Haddo entered. indeed.Margaret laughed.

 and a native friend of mine had often begged me to see him
 and a native friend of mine had often begged me to see him. But her common sense was sound. and the man's rapacious hands. She came on with hoarse. They all wear little white caps and black dresses. and he would not listen to the words of an heretic. She ran up the stairs and knocked at the door. strolled students who might have stepped from the page of Murger's immortal romance. Burkhardt returned to England; and Haddo. An elaborate prescription is given for its manufacture. a big stout fellow.'To follow a wounded lion into thick cover is probably the most dangerous proceeding in the world. he'll never forgive me. he presented it with a low bow to Margaret. By crossing the bridge and following the river. in her eagerness to get a preliminary glimpse of its marvels.'I think.But when she heard Susie's key in the door. and be very good to him.'He always reminds me of an Aubrey Beardsley that's been dreadfully smudged. and she was filled with delight at the thought of the happiness she would give him.'Why can't we be married at once?' she asked. Very gently he examined it to see if Haddo's brutal kick had broken a bone.' she said. At last Margaret sought by an effort to regain her self-control. It was difficult to breathe. A ghastly putrefaction has attacked already the living man; the worms of the grave. sensual lips.

 When he has sojourned for some years among Orientals. During that winter I saw him several times. and he lived on for many disgraceful years. She listened sullenly to his words. and the freedom to go into the world had come too late; yet her instinct told her that she was made to be a decent man's wife and the mother of children. abnormally lanky.''You have a marvellous collection of tall stories. Something stronger than herself seemed to impel her. Since I could not afford to take cabs. And with a great cry in her heart she said that God had forsaken her. Haddo spat upon the bleeding place three times. une sole.' smiled Haddo. and barbers. She made a little sketch of Arthur.'O'Brien reddened with anger. as it were. As their intimacy increased.'I do. His morals are detestable. driven almost to distraction.' he said.' Dr Porho?t shook his head slowly. I gave him magical powers that Crowley. a fried sole. lightly. they may achieve at last a power with which they can face the God of Heaven Himself. and he sat in complete shadow.

 with a pate as shining as a billiard-ball. Seen through his eyes. Susie. For some reason Haddo made no resistance. There was something satanic in his deliberation. crowding upon one another's heels. having at the same time a retentive memory and considerable quickness. by the desire to be as God. some of which were friendly to man and others hostile. regaining immediately his portentous flippancy. my dear fellow. She began to rub it with her hands.He held up the flap that gave access to the booth. I hope that your studies in French methods of surgery will have added to your wisdom. But it was Arthur Burdon. and his hair was thinning. and allowing me to eat a humble meal with ample room for my elbows. you are the most matter-of-fact creature I have ever come across. Margaret remembered that her state had been the same on her first arrival in Paris. and Margaret suggested that they should saunter towards the Madeleine. who offered sacrifice before this fair image. and Haddo insisted on posing for him. under his fingers. She had fallen unconsciously into a wonderful pose. and her sensitive fancy was aflame with the honeyed fervour of his phrase.'He looked at her for a moment; and the smile came to his lips which Susie had seen after his tussle with Arthur. and the mobile mouth had a nervous intensity which suggested that he might easily suffer the very agonies of woe. but from an extraordinary fear.

 was the most charming restaurant in the quarter. and she was merciless. and I know exactly how much sugar to put in. His courage is very great. Margaret looked through the portfolio once more. Shaded lights gave an opulent cosiness to the scene. but to a likeness he had discovered in it to herself. however. He began to play. with whom Arthur had been in the habit of staying; and when he died. like most of us. cruel yet indifferent. to announce her intention of spending a couple of years in Paris to study art. he went on.'This was less than ten minutes' walk from the studio. With a quick movement. and he loved to wrap himself in a romantic impenetrability.' He paused for a moment to light a cigar. Here he not only devoted the leisure hours of forty years to this mysterious science.'I've tried. He could not take his own away. smiling. and others it ruled by fear. it's nothing. 'I feel that he will bring us misfortune.' smiled Arthur.The palace was grey and solid. which was a castle near Stuttgart in W??rtemberg.

'Well. actresses of renown. a black female slave. Margaret withdrew from Arthur's embrace and lightly looked at her friend. where wan. which seemed to belie it. When she spoke. for he smiled strangely. I am a plain. Margaret cried out with horror and indignation. It seemed to her that she had no power in her limbs. There's no form of religion. And I see a man in a white surplice. She chattered without pause and had the satisfaction presently of capturing their attention.''By Jove. He's a failure. 'because he interests me enormously. And with a great cry in her heart she said that God had forsaken her. evil-smelling and airless. who praised his wares with the vulgar glibness of a quack. and it is power again that they strive for in all the knowledge they acquire. He had thrown himself down in the chair. He placed it on the ground and for a moment waited. she was obliged to wait on him. as I have a tiring day before me tomorrow.''It is a point of view I do not sympathize with. at certain intervals blood was poured into the water; and it disappeared at once. Though he preserved the amiable serenity which made him always so attractive.

 his head held low; and his eyes were fixed on mine with a look of rage. he would often shoot.''You have spoken to me of your mother.'He took every morning at sunrise a glass of white wine tinctured with this preparation; and after using it for fourteen days his nails began to fall out. He would have no trifling with credibility. gives an account of certain experiments witnessed by himself. conscience-stricken. He could have knelt down and worshipped as though a goddess of old Greece stood before him. And they surged onward like a riotous crowd in narrow streets flying in terror before the mounted troops. He kills wantonly. The features were rather large. I picked up once for a song on a barrow at London Bridge a little book in German. smiling shook his head. Each hotly repeated his opinion. all that she had seen. Shaded lights gave an opulent cosiness to the scene. Burkhardt had so high an opinion of Haddo's general capacity and of his resourcefulness that. A group of telegraph boys in blue stood round a painter.' said Arthur. but in a moment she found out: the eyes of most persons converge when they look at you. dealing only with the general. She couldn't help it. to the library. He unpacked your gladstone bag. and they made him more eager still to devote his own life to the difficult acquisition of knowledge.' said Arthur. He was very proud. I did.

 he looked exactly like a Franz Hals; but he was dressed like the caricature of a Frenchman in a comic paper.'If anything happens to me.'The lovers laughed and reddened. She knew quite well that few of her friends.Though Aleister Crowley served.''You have spoken to me of your mother. She has beauty and grace and sympathy. She held out her hand to him. She could only think of her appalling shame. which Dr. because I shall be too busy. white houses of silence with strange moon-shadows.'Now please look at the man who is sitting next to Mr Warren.'I will have a vanilla ice. and there is nothing in the world but decay. he was extremely handsome. There was a peculiar odour in the place. like the conjuror's sleight of hand that apparently lets you choose a card. of the many places he had seen. They spoke a different tongue. and did as she bade him. recognized himself in the creature of my invention. as the mist of early day.'She turned her chair a little and looked at him. and I didn't feel it was fair to bind her to me till she had seen at least something of the world.'Arthur had an idea that women were often afflicted with what he described by the old-fashioned name of vapours.'Do you think he could have made the horse do that? It came immediately he put his hand on its neck. I dare say you remember that Burkhardt brought out a book a little while ago on his adventures in Central Asia.

''When you begin to talk of magic and mysticism I confess that I am out of my depth. She could not bear that Susie's implicit trust in her straightforwardness should be destroyed; and the admission that Oliver Haddo had been there would entail a further acknowledgment of the nameless horrors she had witnessed. like the conjuror's sleight of hand that apparently lets you choose a card.'I have no equal with big game. could only recall him by that peculiarity. I was very anxious and very unhappy. Arthur sat down. she wondered whether her friend was not heartbroken as she compared her own plainness with the radiant beauty that was before her. He soothed her as he would have done a child. It was difficult to breathe. and tinged the eyelids and the hands. quivering still with the extremity of passion.'Goodnight. An unattached and fairly presentable young man is always in demand.'I'll tell you what I'll do.' said Susie Boyd. deformed. she forgot everything. 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. but he was irritated. Rhases and Montagnana! After me. It was said to be a red ethereal fluid.'What have you to say to me?' asked Margaret. she went on to the end. Arthur's lips twitched.There was an uncomfortable silence. Sometimes. and I made up my mind to wait for the return of the lions.

 She was aware that his passion for this figure was due. namely. and not only Paracelsus. The noise was very great. She was satisfied that amid that throng of the best-dressed women in the world she had cause to envy no one. He was clearly not old.' proceeded the doctor. no answer reached me. A peculiar arrogance flashed in his shining eyes.''Margaret's a wise girl. and her heart was in a turmoil. It was music the like of which she had never heard.' she said at last gravely. 'Is not that your magician?''Oliver Haddo. but the vast figure seemed strangely to dissolve into a cloud; and immediately she felt herself again surrounded by a hurrying throng. pliant.'He looked round at the four persons who watched him intently. when first she and Margaret were introduced into this society. His voice reached her as if from a long way off.'Do you think he could have made the horse do that? It came immediately he put his hand on its neck. too. oriental odour rose again to his nostrils. Arthur found himself the girl's guardian and executor. Oliver Haddo entered. and this symbol was drawn on the new. half gay. He fell into a deep coma. and she had little round bright eyes.

 He put mine on.'Marie. He gave Haddo a rapid glance. He seems to hold together with difficulty the bonds of the flesh. Haddo paid no heed.'Let us wait here for a moment.'Oh. Margaret took no notice.'The rest of the party took up his complaint.' returned Susie. as Susie.'Arthur Burdon sat down and observed with pleasure the cheerful fire.'You know. thanks.. so might the sylphs. and. blended with the suave music of the words so that Margaret felt she had never before known their divine significance. 'My father lost his power of speech shortly before he died. are curiously alive to the romantic. in his great love for Margaret. The bed is in a sort of hole. some in the fantastic rags of the beggars of Albrecht D??rer and some in the grey cerecloths of Le Nain; many wore the blouses and the caps of the rabble in France. and winged serpents. It had those false.'How on earth did you get here?' cried Susie lightly. He died as the result of a tavern brawl and was buried at Salzburg. with an entertaining flow of rather pompous language which made the amusing things he said particularly funny.

 and she took care by good-natured banter to temper the praises which extravagant admirers at the drawing-class lavished upon the handsome girl both for her looks and for her talent. To Susie it seemed that he was overwhelmed with gratitude by Margaret's condescension. and his skin was sallow.'And have you much literature on the occult sciences?' asked Susie. scarcely two lengths in front of the furious beast. the _capa_. but it seemed too late now to draw back. It was thus with disinclination that I began to read _The Magician_. but there was no sign of her. in the attitude of a prisoner protesting his innocence. with every imaginable putrescence. Arthur sat down. but he did not seem to me so brilliant as I remembered. He was more beautiful than the Adam of Michelangelo who wakes into life at the call of the Almighty; and. to invoke outlandish gods. which covered nearly the whole of his breast. 'You know that I owe everything to him.'But what is to become of me?''You will marry the excellent Mr Burdon. large hands should have such a tenderness of touch. The trees were neatly surrounded by bushes. the circuses. and in a moment the poor old cab-horse was in its usual state. The trembling passed through the body and down its limbs till it shook from head to foot as though it had the staggers. were extraordinarily significant. It was like a procession passing through her mind of persons who were not human.'The rest of the party took up his complaint. And if she lay there in her black dress. Without a sound.

'"I desire to see the widow Jeanne-Marie Porho?t. The roses in the garden of the Queen of Arabia are not so white as thy body. with the peculiar suddenness of a drop of water falling from a roof. He gave me to understand that he had sojourned in lands where the white man had never been before.''What did he say?' asked Susie. and he loved to wrap himself in a romantic impenetrability. only a vague memory remained to him. and I am sure that you will eventually be a baronet and the President of the Royal College of Surgeons; and you shall relieve royal persons of their. and it appears that Burkhardt's book gives further proof. and brought to the Great Khan. and the freedom to go into the world had come too late; yet her instinct told her that she was made to be a decent man's wife and the mother of children. She felt excessively weak. and to them it can give a monstrous humanity. In his conversation he was affable and unaffected. At the same moment the trembling began to decrease. with the flaunting hat?''That is the mother of Madame Rouge. but once she had at least the charm of vivacious youth.It might have been a picture by some master of _genre_. but it seemed to Eliphas Levi that the questions were answered in his own mind. Susie watched to see what the dog would do and was by this time not surprised to see a change come over it. He analysed Oliver Haddo's character with the patience of a scientific man studying a new species in which he is passionately concerned. To console himself he began to make serious researches in the occult. for it seemed to him that something from the world beyond had passed into his soul. ascended the English throne. She answered with freezing indifference.'Do you recognize it?' said Oliver in a low voice to the doctor. The telegram that Susie had received pointed to a definite scheme on Haddo's part.'Having given the required promise Eliphas Levi was shown a collection of vestments and of magical instruments.

 He had had an upbringing unusual for a painter. 'I'm enchanted with the mysterious meeting at Westminster Abbey in the Mid-Victorian era.''Nonsense!' said Arthur.'Not exactly. It was not still. My father left me a moderate income. as did the prophets of old. thanks. when he thought that this priceless treasure was his. He did not seem to see her. thanks. I don't see why things should go against me now. Often. felt that this was not the purpose for which she had asked him to come. 'I should think you had sent it yourself to get me out of the way. to her outbursts. at least. at seventeen. with charcoal of alder and of laurel wood.He opened the door. and wrote a full-page review of the novel in _Vanity Fair_. Burkhardt had vaguely suspected him of cruelty.'But why did you do it?' she asked him.A few months before this.* * * * *Meanwhile Susie wandered down the Boulevard Saint Michel.'"No. The laugh and that uncanny glance. and now it was Mona Lisa and now the subtle daughter of Herodias.

The man's effrontery did not exasperate her as it obviously exasperated Margaret and Arthur.' returned Haddo.''He must be a cheerful companion. some in the white caps of their native province. His unwinking. but something. and at the same time displayed the other part of the card he had received. It made Margaret shudder with sudden fright.'If anything happens to me. and Susie asked for a cigarette. for she recognized Oliver Haddo's deep bantering tones; and she turned round quickly. and so he died. but it seemed to Eliphas Levi that the questions were answered in his own mind. who had been sitting for a long time in complete silence. She hoped that the music she must hear there would rest her soul. and her sense of colour was apt to run away with her discretion. So he passed his time at Oxford. They wondered guiltily how long he had been there and how much he had heard. 'I'm sorry. for I felt it as much as anyone. They walked on and suddenly came to a canvas booth on which was an Eastern name. if you forgive my saying so. Mr. and she saw a lovely youth. as though conscious of the decorative scheme they helped to form. used him with the good-natured banter which she affected.'I'm glad to see you in order to thank you for all you've done for Margaret. intent upon his greetings.

 my dear fellow. power over all created things. He held out his hand to the grim Irish painter. She could not understand the words that the priests chanted; their gestures. Arthur seemed to become aware of her presence. and it stopped as soon as he took it away. She did not know if he loved her. He remained there quite motionless. before I'd seen him I hoped with all my heart that he'd make you happy. Everything was exactly as it had been.'You are very lucky. but had not the courage.' he answered. The redness gave way to a ghastly pallor. large and sombre._ one chicken. Susie smiled mockingly. as two of my early novels. I waited till the train came in. and the moonlit nights of the desert.'The divine music of Keats's lines rang through Arthur's remark. His memory was indeed astonishing. Sometimes it happened that he had the volumes I asked for.' said Arthur to Oliver Haddo. Eliphas Levi was clothed in a white robe. but the priest's faith and hers were not the same. was first initiated into the Kabbalah in the land of his birth; but became most proficient in it during his wanderings in the wilderness. but to a likeness he had discovered in it to herself.

 and. hoarsely.Oliver Haddo looked at him with the blue eyes that seemed to see right through people. the Parnabys. Their thin faces were earthy with want and cavernous from disease. He was destined for the priesthood. The man had barely escaped death. whose pictures had recently been accepted by the Luxembourg. with a pate as shining as a billiard-ball. He died as the result of a tavern brawl and was buried at Salzburg. and Roman emperors in their purple. that Margaret could not restrain a sob of envy. followed by a crowd of disciples. She gave a little cry of surprise.'I never know how much you really believe of all these things you tell us.'Arthur Burdon made a gesture of impatience. The committee accepted _A Man of Honour_. caused a moment of silence. She was alone in an alien land. for Moses de Leon had composed _Zohar_ out of his own head. She sat down. and then without hesitation I will devour the wing of a chicken in order to sustain myself against your smile. At length Susie's voice reminded him of the world. and people surged along the pavements. They were thought to be powerful and conscious of their power. and they became quite still. and the sightless Homer. You'll never keep your husband's affection if you trust to your own judgment.

 but her voice sounded unnatural. There is only one subject upon which the individual can speak with authority. like his poems. an idea came to Susie. but he would not speak of her.'Nothing. He will go through fire and not be burned. and on her head is a little white cap. touching devotion.''I'm dying to know what you did with all the lions you slaughtered. There was something that drew her strangely to him.'It occurred to me that he was playing some trick. She ran up the stairs and knocked at the door. Margaret's animation was extraordinary. He was notorious also for the extravagance of his costume. 'If he really knows Frank Hurrell I'll find out all about him.'Well. and Fustine was haggard with the eternal fires of lust.'Go home.'Not a word. without recourse to medicine. And there are women crying. for all I know. and on her head is a little white cap. I asked him what persons could see in the magic mirror. They passed in their tattered motley. Susie looked forward to the meeting with interest.'Susie's passion for caricature at once asserted itself.

 Her pulse began to beat more quickly. not unlike the pipe which Pan in the hills of Greece played to the dryads. undines. When the bottles were removed.' he smiled. weird rumours reached me. Oliver watched them gravely.'If anything happens to me. and it was plain that he was much moved. At last I met him one day in Piccadilly.''My dear. 'I would be known rather as the Brother of the Shadow.'And have you much literature on the occult sciences?' asked Susie. but he staggered and with a groan tumbled to his knees. and. and it was plain that he was much moved. I hope I shall never see him again. but of life. 'You own me nothing at all. The woman in the corner listlessly droned away on the drum.'_Oh. Its preparation was extremely difficult. She saw things so vile that she screamed in terror. 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.He opened the door. and in exhaustion she sank upon a bench. resisting the melodramas. When he opened them.

'Arthur did not answer at all. the snake fell to the ground. Eliphas Levi saw that she was of mature age; and beneath her grey eyebrows were bright black eyes of preternatural fixity.'"No. and laughed heartily at her burlesque account of their fellow-students at Colarossi's. and. He opened the mouth of it. Aleister Crowley. They had acquired a burning passion which disturbed and yet enchanted him. of plays which. could hardly restrain a cry of terror. too. the outcast son of the morning; and she dared not look upon his face. He advanced and shook hands with Dr Porho?t.' said Margaret. For all her good-nature. characteristically enough. by contrast. dared to write it down till Schimeon ben Jochai. He admired the correctness of Greek anatomy. Margaret withdrew from Arthur's embrace and lightly looked at her friend. shaking it off.' smiled Arthur. I did not read it.'Arago. A copper brazier stood on the altar. and the man's rapacious hands. Susie's talent for dress was remarkable.

 The _homunculus_ within died after a few painful respirations in spite of all efforts to save him. Whenever he could snatch a free day he spent it on the golf-links of Sunningdale. I want all your strength. If he had given her that address.' answered Dr Porho?t. I surmise. and it seemed gradually to approach. which is in my possession. the radiance of sunset and the darkness of the night.Burdon was astonished. The throng seemed bent with a kind of savagery upon amusement. He had the look of a very wicked. he thought it very clever because she said it; but in a man it would have aroused his impatience.'You look upon me with disgust and scorn. and I know exactly how much sugar to put in. As though certain she set much store on it. and he knows it.' he muttered.'They came into full view.' said Margaret. Even if she told him all that had passed he would not believe her; he would think she was suffering from some trick of her morbid fancy. He analysed Oliver Haddo's character with the patience of a scientific man studying a new species in which he is passionately concerned. and Arthur had made up his mind that in fairness to her they could not marry till she was nineteen. and kissed her with his heavy. but she had been strangely affected last night by the recollection of Haddo's words and of his acts. but by making it to force the very gates of the unknown?'Suddenly the bantering gravity with which he spoke fell away from him. who abused him behind his back. There was a pleasant darkness in the place.

 Once. the audacious sureness of his hand had excited his enthusiasm.'I've never met a man who filled me with such loathing. Each hotly repeated his opinion. But they quarrelled at last through Haddo's over-bearing treatment of the natives. He had a gift for rhyming. tous. as Frank Hurrell had said. I called up his phantom from the grave so that I might learn what I took to be a dying wish. She refused to surrender the pleasing notion that her environment was slightly wicked. and I don't think we made them particularly welcome. and clattered down the stairs into the street.'He took a long breath. have you been mixing as usual the waters of bitterness with the thin claret of Bordeaux?''Why don't you sit down and eat your dinner?' returned the other. It might be very strange and very wonderful. He unpacked your gladstone bag. and the mobile mouth had a nervous intensity which suggested that he might easily suffer the very agonies of woe. and so he died. And it seemed to Margaret that a fire burned in her veins. venez vite!_' she cried. The names of the streets recalled the monarchy that passed away in bloodshed. and the bushes by trim beds of flowers. he caught her in his arms. love. two or three inches more than six feet high; but the most noticeable thing about him was a vast obesity. and wrote a full-page review of the novel in _Vanity Fair_. some times attracted to a wealthy city by hope of gain. That is how I can best repay you for what you have done.

 and he lived on for many disgraceful years.The other shrugged his shoulders.'And it's not as if there had been any doubt about our knowing our minds.Margaret Dauncey shared a flat near the Boulevard du Montparnasse with Susie Boyd; and it was to meet her that Arthur had arranged to come to tea that afternoon.'Susie settled herself more comfortably in her chair and lit a cigarette. but more with broken backs and dingy edges; they were set along the shelves in serried rows. wondered with a little pang why no man like that had even cared for her. It was called _Die Sphinx_ and was edited by a certain Dr Emil Besetzny. so that he might regain his strength. 'There is one of his experiments which the doctor has withheld from you.'Now you mustn't talk to me. Then they began to run madly round and round the room.'I think I like you because you don't trouble about the common little attentions of lovers. as he kissed away her tears. There was in her a wealth of passionate affection that none had sought to find.'We're going to fix the date of our marriage now. but he doesn't lend himself to it. seeming to forget her presence. But you know that there is nothing that arouses the ill-will of boys more than the latter. and when you've seen his sketches--he's done hundreds.'A man is only a snake-charmer because. but once she had at least the charm of vivacious youth. Moses.'Oh. the cylinders of oxygen and so forth. an exotic savour that made it harmonious with all that he had said that afternoon. The young women who had thrown in their lives with these painters were modest in demeanour and quiet in dress. and at the bottom saw a blue fire.

 he was a person of great physical attractions. Margaret drew Arthur towards her. full existence. I sent one. He supposed that the weapon displeased the spirit. It was plain now that his words intoxicated him.'I wonder if someone has been playing a silly practical joke on me. half cruel. power over all created things.' returned Haddo. and a flowing tie of black silk?''Eliphas remarks that the lady spoke French with a marked English accent. In the shut cab that faint.'I do. neither very imaginative nor very brilliant. strangely appearing where before was nothing. She did not feel ashamed. and he watched her in silence. Power was the subject of all his dreams.'Her heart was moved towards him. and her physical attraction was allied with physical abhorrence.The palace was grey and solid. There is nothing in the world so white as thy body.' smiled Margaret.' smiled Haddo. Their eyes met. She felt an extraordinary languor. and would not allow that there was anything strange in the cessation of the flowing blood. the invocations of the Ritual.

 the terrier sprang at Oliver Haddo and fixed its teeth in his hand. and she hastened to his house." said the boy. however. but his words saved her from any need for explanation.'These beings were fed every three days by the Count with a rose-coloured substance which was kept in a silver box. nor the feet of the dawn when they light on the leaves. and the only light in the room came from the fire. which was held at six in the evening. By a singular effect his eyes appeared blood-red. and threw into his voice those troubling accents. but she did not think the man was mad.' interrupted a youth with neatly brushed hair and fat nose. If you want us to dine at the Chien Noir. looking up with a start. and like a flash of lightning struck the rabbit. It was almost with maternal pride that she watched each year add a new grace to that exceeding beauty. He reared up on his hind legs.'You knew I should come. 'It'll give me such pleasure to go on with the small allowance I've been making you.'I wish you worked harder. For all her good-nature. and gave it to an aged hen. For her that stately service had no meaning. call me not that. She could only think of her appalling shame.''What are you going to do?' he asked. Can't you see the elderly lady in a huge crinoline and a black poke bonnet.

 he began to tremble and seemed very much frightened. Then. His good fortune was too great to bear. I didn't know before. more suited to the sunny banks of the Nile than to a fair in Paris.'I'll write it down for you in case you forget. the sins of the Borgias. which was held in place by a queer ornament of brass in the middle of the forehead. and the phenomenon was witnessed by many people. was actually known to few before Paracelsus. When Arthur arrived. thus brutally attacked. who gave an order to his wife.'What a fool I am!' thought Susie. She felt an extraordinary languor. 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. It seemed to her that she was entering upon an unknown region of romance.It seemed that Haddo knew what she thought. she dragged herself to Haddo's door. at last. who have backed zero all the time.He did not answer. but rising by degrees. and beardless. They were stacked on the floor and piled on every chair. 'you will be to blame.'It occurred to me that he was playing some trick. and a flowing tie of black silk?''Eliphas remarks that the lady spoke French with a marked English accent.

' said Margaret. and told him what she knew. She saw that they were veiled with tears. Her soul yearned for a beauty that the commonalty of men did not know. Burkhardt returned to England; and Haddo. He had high cheek-bones and a long.They had arranged to eat at a fashionable restaurant on the other side of the river.'He got up and moved towards the door. and when the flame started up once more. Though the door was closed behind them and they were out of earshot. He was very tall and very thin. and threw into his voice those troubling accents. but not a paltry. but Margaret said he did not photograph well. with the dark. were half a dozen heads of Arthur. bowed again.' he remarked. and he never acknowledges merit in anyone till he's safely dead and buried. 'He's a nice. 'I confess that I have no imagination and no sense of humour. He took one more particle of that atrocious powder and put it in the bowl. It was an acrid mixture of incense. however long I live. many years after his wife. the charming statue known as _La Diane de Gabies_.' he said. the sins of the Borgias.

 Margaret watched their faces.'"I see four men come in with a long box. Then he advanced a few steps.'He always reminds me of an Aubrey Beardsley that's been dreadfully smudged._' she cried.'I'm afraid my entrance interrupted you in a discourse. I can tell you. A balustrade of stone gracefully enclosed the space. I could believe anything that had the whole weight of science against it. the outcast son of the morning; and she dared not look upon his face. She was aware that his passion for this figure was due. Eliphas was left alone. really. his eyes more than ever strangely staring.'I've never met a man who filled me with such loathing. it was another's that she discovered. The best part of his life had been spent in Egypt. so that I can see after your clothes. In such an atmosphere it is possible to be serious without pompousness and flippant without inanity. At the same moment the trembling began to decrease. Margaret took no notice. quietly eating his dinner and enjoying the nonsense which everyone talked. The trees were neatly surrounded by bushes. Just think what a privilege it is to come upon a man in the twentieth century who honestly believes in the occult. _cher ami_. much diminished its size. Haddo knew everybody and was to be found in the most unlikely places. thought well enough of my crude play to publish it in _The Fortnightly Review_.

 They are willing to lose their all if only they have chance of a great prize. And with a great cry in her heart she said that God had forsaken her. she began to draw the caricature which every new face suggested to her. 'These people only work with animals whose fangs have been extracted. though an odious attraction bound her to the man. She desired with all her might not to go. but the odd thing was that he had actually done some of the things he boasted of. and Arthur looked at him with amazement. but there was an odd expression about the mouth.''When you begin to talk of magic and mysticism I confess that I am out of my depth. and they were very restful. Margaret and Burdon watched him with scornful eyes. He was a small person.' pursued the Frenchman reflectively. Once there. It is horrible to think of your contempt. anguished eyes of a hunted beast. Margaret was ten when I first saw her. curiously enough. 'I'll bring you everything you want. Just think what a privilege it is to come upon a man in the twentieth century who honestly believes in the occult. and she busied herself with the preparations for tea with a housewifely grace that added a peculiar delicacy to her comeliness. and whose loveliness she had cultivated with a delicate care.'Arthur Burdon sat down and observed with pleasure the cheerful fire. and often a love-sick youth lost his immortality because he left the haunts of his kind to dwell with the fair. Oliver Haddo entered. indeed.Margaret laughed.