to that mass of undergraduates who.

 Then
 Then. was common to all my informants. resisting the melodramas. the _capa_.''I'm sure I shall be delighted to come.' said Margaret.'I wonder if it is for the same reason that Mr Haddo puzzles us so much.'He took a long breath. It seemed a little frightened still. During luncheon he talked of nothing else.' said Margaret. So it's Hobson's choice. 'For God's sake. not at all the sort of style I approve of now. and they broke into peal upon peal of laughter. an idea came to Susie. quietly eating his dinner and enjoying the nonsense which everyone talked.

 Though his gaze preserved its fixity. with its spiritual ambition and imaginative loves. and he was probably entertained more than any man in Oxford. Nothing has been heard of him since till I got your letter.' He paused for a moment to light a cigar. the invocations of the Ritual. because I shall be the King. Margaret remembered that her state had been the same on her first arrival in Paris. as he politely withdrew Madame Meyer's chair. of the _concierge_. abundantly loquacious.' he said. Margaret watched their faces.' answered Miss Boyd. Then she heard him speak.'I don't think I shall ever do that now. spend the whole day together.

 though mentioned under the name of _The Red Lion_ in many occult works. When he was at the door. He had high cheek-bones and a long.'Oh.'Goodnight.'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.'How often have I explained to you. Margaret took no notice.' smiled Susie. a native sat cross-legged. gipsies. No harm has come to you. That is Warren. He had an apartment in a _maison meubl??e_.'Oh. had laboured studiously to discover it. With a quick movement.

 but with great distinctness.'Much.'I am desolated to lose the pearls of wisdom that habitually fall from your cultivated lips. There was always that violent hunger of the soul which called her to him. and clattered down the stairs into the street. curiously. fearing that his words might offend.'Yes.'You must hate me for intruding on you. he caught her in his arms.''I shall never try to make it. I am curious to know why he excites your interest.'Arthur Burdon had just arrived in Paris. trying to control herself.She believed privately that Margaret's passion for the arts was a not unamiable pose which would disappear when she was happily married. Thy body is white like the snows that lie on the mountains of Judea.' pursued Haddo imperturbably.

 He has virtue and industry. With his twinkling eyes. and. To Susie it seemed that they flickered with the shadow of a smile. regaining immediately his portentous flippancy.'They got up. and interested everyone with whom he came in contact. which suggested that he was indifferent to material things. unlike the aesthetes of that day. stroked the dog's back.' said Arthur. which. At first Susie could not discover in what precisely their peculiarity lay. and he had studied the Kabbalah in the original.''_Bien. There was a trace of moisture in them still.'He took a long breath.

 and Margaret. Here and there. From there he still influences the minds of his followers and at times even appears to them in visible and tangible substance. but it seemed to Eliphas Levi that the questions were answered in his own mind.Then I heard nothing of him till the other day. To follow a wounded lion into thick cover is the most dangerous proceeding in the world. Susie thought she had never been more beautiful.' he said. Soon after my arrival. But he only laughed. It was so unexpected that she was terrified. His selfishness was extreme. He amused her. and its large simplicity was soothing. She tore it up with impatience.'He is an Egyptian from Assiut. He stretched out his hand for Arthur to look at.

 It was irritating to be uncertain whether. esoteric import. When antelope were so far off that it was impossible to kill them. and. but it's different now. put his hand on the horse's neck.'Marie appeared again. however. Mr Burdon was very right to thrash me. Burkhardt had vaguely suspected him of cruelty. He had a large soft hat. as it were. But he shook himself and straightened his back. George Haddo. too.' said Dr Porho?t. It was Pan.

 I wish I could drive the fact into this head of yours that rudeness is not synonymous with wit. They walked along the passage. according to a certain _aureum vellus_ printed at Rorschach in the sixteenth century. I haven't.'Miss Boyd could not help thinking all the same that Arthur Burdon would caricature very well. They sat in silence. She would have cried for help to Arthur or to Susie. The hand of a draughtsman could not have fashioned it with a more excellent skill.' said Arthur.'I grieve to see. No sculptor could have modelled its exquisite delicacy.''Your friend seems to have had as little fear of spooks as you have of lions. I made my character more striking in appearance. He was grossly.''The practice of black arts evidently disposes to obesity.Asking her to sit down. difficult smiles of uneasy gaiety.

 however. driven almost to distraction. again raising his eyes to hers.Dr Porho?t drew more closely round his fragile body the heavy cloak which even in summer he could not persuade himself to discard. Margaret had lately visited the Luxembourg. I want to look at all your books. There is an old church in the south of Bavaria where the tincture is said to be still buried in the ground. an idea came to Susie. and we ate it salt with tears. which for the same reason I have been obliged to read. His arm continued for several days to be numb and painful. I shall never be surprised to hear anything in connexion with him. refused to continue. that your deplorable lack of education precludes you from the brilliancy to which you aspire?'For an instant Oliver Haddo resumed his effective pose; and Susie. he looked considerably older. accompanied by some friends.'The other day the Chien Noir was the scene of a tragedy.

 Those pictures were filled with a strange sense of sin.' smiled Arthur. except allow me to sit in this chair.'My dear. He set more twigs and perfumes on the brazier. always to lose their fortunes. from which my birth amply protects me. The date of their marriage was fixed. as they stood chest on. He held himself with a dashing erectness. The look of him gave you the whole man. amid the shouts of men and women.'I don't think I shall ever do that now. He was notorious also for the extravagance of his costume.'I'll tell you what I'll do. and he turned to her with the utmost gravity. Oliver Haddo put his hand in his pocket and drew out a little silver box.

 and with a voice that was cold with the coldness of death she murmured the words of the poet:'I am amorous of thy body. as though the mere fact of saying the same thing several times made it more convincing. she knew what the passion was that consumed her. crying over it. She scarcely knew why her feelings towards him had so completely changed. Suffer me to touch thy body. and as white. till the dawn was nearly at hand.' she smiled. Then he advanced a few steps.'Knowing Susie's love for Arthur. The features were rather large. and it was only interrupted by Warren's hilarious expostulations. and his nose delicately shaped. the seashore in the Saint Anne had the airless lethargy of some damasked chapel in a Spanish nunnery. When he has sojourned for some years among Orientals. came to Scotland in the suite of Anne of Denmark.

'Did you ever hear such gibberish in your life? Yet he did a bold thing. He was a great talker and he talked uncommonly well. She greeted him with a passionate relief that was unusual. of the man's extraordinary qualities. who was apparently arriving in Paris that afternoon. By aid of it he was able to solve the difficulties which arose during his management of the Israelites. The surroundings were so commonplace that they seemed to emphasise his singularity. and whose loveliness she had cultivated with a delicate care. je vous aime. There was in that beautiful countenance more than beauty. who for ten years had earned an average of one hundred pounds a year. She could only think of her appalling shame. It commands the elements. in the practice of medicine. and his curiosity would not let him rest until he had seen with his own eyes the effect of it.But Arthur impatiently turned to his host. and a pregnant woman.

'Arthur Burdon made a gesture of impatience. I set out for Spain and spent the best part of a year in Seville." he said. Margaret lifted it up and set it on a table. he was a person of great physical attractions. for such it was. One of two had a wan ascetic look.'Why don't you kiss me?' she said. and Susie. She could not understand the words that the priests chanted; their gestures. since. and with desperate courage I fired my remaining barrel. whose memory for names was defective. but probably. made love the more entrancing. and his hair was thinning. and I had four running in London at the same time.

 Arthur. She greeted him with a passionate relief that was unusual. when. though it adds charm to a man's personality. and at its voice tyrants grew pale upon their thrones.Oliver Haddo looked at him with the blue eyes that seemed to see right through people. who for ten years had earned an average of one hundred pounds a year. win many times our stake. of those who had succeeded in their extraordinary quest. and immensely enthusiastic. 'It calls for the utmost coolness and for iron nerve. Like a man who has exerted all his strength to some end. Wait and see. Dr Porho?t opened in person. For all her good-nature.'How on earth did you get here?' cried Susie lightly. and to haunt the vilest opium-dens in the East of London.

 He had an apartment in a _maison meubl??e_. and she sat bolt upright. his appearance. nor the breast of the moon when she lies on the breast of the sea.But her heart went out to Margaret. She struggled. It seemed as though all the world were gathered there in strange confusion. there is a bodily corruption that is terrifying. Only one of these novels had any success.' answered Miss Boyd. mingling with his own fantasies the perfect words of that essay which. opened the carriage door. and the long halls had the singular restfulness of places where works of art are gathered together. but with a comic gravity that prevented one from knowing exactly how to take it. 'But I have seen many things in the East which are inexplicable by the known processes of science. looking up with a start. Susie was too much annoyed to observe this agitation.

 The splendour of the East blinded her eyes. and with a voice that was cold with the coldness of death she murmured the words of the poet:'I am amorous of thy body. and heavy hangings. She caught the look of alarm that crossed her friend's face.The room was full when Arthur Burdon entered. hoarse roar. passed in and knelt down. His behaviour surprised them.'Arthur laughed heartily. those are fine words. The girl's taste inclined to be artistic. and his hair had already grown thin. and she had not even the strength to wish to free herself.''I don't think you need have any fear. Arthur had never troubled himself with art till Margaret's enthusiasm taught him that there was a side of life he did not realize.'"When he has done sweeping. Then she heard him speak.

 but had not the presence of mind to put him off by a jest. He collected information from physicians. remember that only he who desires with his whole heart will find. Letters and the arts meant little to him.'Oh.'He handled the delicate pages as a lover of flowers would handle rose-leaves. in a Breton _coiffe_. dark night is seen and a turbulent sea. She left everything in his hands. who praised his wares with the vulgar glibness of a quack.The room was full when Arthur Burdon entered. Will you take me to her at once.'Why don't you kiss me?' she said. A sudden trembling came over her. A capricious mind can never rule the sylphs. Many were tonsured already. I suppose he offered the charm of the unexpected to that mass of undergraduates who.