suffer the very agonies of woe. She seemed bound to him already by hidden chains. and Arthur looked at him with amazement. others with the satin streamers of the _nounou_.'What should you know of that lust for great secrets which consumes me to the bottom of my soul!''Anyhow. half sordid.''Tell me who everyone is. He had protruding. so healthy and innocent. were open still. a widow.

 I found that his reading was extraordinarily wide. lifting his hat. If he had given her that address. and. with our greater skill. une sole. They began to speak of trivial things. as though he spent most of his time in the saddle. and yet your admiration was alloyed with an unreasoning terror. He talked in flowing periods with an air of finality. There was hardly space to move.' said Haddo. The discovery was so astounding that at first it seemed absurd. They threw a strange light. and I don't think we made them particularly welcome. The fumes were painful to my eyes. He has virtue and industry.'No well-bred sorcerer is so dead to the finer feelings as to enter a room by the door.'They meant to have tea on the other side of the river. Obey my call and come. for he had been to Eton and to Cambridge.'She is older than the rocks among which she sits; like the vampire. little cell by cell. She gave a bitter laugh. and the instrument had the tremulous emotion of a human being. as I have a tiring day before me tomorrow. Dr Porho?t's lips broke into a smile. a bottle-green frock-coat. It should be remembered that Lactantius proclaimed belief in the existence of antipodes inane.

 and he owns a place in Staffordshire which is almost historic.'When you want me you will find me in the Rue de Vaugiraud. 'I can't understand it. Margaret. and she was anxious to make him talk. he seemed to know by heart. which.'Oh. and his ancestry is no less distinguished than he asserts. and she took the keenest pleasure in Margaret's comeliness. He recited the honeyed words with which Walter Pater expressed his admiration for that consummate picture. Margaret. He was very tall. The circumstances of the apparition are so similar to those I have just told you that it would only bore you if I repeated them. It appeared as if his story affected him so that he could scarcely preserve his composure. and brought to the Great Khan. hoarsely.Margaret had a class that afternoon and set out two or three minutes later. and written it with his own right hand. I went and came back by bus. in baggy corduroys. and the whole world would be consumed. and she was ceasing to resist. He tapped it. however. for the mere pleasure of it; and to Burkhardt's indignation frequently shot beasts whose skins and horns they did not even trouble to take. or was it the searching analysis of the art of Wagner?''We were just going. Margaret was dressed with exceeding care. I have seen photographs of it.

 and Haddo told her not to look round. showed that he was no fool. He sank painfully into a chair. It seemed as though all the world were gathered there in strange confusion. in tails and a white tie. But now Margaret could take no pleasure in its grace. The lightning had torn it asunder. Though she knew not why. that the ripe juice of the _aperitif_ has glazed your sparkling eye. All things about them appeared dumbly to suffer. as did the prophets of old. She wore only one ring.' laughed Susie. had never been able to give it.I was glad to get back to London. when he thought that this priceless treasure was his. She consulted Susie Boyd. a warp as it were in the woof of Oliver's speech.'Oh. Susie. I want to look at all your books. the dark night of the soul of which the mystics write. midwives. His mouth was large. It was an index of his character.In the few days of their acquaintance Arthur and Susie had arrived at terms of pleasant familiarity. If I were a suspicious woman. esoteric import. Raggles stood for rank and fashion at the Chien Noir.

 He was a fake. and it was as if the earth spun under her feet. Her nature was singularly truthful. and what he chose seemed to be exactly that which at the moment she imperatively needed. His folly and the malice of his rivals prevented him from remaining anywhere for long. Her skin was colourless and much disfigured by freckles. and the shuffle of their myriad feet. He threw off his cloak with a dramatic gesture. and over each eye was a horn. It is possible that you do not possess the necessary materials. and fell.'He did not reply. The splendour of the East blinded her eyes.'You look upon me with disgust and scorn. and. I received a letter from the priest of the village in which she lived. like the immortal Cagliostro.' said Margaret. Seen through his eyes. and she sat bolt upright. I asked him what persons could see in the magic mirror. almost against your will. It made two marks like pin-points. and she did not know if they walked amid rocks or tombs. which was held in place by a queer ornament of brass in the middle of the forehead. It had a singular and pungent odour that Margaret did not know.'You're simply wonderful tonight. looking round with terror. The story of this visit to Paris touched her imagination.

 At first Susie could not discover in what precisely their peculiarity lay. but him. but could not resist his fascination. Susie could have kissed the hard paving stones of the quay. and now. to whom he would pay a handsome dowry. She could not doubt now that he was sincere. so humiliated. There is only one subject upon which the individual can speak with authority. She had heard a good deal of the young man.Suddenly he released the enormous tension with which he held her. though an odious attraction bound her to the man. judged it would be vulgar to turn up her nose. she told him of her wish to go to Paris and learn drawing.There was an uncomfortable silence.' said Arthur.'He got up and moved towards the door. abnormally lanky. I called up his phantom from the grave so that I might learn what I took to be a dying wish.'Shall I fetch you some water?' asked Margaret.''Your friend seems to have had as little fear of spooks as you have of lions. When I have corrected the proofs of a book. and a flowing tie of black silk?''Eliphas remarks that the lady spoke French with a marked English accent. he was a person of great physical attractions. If he had given her that address.'_C'est tellement intime ici_.''For a scientific man you argue with singular fatuity.'It must be plain even to the feeblest intelligence that a man can only command the elementary spirits if he is without fear. to occupy myself only with folly.

 dishevelled and lewd. playing on his pipes.'Arthur's eyes followed her words and rested on a cleanshaven man with a large quantity of grey.At the time I knew him he was dabbling in Satanism. and I saw his great white fangs. I sent one. It was comparatively empty.Presently the diners began to go in little groups.' he answered. She went along the crowded street stealthily.'Arthur Burdon made a gesture of impatience.'Do you think he could have made the horse do that? It came immediately he put his hand on its neck. so that we can make ourselves tidy. he was plainly making game of them. There was hardly space to move. whose pictures had recently been accepted by the Luxembourg. I'm pretty well-to-do. I took the opportunity to ask the German about our common acquaintance. but even here he is surrounded with darkness. and he made it without the elaborate equipment. and it was plain that he sought with all his might to tell me something. in Denmark. Then Margaret suddenly remembered all that she had seen. sometimes journeying to a petty court at the invitation of a prince. what might it not be possible to do now if we had the courage? There are chemists toiling away in their laboratories to create the primitive protoplasm from matter which is dead. who offered sacrifice before this fair image. he would go into no details.'Dr Porho?t ventured upon an explanation of these cryptic utterances. and the wickedness of the world was patent to her eyes.

 It is possible that under certain conditions the law of gravity does not apply. If you listen to him. so that I need not here say more about it. He had thrown himself down in the chair. I could scarcely bear to entrust you to him in case you were miserable. Again he thrust his hand in his pocket and brought out a handful of some crumbling substance that might have been dried leaves. and he never shared any information with his friend that might rob him of an uninterrupted pursuit of game. of the man's extraordinary qualities. He began to walk up and down the studio.'This statement. and he would not listen to the words of an heretic.But her heart went out to Margaret. The librarian could not help me.The other shrugged his shoulders. "It is enough.Margaret laughed. and he thrust out his scarlet lips till he had the ruthless expression of a Nero. Though he knew so many people. that no one after ten minutes thought of her ugliness. gave it a savage kick. and his head reeled as it had before dinner. which she'll do the moment you leave us. 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. her nerves shattered by all that she had endured. which for the same reason I have been obliged to read. but when the Abb?? knocked thrice at the seal upon the mouth.'Burden's face assumed an expression of amused disdain. No sculptor could have modelled its exquisite delicacy. as though conscious of the decorative scheme they helped to form.

'Have you ever heard of Eliphas Levi?' he inquired.Oliver Haddo looked at him with the blue eyes that seemed to see right through people. They arrived at Margaret's house. as it were. and you were kept perpetually on the alert. She saw that the water was on fire. and the flowers.'You look upon me with disgust and scorn. I shan't feel safe till I'm actually your wife. and below. with a pate as shining as a billiard-ball. caused a moment of silence. a turbulent assembly surged about her. they are bound to go up. but growing in size till they attained that of a human countenance. irritably. but. so that you were reminded of those sweet domestic saints who lighten here and there the passionate records of the Golden Book. Without much searching. Fools and sots aim at happiness. She was intoxicated with their beauty. With its tail between its legs. There were books everywhere. She could only think of her appalling shame.' said Haddo.She started to her feet and stared at him with bewildered eyes. An immense terror seized her. by all the introspection of this later day. he flung his arms around Margaret.