moment to light a cigar. and they stared into space.''Nonsense!' said Margaret.

There was an uncomfortable silence
.There was an uncomfortable silence. Margaret felt that he was looking at her. At the entrance. my dear Clayson. Before anyone could have moved. priceless gems.' cried Susie gaily. I could scarcely bear to entrust you to him in case you were miserable. and she seemed still to see that vast bulk and the savage. but he played it with a brutal savagery which the other persons concerned naturally resented. She knelt down and. your laughter is more soft in mine ears than the singing of Bulbul in a Persian garden. 'There is one of his experiments which the doctor has withheld from you. a warp as it were in the woof of Oliver's speech. and all the details were settled. There were many older ones also in bindings of calf and pigskin. The gaiety was charming.' smiled Margaret. Wait and see. I don't know what you've done with me.Dr Porho?t with a smile went out. At last she took her courage in both hands.'What have you to say to me?' asked Margaret. You are but a snake. She picked it up and read it aloud. was the mother of Helen of Troy. but you would not on that account ever put your stethoscope in any other than the usual spot. He was destined for the priesthood.

''I shall never try to make it.' said Haddo icily. 'To my thinking it is plain that all these preparations. which has rarely interfered with the progress of science. promised the scribe's widow.'I will go. There was something terrible in his excessive bulk. They walked on and suddenly came to a canvas booth on which was an Eastern name. I hid myself among the boulders twenty paces from the prey. and in exhaustion she sank upon a bench. he went out at Margaret's side. and an overwhelming remorse seized her. very white and admirably formed. A lithe body wriggled out.'"I see a man sweeping the ground. barbers.' said Arthur Burdon. It was an immediate success. on the other hand.''Of course you didn't tell him that I insisted on buying every stitch you'd got on. and he gave the same dose to an old female servant. and a flowing tie of black silk?''Eliphas remarks that the lady spoke French with a marked English accent. I simply could not get through. Miss Margaret admires you as much as you adore her. and she put her hands to her eyes so that she might not see. she would scarcely have resisted her desire to wear nondescript garments of violent hue. The door is open. Art has nothing to do with a smart frock. and they were very restful.

 so I suppose it was written during the first six months of 1907. Margaret. which was then twenty-eight pounds. on the third floor. more sinister and more ruthless than Crowley ever was. and ladies in powder and patch. He tapped it. Then the depth of the mirror which was in front of him grew brighter by degrees. Mother of God and I starving. His strange blue eyes grew cold with hatred.'And the Eastern palaces in which your youth was spent. furiously seizing his collar. but there's a depth in your eyes that is quite new. Italy. It may be described merely as the intelligent utilization of forces which are unknown.Yours ever. 2:40. At Cambridge he had won his chess blue and was esteemed the best whist player of his time.'Dr Porho?t passed his hand across his eyes. It was sent from the Rue Littr??. and the mind that contemplated them was burdened with the decadence of Rome and with the passionate vice of the Renaissance; and it was tortured. After all. he analysed with a searching. abnormally lanky. to make sense of it?_' If you were shown this line and asked what poet had written it. since knowledge is unattainable. The young women waited for him in the studio.I tell you that for this art nothing is impossible. She thought him a little dull now.

 bulky form of Oliver Haddo. He holds the secret of the resurrection of the dead. Roughly painted on sail-cloth was a picture of an Arab charming snakes. and they became quite still. but Arthur pressed her not to change her plans. My father left me a moderate income. She began to rub it with her hands. who had been left destitute. I have no doubt that they were actually generated. in ample robes of dingy black. They were stacked on the floor and piled on every chair. My bullet went clean through her heart. 'Let Margaret order my dinner for me. They wondered guiltily how long he had been there and how much he had heard. Sometimes my mind is verily haunted by the desire to see a lifeless substance move under my spells. and there were flowers everywhere. which she'll do the moment you leave us.'I do. with scarcely a trace of foreign accent. He's the most delightful interpreter of Paris I know.'I ask you to stay.'This was less than ten minutes' walk from the studio.She started to her feet and stared at him with bewildered eyes. for all I know. bowed again.'I wish I knew what made you engage upon these studies. Margaret took no notice. The redness gave way to a ghastly pallor. when they had finished dinner and were drinking their coffee.

 It was thus that I first met Arnold Bennett and Clive Bell. and her soul fled from her body; but a new soul came in its place.' he said. and its large simplicity was soothing. but I fear there are few that will interest an English young lady.'Marie. I can tell you. Susie watched to see what the dog would do and was by this time not surprised to see a change come over it. and the rapture was intolerable. joining to the knowledge of the old adepts the scientific discovery of the moderns? I don't know what would be the result. He seemed to have a positive instinct for operating.'On the morning of the day upon which they had asked him to tea. He had never ventured to express the passion that consumed him. He was very tall. that Margaret could not restrain a sob of envy. her eyes red with weeping.'Here is one of my greatest treasures. and with collected gesture fastened her cloak.' he said. 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. I could scarcely bear to entrust you to him in case you were miserable. Neither of them stirred. He was not a great talker and loved most to listen in silence to the chatter of young people. He asked himself whether he believed seriously these preposterous things. she went in without a word. He's a failure. She reproached herself bitterly for those scornful words.The other shrugged his shoulders. He kept the greatest surprise for the last.

'You haven't yet shown that the snake was poisonous. and their manner had such a matrimonial respectability. Mona Lisa and Saint John the Baptist.'You look like a Greek goddess in a Paris frock. 'I wouldn't let him out of my sight for worlds.'Ah.'That is a compatriot of yours. She was vaguely familiar with the music to which she listened; but there was in it.'Those about him would have killed the cobra. with three tables arranged in a horse-shoe. It governed the minds of some by curiosity. and would not allow that there was anything strange in the cessation of the flowing blood. and I had given up the search. but the humour filled me with mortification.' she whispered. he'll never forgive me. genially holding out his hand.' he cried. 'And what is he by profession?'Dr Porho?t gave a deprecating smile.He was surprised.' said Arthur Burdon. I was told. Arthur watched him for signs of pain.Yet when he looked at her with those pale blue eyes. only a vague memory remained to him. Meanwhile. He unpacked your gladstone bag. he looked exactly like a Franz Hals; but he was dressed like the caricature of a Frenchman in a comic paper.' he said.

 almost acrid perfume that he did not know. it was the Stage Society that produced the early plays of Bernard Shaw.''Because I think the aims of mystical persons invariably gross or trivial? To my plain mind. and at the same time displayed the other part of the card he had received. difficult smiles of uneasy gaiety. Again he thrust his hand in his pocket and brought out a handful of some crumbling substance that might have been dried leaves. Then he answered Arthur. which. 'You know that I owe everything to him. Will.'The sorcerer turned to me and asked who it was that I wished the boy should see. had sought to dazzle him by feats that savoured almost of legerdemain. It is the _Grimoire of Honorius_. when a legacy from a distant relation gave her sufficient income to live modestly upon her means. On it was engraved the sign of the Pentagram.The room was full when Arthur Burdon entered. and a flowing tie of black silk?''Eliphas remarks that the lady spoke French with a marked English accent. I made up my mind to abandon the writing of novels for the rest of my life. and her soul fled from her body; but a new soul came in its place. We can disbelieve these circumstantial details only by coming to the conclusion beforehand that it is impossible they should be true. Margaret forced herself to speak. but Miss Boyd insisted on staying.'My dear fellow. and take the irregular union of her daughter with such a noble unconcern for propriety; but now it seems quite natural. They are of many sorts. whose pictures had recently been accepted by the Luxembourg. Arthur opened the door for him. and they looked at you in a way that was singularly embarrassing. Arthur turned to Margaret.

 and it was as if the earth spun under her feet. laughing. when I tried to catch him.' said Margaret.Asking her to sit down. He amused her. By some accident one of the bottles fell one day and was broken. having read this letter twice. But when Moses de Leon was gathered to the bosom of his father Abraham. The day was sultry. and perhaps after all he had the power which was attributed to him.Susie got up to light a cigarette. But it was understood that he knew duchesses in fashionable streets. 'She wept all over our food. refusing to write any more plays for the time. and winged serpents.'Ah.' said Margaret.'Arthur did not answer at all.He turned his eyes slowly. and he wore a long grey beard. she has been dead many times. by the great God who is all-powerful. She turned the drawings carelessly and presently came to a sheet upon which. not of the lips only but of the soul. 'I hope you weren't at all burned.'His voice grew very low. the outcast son of the morning; and she dared not look upon his face. as she thought how easy it was to hoodwink them.

' said Dr Porho?t. till the dawn was nearly at hand. with his hand so shaky that he can hardly hold a brush; he has to wait for a favourable moment. She had not heard him open the door or close it. 'I wonder you don't do a head of Arthur as you can't do a caricature. no answer reached me. For all her good-nature. Next day. and the tinkling of uncouth instruments. He opened his eyes. Her lips were like living fire. Suddenly it darted at his chin and bit him.' she whispered.'I never cease to be astonished at the unexpectedness of human nature. 'He's a nice. the mirrors. I deeply regret that I kicked it. Presently they came to a man who was cutting silhouettes in black paper. to invoke outlandish gods.Nancy ClerkIt was an old friend. He could not resist taking her hand. In one hand he held a new sword and in the other the Ritual. partly from her conversation. and Raymond Lulli. Burkhardt had so high an opinion of Haddo's general capacity and of his resourcefulness that.'The mother of Madame Rouge had the remains of beauty. The pose which had seemed amusing in a lad fresh from Eton now was intolerable. I can well imagine that he would be as merciless as he is unscrupulous. Susie started a little before two.

 Rolls of fat descended from his chin and concealed his neck. She could not get out of her mind the ugly slyness of that smile which succeeded on his face the first passionate look of deadly hatred.He did not answer. The dignity which encompassed the perfection of her beauty was delightfully softened. Linking up these sounds.' laughed Clayson. At last she took her courage in both hands. Haddo put it in front of the horned viper. bringing him to her friend. and except for his rather scornful indolence he might easily have got his blue. a native sat cross-legged. An attempt to generate another. having been excessively busy. In such an atmosphere it is possible to be serious without pompousness and flippant without inanity.'Yet the man who could write that was in many ways a mere buffoon. It had all the slim delicacy of a Japanese print. for she knew it was impossible to bear the undying pain that darkened it with ruthless shadows. Life and death are in the right hand and in the left of him who knows its secrets. Then he began to play things she did not know. only a vague memory remained to him. He seemed. a native sat cross-legged. and she hastened to his house.''Yet magic is no more than the art of employing consciously invisible means to produce visible effects. and then felt. I think he is quite serious.' said Haddo. Then he began to play things she did not know.'Well.

 whose reputation in England was already considerable. the hydrocephalic heads. on which were all manner of cabbalistic signs.''I should like to tell you of an experience that I once had in Alexandria. She turned the drawings carelessly and presently came to a sheet upon which. warned that his visitor was a bold and skilful surgeon. strangely appearing where before was nothing.'Yes. a wealthy Hebrew. take me in for one moment. "It may be of service to others of my trade. and his face assumed a new.'I wonder if someone has been playing a silly practical joke on me. She ran her eyes along the names. he would go into no details. 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. Susie gave a cry of delight. Haddo swore that he fired in self-defence. making a sign to him.'His name is not so ridiculous as later associations have made it seem. 'It is really very surprising that a man like you should fall so deeply in love with a girl like Margaret Dauncey. and the sensuality was curiously disturbing; the dark. It was like an overwhelming fragrance and she could hardly bear it. it's one of our conventions here that nobody has talent.' he said.' said Arthur. Susie smiled mockingly. 'I shall die in the street. She knelt down and.

 Before anyone could have moved. She felt neither remorse nor revulsion.'Susie was convulsed with laughter at his pompousness. and. at enormous expense and with exceeding labour; it is so volatile that you cannot keep it for three days. Paracelsus concludes his directions for its manufacture with the words: _But if this be incomprehensible to you. but from the way in which Burkhardt spoke.'We'll do ourselves proud. but I know not what there is in the atmosphere that saps his unbelief. How can you be so cruel?''Then the only alternative is that you should accompany me. male and female. Margaret felt that he was looking at her. not unlike the pipe which Pan in the hills of Greece played to the dryads. She gasped for breath. And they surged onward like a riotous crowd in narrow streets flying in terror before the mounted troops. of heavy perfumes of the scent-merchants. but I couldn't see that it was leading me anywhere. acutely conscious of that man who lay in a mass on the floor behind them.'You've made me very happy. and his voice was hoarse. she has been dead many times. dark night is seen and a turbulent sea. They passed in their tattered motley.'Her heart was moved towards him. and Arthur looked at him with amazement.'That surely is what a surgeon would call healing by first intention.''Since I have been occupied with these matters. which was then twenty-eight pounds. stealing a glance at him as he ate.

''Those are facts which can be verified in works of reference. But when Moses de Leon was gathered to the bosom of his father Abraham. I was afraid.'I've never seen anyone with such a capacity for wretchedness as that man has. he made up for it with a diverting pleasantry that might very well have passed for humour. 'You never saw a man who looked less like a magician. a rare dignity. The dead rise up and form into ominous words the night wind that moans through their skulls. She surrendered herself to him voluptuously. he went on. I am a plain. which gave such an unpleasant impression. 'didn't Paracelsus. I have a suspicion that. He seemed to have a positive instinct for operating. 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. straight eyes remained upon Arthur without expression. as though some terrible danger threatened her.'The lovers laughed and reddened. put his hand on the horse's neck.' she said quickly. Margaret stared at him with amazement. It held my interest. a bottle-green frock-coat. It was as though fiends of hell were taking revenge upon her loveliness by inspiring in her a passion for this monstrous creature. he took her in his arms. Her face was hidden by a long veil. It seemed hardly by chance that the colours arranged themselves in such agreeable tones. and they broke into peal upon peal of laughter.

 occasioned.'It is guaranteed to do so. and. by the pictures that represented the hideousness of man or that reminded you of his mortality. I wondered how on earth I could have come by all the material concerning the black arts which I wrote of. and Arthur Burdon. but the music was drowned by the loud talking of excited men and the boisterous laughter of women. and then came to the room downstairs and ordered dinner. with his round. and the trees which framed the scene were golden and lovely. She seemed to know tortuous narrow streets.'I will buy tickets for you all. on a sudden.He smiled but did not answer. The tortured branches. The least wonderful of its many properties was its power to transmute all inferior metals into gold. 'I wonder you don't do a head of Arthur as you can't do a caricature. and she remained silent. He is the only undergraduate I have ever seen walk down the High in a tall hat and a closely-buttoned frock-coat. the humped backs. I opened the door.'I shall begin to think that you really are a magician. I sent one.'That surely is what a surgeon would call healing by first intention. and he towered over the puny multitude. which he published sumptuously at his own expense. and the only light in the room came from the fire. But notwithstanding all this.''You have a marvellous collection of tall stories.

 But now Margaret could take no pleasure in its grace. Count von K??ffstein. and she put her hands to her eyes so that she might not see. The noise was very great. but I'm going to tea at the studio this afternoon. when the other was out.' he said. and gave it to an aged hen. were considered of sufficient merit to please an intellectual audience. which were called _homunculi_. She took part in some festival of hideous lust. He told me that Haddo was a marvellous shot and a hunter of exceptional ability. he dressed himself at unseasonable moments with excessive formality. and the pitiful graces which attempt a fascination that the hurrying years have rendered vain. and his nose delicately shaped. and the white cap was the _coiffe_ that my mother wore. Robert Browning. and photographs of well-known pictures. Arthur. She greeted him with a passionate relief that was unusual. They must return eventually to the abyss of unending night. second-hand. was first initiated into the Kabbalah in the land of his birth; but became most proficient in it during his wanderings in the wilderness. as did the prophets of old. were narrow and obtuse. like most of these old fellows. Only one of these novels had any success. He told her of many-coloured webs and of silken carpets. His face beamed with good-nature.

 He lifted his eyes slowly. She felt a heartrending pang to think that thenceforward the consummate things of art would have no meaning for her. and Fustine was haggard with the eternal fires of lust.'"When he has done sweeping. dreadfully afraid. as two of my early novels. he would go into no details. I am no more interested in it than in a worn-out suit of clothes that I have given away. His name is Oliver Haddo. He took the bowl in his hands and brought it to her. He unpacked your gladstone bag. and she had little round bright eyes. She wept ungovernably. It was as if a rank weed were planted in her heart and slid long poisonous tentacles down every artery. it is impossible to know how much he really believes what he says. But though she watched in order to conceal her own secret. and the causes that made him say it. Warren reeled out with O'Brien. And Jezebel looked out upon her from beneath her painted brows. what on earth is the use of manufacturing these strange beasts?' he exclaimed. She feared that Haddo had returned. blushing as though she had been taken in some indiscretion. so that he might regain his strength. He spoke English with a Parisian accent. and they can give no certainty. for Moses de Leon had composed _Zohar_ out of his own head. Shame seized her. He stepped forward to the centre of the tent and fell on his knees. She was aware that his passion for this figure was due.

'I've never seen anyone with such a capacity for wretchedness as that man has. his eyes more than ever strangely staring. There was always that violent hunger of the soul which called her to him. and generally black or red turns up; but now and then zero appears. 'I don't want to wait any longer. without method or plan. It might be very strange and very wonderful.She turned to Dr Porho?t. My friend. Within was a lady in black satin. L'?le Saint Louis to her mind offered a synthesis of the French spirit. They walked out of the gallery and turned to the quay. and went. and so. He could have knelt down and worshipped as though a goddess of old Greece stood before him. had never seen Arthur. she went on to the end.. with scarcely a trace of foreign accent. on the other hand. Often. Nearly fifty years had passed since I had done so. and he knows it. for he had been to Eton and to Cambridge. Susie would think her mad. as a result of which the man was shot dead. He read out the fine passage from the preface of the _Paragranum_:'I went in search of my art. He had been greatly influenced by Swinburne and Robert Browning.' said Arthur.

 but the sketches of Arthur had disappeared. and the bitterness has warped his soul. He will go through fire and not be burned. An unattached and fairly presentable young man is always in demand. 'I'll bring you a horror of yourself.'I had almost forgotten the most wonderful. ambiguous passion. and God is greater than all snakes. and I thought it would startle you if I chose that mode of ingress. with whom Arthur had been in the habit of staying; and when he died. and leave a wretched wounded beast to die by inches. was down with fever and could not stir from his bed. The noise was deafening. and Arthur looked at him with amazement. followed by a crowd of disciples. There is a sense of freedom about it that disposes the mind to diverting speculations. and Burkhardt could only express entire admiration for his pluck.'You know. but he motioned it away as though he would not be beholden to her even for that.' said Arthur. Susie began to understand how it was that.'Nothing. With Haddo's subtle words the character of that man rose before her. He went on. He was grossly. He could not resist taking her hand. and this symbol was drawn on the new.'Had Nancy anything particular to say to you?' she asked. but he played it with a brutal savagery which the other persons concerned naturally resented.

 without method or plan.Miss Boyd was thirty. My family has formed alliances with the most noble blood of England. To console himself he began to make serious researches in the occult. It sounds incredible in this year of grace.'You are a bold man to assert that now and then the old alchemists actually did make gold. the animalism of Greece. He was a fake. I can with difficulty imagine two men less capable of getting on together. you no longer love me. but his sarcastic smile would betray him. But things had gone too far now. in ghastly desolation; and though a dead thing. but took her face in his hands and kissed her passionately.They began a lively discussion with Marie as to the merits of the various dishes. Copper. so that I can see after your clothes. and was prepared to take it off our hands." said the boy.'He is an Egyptian from Assiut.'Her eyes filled with tears and her voice broke. whom the French of the nineteenth century called _Le Tueur de Lions_. She poured out a glass of water. The greatest questions of all have been threshed out since he acquired the beginnings of civilization and he is as far from a solution as ever. 'and I have collected many of his books. Susie would think her mad.'I wonder if it is for the same reason that Mr Haddo puzzles us so much. a virgin. another on Monday afternoon.

 Jacques Casanova. but that you were responsible for everything. I should be able to do nothing but submit. but more especially of a diary kept by a certain James Kammerer. exhausted. and all she had seen was merely the creation of his own libidinous fancy. and his hand and his brain worked in a manner that appeared almost automatic. An enigmatic smile came to her lips. His brown eyes were veiled with sudden melancholy. picking the leg of a chicken with a dignified gesture. and the tremulousness of life was in it; the rough bark was changed into brutish flesh and the twisted branches into human arms. 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. Then came all legendary monsters and foul beasts of a madman's fancy; in the darkness she saw enormous toads. looked at him curiously. wondered with a little pang why no man like that had even cared for her. and for a little while there was silence. and forthwith showed us marvels which this man has never heard of. he had there a diverting brusqueness of demeanour which contrasted quaintly with his usual calm. and over the landscapes brooded a wan spirit of evil that was very troubling. in her eagerness to get a preliminary glimpse of its marvels. and a furious argument was proceeding on the merit of the later Impressionists.'Margaret wished very much to spend this time in Paris. while Margaret put the tea things away. He gave a laugh. which seemed to belie it. leaves out of consideration the individual cases that contradict the enormous majority. the hydrocephalic heads. half gay.'You know.

 and a pregnant woman.'Haddo bowed slightly. Her soul yearned for a beauty that the commonalty of men did not know. 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. If there were a word of truth in anything Haddo says. and then.'But what does it matter?' he said. and he knows it. an honourable condition which.'They came into full view. which was held at six in the evening. and how would they be troubled by this beauty.''I see that you wish me to go. rising. she was growing still.''It would have been just as good if I had ordered it. An expression of terrible anguish came into his face. His dark. when you came in.'Her heart was moved towards him. The form suddenly grew indistinct and soon it strangely vanished. At first Margaret vowed it was impossible to go. I told you then how sorry I was that a sudden uncontrollable pain drove me to do a thing which immediately I bitterly regretted. and they were moist with tears. and Susie went in. expression. Suddenly it darted at his chin and bit him.''_Bien. They were made in five weeks.

 He placed it on the ground and for a moment waited. She understood how men had bartered their souls for infinite knowledge. Letters and the arts meant little to him. In a moment. were half a dozen heads of Arthur. I didn't know before. Galen. She could not get the man out of her thoughts.'Susie glanced at Oliver Haddo. My father left me a moderate income.' pursued the Frenchman reflectively.She was unwilling to take it. Finally he had a desperate quarrel with one of the camp servants. For all her good-nature. That vast mass of flesh had a malignancy that was inhuman.'Oliver Haddo began then to speak of Leonardo da Vinci.'In my youth I believed nothing.' he said. He covertly laid down the principles of the doctrine in the first four books of the Pentateuch. She would have given much to confess her two falsehoods. it pleased him to see it in others.Arthur Burdon smiled. He forgot everything. But a few days before she had seen the _Ph??dre_ of Racine. She was a hard-visaged creature of mature age. which gave two performances. She did not feel ashamed. which outraged and at the same time irresistibly amused everyone who heard it. and the further he gets from sobriety the more charming he is.

 but it was not half done before she thought it silly.'It may interest you to know that I'm leaving Paris on Thursday. His nose and mouth were large. It was an index of his character. who had preserved their self-respect notwithstanding a difficult position. the more delicate and beautiful is his painting. and the mind that contemplated them was burdened with the decadence of Rome and with the passionate vice of the Renaissance; and it was tortured. or was it the searching analysis of the art of Wagner?''We were just going.The music was beautiful. 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. gnawing at a dead antelope.''You have spoken to me of your mother. driven almost to distraction. Burkhardt returned to England; and Haddo. But it would be a frightful thing to have in one's hands; for once it were cast upon the waters. She looked down at Oliver. Galen. The pages had a peculiar. who sat on the other side of Margaret. without interest. She hid her face in her hands and burst into tears. goat-legged thing. and knows the language of the stars. but it would be of extraordinary interest to test it for oneself. The lies which at first seemed intolerable now tripped glibly off her tongue. the organic from the inorganic. Margaret was dressed with exceeding care. and I had four running in London at the same time. 'If he really knows Frank Hurrell I'll find out all about him.

 Jacques Casanova. When Arthur arrived.'It is guaranteed to do so. too. to like football. As though certain she set much store on it.'_Oh.'Arthur did not answer at all. and Haddo insisted on posing for him. Arthur watched him for signs of pain. She came on with hoarse. and was not disposed to pay much attention to this vehement distress. certainly never possessed. drawing upon his memory. with a smile. The look of him gave you the whole man. When Margaret came back. indeed. I have described the place elsewhere. It was a curious sight. If he had given her that address.' he said. It did not take me long to make up my mind. I lost; and have never since regained. and to this presently he insisted on going.'Arthur Burdon had just arrived in Paris. The lies which at first seemed intolerable now tripped glibly off her tongue. He had a large soft hat.'I saw the place was crowded.

 so that she might see he used no compulsion. The stiffness broke away from the snake suddenly.' he said. of plays which.'Arthur gave a little laugh and pressed her hand. Many of the flowers were withered. The manager of the Court Theatre.Clayson had a vinous nose and a tedious habit of saying brilliant things. dealing only with the general.''You have a marvellous collection of tall stories. And many of their women. and she wished to begin a new life.The English party with Dr Porho?t. though I know him fairly intimately. 'An odd thing happened once when he came to see me. partly from fragments of letters which Margaret read to her.' He showed her a beautifully-written Arabic work. Haddo's eyes were fixed upon Margaret so intently that he did not see he was himself observed. had omitted to do so.'Dr Porho?t interposed with introductions. He accepted her excuse that she had to visit a sick friend.'I think it's delicious. The time will come when none of you shall remain in his dark corner who will not be an object of contempt to the world.'Well. they may achieve at last a power with which they can face the God of Heaven Himself. and the frigid summers of Europe scarcely warmed his blood. musty odour. lifting his hat."'Oliver Haddo told his story not ineffectively.

 I was very grateful to the stranger. We could afford to wait. the mystic persons who seem ever about secret. The bleeding stopped. but from the way in which Burkhardt spoke.''The practice of black arts evidently disposes to obesity. resisting the melodramas. He looked at Arthur with a certain ironic gravity.' she said. and there were flowers everywhere. had never been able to give it. Since I could not afford to take cabs. the humped backs. she had hurried till her bones ached from one celebrated monument to another. 'I should have thought your medical profession protected you from any tenderness towards superstition. He had read his book.' returned Haddo. Arthur was ridiculously happy. Come at twelve. but his action caused a general desertion. making a sign to him. She had not seen Nancy for so long that it surprised her to receive this urgent message.' said Arthur.'She was too reticent to say all she felt. low laugh and stretched out her hand on the table.''Do you love me very much?' she asked. There was hardly space to move. you may have heard. which gave such an unpleasant impression.

 and she was merciless.'Did you ever hear such gibberish in your life? Yet he did a bold thing. There was a mockery in that queer glance. The native closed the opening behind them. and the moonlit nights of the desert. With a leer and a flash of his bright teeth. and only seventeen when I asked her to marry me. Margaret sprang forward to help him. The gibe at his obesity had caught him on the raw. The humility of it aroused her suspicion. His face. The flames invested every object with a wavering light. In a moment.'I want to ask you to forgive me for what I did. and Susie asked for a cigarette. There had ever been something cold in her statuesque beauty. he caught her in his arms. for his senses are his only means of knowledge. and the whole world would be consumed. And now everyone is kneeling down. She seemed to know tortuous narrow streets.' said Arthur. In a little while. The night was lurid with acetylene torches._ one chicken. whose face was concealed by a thick veil.'I'm very sorry to cause you this trouble. She ran up the stairs and knocked at the door. The kettle was boiling on the stove; cups and _petits fours_ stood in readiness on a model stand.

 He repeated a sentence in Arabic. 'but he's always in that condition. I shall then proceed to a fresh sole. I don't see why you shouldn't now. What had she done? She was afraid. O Marie. He read out the fine passage from the preface of the _Paragranum_:'I went in search of my art. Oliver Haddo proceeded to eat these dishes in the order he had named.'Margaret smiled and held his hand. I haven't seen any of his work. 'I wouldn't let him out of my sight for worlds.'And the Eastern palaces in which your youth was spent. breaking into French in the impossibility of expressing in English the exact feeling which that scene gave him.'Don't be a pair of perfect idiots.'Why on earth didn't you come to tea?' she asked. that Arthur in many ways was narrow. Susie. an air pass by him; and. but Eliphas experienced such a sudden exhaustion in all his limbs that he was obliged to sit down.' said Susie Boyd. He's the only man in this room of whom you'll never hear a word of evil.'He dragged himself with difficulty back to the chair.Asking her to sit down. neither very imaginative nor very brilliant.''I'm sure Mr Haddo was going to tell us something very interesting about him. and she did not see how she could possibly insist. Though I have not seen Haddo now for years. he began to tremble and seemed very much frightened. Arthur started a little and gave him a searching glance.

' said Arthur Burdon. red face. You must come and help us; but please be as polite to him as if. 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.'Burden's face assumed an expression of amused disdain. gave it a savage kick.'I will buy tickets for you all.' he said.' he said. dreadfully afraid. but otherwise recovered. But of Haddo himself she learned nothing. of the _concierge_.'They came into full view. Your industry edifies me.''We certainly saw things last night that were not quite normal. and Margaret's hand was as small. All the thoughts and experience of the world have etched and moulded there. I settled down and set to work on still another novel.Miss Boyd was beginning to tear him gaily limb from limb. he saw distinctly before the altar a human figure larger than life. the whole world will be at his command. But with our modern appliances. so that we can make ourselves tidy. The dead rise up and form into ominous words the night wind that moans through their skulls. who is a waiter at Lavenue's.' He paused for a moment to light a cigar. and they stared into space.''Nonsense!' said Margaret.