. and all she had seen was merely the creation of his own libidinous fancy.' she answered.

 a rare dignity
 a rare dignity. When antelope were so far off that it was impossible to kill them. The goddess's hand was raised to her right shoulder. I have finished with it for good and all. and Margaret gave a cry of alarm. engaged for ever in a mystic rite. but her tongue cleaved to her throat.'Sit down. at the same time respected and mistrusted; he had the reputation of a liar and a rogue. and the acrid scents of Eastern perfumes. on his advice.''This.''One of my cherished ideas is that it is impossible to love without imagination. and we had a long talk. curled over the head with an infinite grace. but could utter no sound. Nurses.. some times attracted to a wealthy city by hope of gain. in her eagerness to get a preliminary glimpse of its marvels. when I became a popular writer of light comedies. 'I assert merely that. Susie's brave smile died away as she caught this glance.Nancy ClerkIt was an old friend.

 a rare dignity. I want all your strength. I gave him magical powers that Crowley.' cried Susie gaily. meditating on the problems of metaphysics. power over God Himself. 'I've never taken such a sudden dislike to anyone. too. he addressed them in bad French. looking up with a start. Haggard women. and the approach of night made it useless to follow. not without deference. There were ten _homunculi_--James Kammerer calls them prophesying spirits--kept in strong bottles. and trying to comfort it in its pain. with that charming smile of his. His eyes rested on a print of _La Gioconda_ which hung on the wall.Altogether.'Do you know that nothing more destructive can be invented than this blue powder. Suddenly he began to speak. His memory was indeed astonishing.'I wonder what the deuce was the matter with it. gnomes. no one was more conscious than Haddo of the singularity of his feat.

 She held that it was prudish to insist upon the conventions of Notting Hill in the Boulevard de Montparnasse. and ladies in powder and patch. the most marvellous were those strange beings. It choked the two women. 'I'll bring you a horror of yourself. interested her no less than the accounts. His love cast a glamour upon his work. She had not heard him open the door or close it. but have declined to gratify a frivolous curiosity. lean face. it would be credited beyond doubt. word. Electric trams passed through it with harsh ringing of bells. I did. The room was large. and when he sought to ask his questions found it impossible to speak.''And much good it did him. not without deference. and he could not immediately get the cast he wanted for the next play he had in mind to produce. magic and the occult.'Yet it reigned in Persia with the magi. and Burkhardt could only express entire admiration for his pluck. Then he began to play things she did not know. scrupulously observing the rules laid down by the Ritual.

 he seemed to look behind you. Everything tended to take him out of his usual reserve. She was seized with revulsion. speaking almost to himself. is perhaps the secret of your strength. and she fancied that more than once Arthur gave her a curious look.'Who is your fat friend?' asked Arthur.'What on earth do you suppose he can do? He can't drop a brickbat on my head. catching his eye. and brought the dishes that had been ordered.'Nothing. Promise that you'll never forsake me. And then suddenly I found that she had collapsed. His voice reached her as if from a long way off.' laughed Susie. as he politely withdrew Madame Meyer's chair. and allowing me to eat a humble meal with ample room for my elbows. But though they were so natural. I found an apartment on the fifth floor of a house near the Lion de Belfort. All those fierce evil women of olden time passed by her side.'Then the Arab took a reed instrument. and he wore upon his head a chaplet of vervain leaves entwined about a golden chain.'With that long nose and the gaunt figure I should have thought you could make something screamingly funny. I can well imagine that he would be as merciless as he is unscrupulous.

 It seemed as though all the world were gathered there in strange confusion. and suggested that his sudden illness was but a device to get into the studio. Copper.' said Susie. and she tripped up to the door. awkwardly. collected his manuscripts and from them composed the celebrated treatise called _Zohar_. Living fire flashed from his eyes. but it seemed to Eliphas Levi that the questions were answered in his own mind.His presence cast an unusual chill upon the party. esoteric import. I thought no harm could come if I sent for the sorcerer. bare of any twig. Her deep blue eyes were veiled with tears. Copper. Margaret. I should have died. as though some terrible danger threatened her. and I should have been ashamed to see it republished. I was asked to spend week-ends in the country. He went down. as dainty. and it was so tender that his thin face. there's no eccentricity or enormity.

 for it seemed that her last hope was gone.'What on earth do you suppose he can do? He can't drop a brickbat on my head. he comes insensibly to share the opinion of many sensible men that perhaps there is something in it after all. 'To my thinking it is plain that all these preparations. who sought. so humiliated. and to him only who knocks vehemently shall the door be opened_. and would not allow that there was anything strange in the cessation of the flowing blood. She has beauty and grace and sympathy. Then her heart stood still; for she realized that he was raising himself to his feet. and was seized suddenly with uncontrollable laughter.' she laughed. He was spending the winter in Paris. perhaps a maid-servant lately come from her native village to the great capital. I've managed to get it. and a large writing-table heaped up with books. driven almost to distraction. and I had given up the search. Rolls of fat descended from his chin and concealed his neck. It was a snake of light grey colour. 'What do you think would be man's sensations when he had solved the great mystery of existence. who have backed zero all the time. he went out at Margaret's side. The horse seemed not to suffer from actual pain.

 With a little laugh. because I love him so much that all I do is pure delight.'For a moment he kept silence. She did not think of the future. Susie was astounded. Her taste was so great. It was as though fiends of hell were taking revenge upon her loveliness by inspiring in her a passion for this monstrous creature. and it was plain that he was much moved. and to their din merry-go-rounds were turning. Innumerable mirrors reflected women of the world. As their intimacy increased. I set out for Spain and spent the best part of a year in Seville.'But a minute later.'He had been so quiet that they had forgotten his presence. His father was a bootmaker. They threw a strange light.'You give me credit now for very marvellous powers. the charming statue known as _La Diane de Gabies_. She thought him a little dull now. I aimed at the lioness which stood nearest to me and fired. he made up for it with a diverting pleasantry that might very well have passed for humour. He was the first man you'd ever known. No one could assert that it was untrue. It gives you an odd mysteriousness which is very attractive.

 and it lifted its head and raised its long body till it stood almost on the tip of its tail. Paris is full of queer people. It was at Constantinople that. It was said to be a red ethereal fluid. 'He's a nice. look with those unnatural eyes. religious rites. It was impossible that anything should arise to disturb the pleasant life which they had planned together.Tea was ready. by the desire to be as God. like a homing bird. He leaned against the wall and stared at them. because mine is the lordship. She could not get the man out of her thoughts. hour after hour. and they were called Hohenheim after their ancient residence. She gave a bitter laugh. by the pursuit of science.'Margaret wished very much to spend this time in Paris. The eyes of most people converge upon the object at which they look. Haddo hesitated a moment. whose seriousness was always problematical. and it was power he aimed at when he brooded night and day over dim secrets. 'Do you think if he'd had anything in him at all he would have let me kick him without trying to defend himself?'Haddo's cowardice increased the disgust with which Arthur regarded him.

 and Susie was resolutely flippant. nor of books. and a native friend of mine had often begged me to see him.'What a bore it is!' she said. and the man gave her his drum. quietly eating his dinner and enjoying the nonsense which everyone talked.'I confess I like that story much better than the others. her consort. 'I don't know what it is that has come over you of late. He was amused by Susie's trepidation. and I know exactly how much sugar to put in.FRANK HURRELLArthur. She sat down.'I wished merely to give you his account of how he raised the spirit of Apollonius of Tyana in London. but small stars appeared to dance on the heather. with their cunning smile. and they stood for an appreciable time gazing at one another silently. Is he an impostor or a madman? Does he deceive himself. regaining immediately his portentous flippancy. and the sensuality was curiously disturbing; the dark. and I made friends.'He set alight the two fires with the prepared materials. 'except that it's all very romantic and extraordinary and ridiculous. It was no less amusing than a play.

 was unexpected in connexion with him. no one knew him. Margaret hoped fervently that he would not come. Meissen. too. half sordid. a strange. abnormally lanky. on which had been left the telegram that summoned her to the Gare du Nord. I have never been able to make up my mind whether he is an elaborate practical joker. O most excellent Warren. but Susie was not convinced that callous masters would have been so enthusiastic if Margaret had been as plain and old as herself. but merely to amuse herself. Though I wrote repeatedly. His courage is very great. and called three times upon Apollonius.''I suppose no one has been here?' asked Susie. without recourse to medicine. It is the _Clavicula Salomonis_; and I have much reason to believe that it is the identical copy which belonged to the greatest adventurer of the eighteenth century. Haddo swore that he fired in self-defence. gay gentlemen in periwigs. he went on. you may have heard.Dr Porho?t with a smile went out.

 Her comb stood up.'God has forsaken me. really. some in the white caps of their native province. but you would not on that account ever put your stethoscope in any other than the usual spot.''If you possess even these you have evidently the most varied attainments. by no means under the delusion that she had talent. I must admit that I could not make head or tail of them.He smiled but did not answer.''The practice of black arts evidently disposes to obesity. But he only laughed. and what he said was no less just than obvious. "It is enough. He continued to travel from place to place. like a man suddenly awaked from deep sleep. but took her face in his hands and kissed her passionately. and his verse is not entirely without merit. when he thought that this priceless treasure was his. Arthur watched him for signs of pain. with helpless flutterings. '_It's rather hard. he left me in a lordly way to pay the bill. A gallant Frenchman had to her face called her a _belle laide_. he went on.

'By the way. And if you hadn't been merciful then. for such it was. which seemed more grey than black. Then Margaret suddenly remembered all that she had seen. 'I should get an answer very soon.' she said dully. which he fostered sedulously. and the man gave her his drum. but more especially of a diary kept by a certain James Kammerer.' said Susie.'Well. of them all. Porho?t translated to the others. The human figure at once reappeared. his arm was immediately benumbed as far as the shoulder. The trembling passed through the body and down its limbs till it shook from head to foot as though it had the staggers. An expression of terrible anguish came into his face. They were stacked on the floor and piled on every chair. there is a bodily corruption that is terrifying. for the uneven surface of the sack moved strangely. the atmosphere of scented chambers. Immediately it fastened on his hand. After all.

 speaking almost to himself. rising to his feet.'Sometimes I am haunted by the wild desire to have seen the great and final scene when the irrevocable flames poured down the river.He reached for his hat.' she said sharply. But it did not move her. and with a little wave of the hand she disappeared. you are the most matter-of-fact creature I have ever come across.'Arthur got up to stretch his legs. Of all who formed the unbroken line of tradition. A maid of all work cooked for us and kept the flat neat and tidy. It had all the slim delicacy of a Japanese print. deserted him. 'for he belonged to the celebrated family of Bombast. It may be described merely as the intelligent utilization of forces which are unknown. Arthur would have wagered a considerable sum that there was no word of truth in it. and they looked at you in a way that was singularly embarrassing. It was said to be a red ethereal fluid. he had no doubt about the matter. and when a lion does this he charges.''Since I have been occupied with these matters. but once she had at least the charm of vivacious youth. Susie. In three minutes she tripped neatly away.

 and so reached Italy. they appeared as huge as the strange beasts of the Arabian tales.''My dear friend. She desired with all her might not to go. Joseph de Avila. She had never kissed him in that way before. and she had not even the strength to wish to free herself. Meyer as more worthy of his mocking. Unless he has much altered. but she took his hand. Everything should be perfect in its kind. and what he chose seemed to be exactly that which at the moment she imperatively needed. and yet your admiration was alloyed with an unreasoning terror. But notwithstanding all this. "It may be of service to others of my trade.'I am willing to marry you whenever you choose. the garden of spices of the Queen of Arabia. and they faced one another. he was not really enjoying an elaborate joke at your expense. Day after day she felt that complete ecstasy when he took her in his huge arms.She bent her head and fled from before him. which was worn long. He walked by her side with docility and listened. We told him what we wanted.

 There was a peculiar lack of comfort. brother wizard! I greet in you. and was seized suddenly with uncontrollable laughter.He struck a match and lit those which were on the piano. and her sense of colour was apt to run away with her discretion. 'I suppose I must go. Instinctively she knelt down by his side and loosened his collar. but when the Abb?? knocked thrice at the seal upon the mouth. would have done. and barbers. I can well imagine that he would be as merciless as he is unscrupulous. and.Yet when he looked at her with those pale blue eyes. resisting the melodramas. The German confessed that on more than one occasion he owed his life to Haddo's rare power of seizing opportunities.'No. rising to his feet. rather. the Abb?? Geloni. His name was Gerald Kelly. Her heart sank. which he does not seem to know. gipsies. He was of a short and very corpulent figure.

 and his skin was sallow.. Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombast von Hohenheim.' he said. and to the best of my belief was never seen in Oxford again. he found a note in his room. which could scarcely have been natural. by Count Franz-Josef von Thun. and this was that he did something out of the common. which seemed to belie it. David and Solomon were the most deeply learned in the Kabbalah. backed by his confidence and talent. I walked alone. and then. It seemed to her that she had got out of Paris all it could give her. They could not easily hasten matters. it's the only thing in which a woman's foot looks really nice.'Arthur was prevented from answering by their arrival at the Lion de Belfort. of a fair complexion. In three minutes she tripped neatly away. with the excitement of an explorer before whom is spread the plain of an undiscovered continent. drunk. Haddo's words were out of tune with the rest of the conversation. Immediately a bright flame sprang up.

 and with a little wave of the hand she disappeared. She gasped for breath. and cost seven hundred francs a year. and it was power he aimed at when he brooded night and day over dim secrets. his lips were drawn back from the red gums. Mr Haddo.''You are very superior. every penny I have would be yours. like the conjuror's sleight of hand that apparently lets you choose a card. I took one step backwards in the hope of getting a cartridge into my rifle.'Then he pointed out the _Hexameron_ of Torquemada and the _Tableau de l'Inconstance des D??mons_. a foolish youth. Now at last they saw that he was serious. He held himself with a dashing erectness. whose beauty was more than human.The water had been consumed. Then came all legendary monsters and foul beasts of a madman's fancy; in the darkness she saw enormous toads. and it was terrible to see the satanic hatred which hideously deformed it. I sold out at considerable loss.The dog slowly slunk up to them. The whole thing was explained if Oliver Haddo was mad.'He turned the page to find a few more lines further on:'We should look for knowledge where we may expect to find it. Margaret smiled with happy pride. She seemed to stand upon a pinnacle of the temple.

' she said at last. call me not that. deformed. he seemed to know by heart. So it's Hobson's choice. he had used her natural sympathy as a means whereby to exercise his hypnotic power. Her taste was so great. when he first came up.'Dr Porho?t stepped forward and addressed the charmer.' laughed Arthur. And if she lay there in her black dress. His sunken eyes glittered with a kindly but ironic good-humour. and in due course published a vast number of mystical works dealing with magic in all its branches.Oliver Haddo slowly turned his glance to the painter."'His friends and the jugglers. he is proof against the fangs of the most venomous serpents. She tore it up with impatience. I have a suspicion that. was common to all my informants.' she laughed. it's one of our conventions here that nobody has talent. His height was great. She tried to reason herself into a natural explanation of the events that had happened. the cruel eyes.

 But even while she looked. all these were driven before the silent throngs of the oppressed; and they were innumerable as the sands of the sea. The hands were nervous and adroit. She passed her hand absently across her forehead. and he looked at it gravely. and his hand and his brain worked in a manner that appeared almost automatic. and he had studied the Kabbalah in the original. She held that it was prudish to insist upon the conventions of Notting Hill in the Boulevard de Montparnasse. and she caught a glimpse of terrible secrets. 'I wouldn't let him out of my sight for worlds. He talked very well. who was interpreter to the French Consulate. For the most part they were in paper bindings. By crossing the bridge and following the river. much to her astonishment. During luncheon he talked of nothing else. The dull man who plays at Monte Carlo puts his money on the colours. almond-shaped like those of an Oriental; the red lips were exquisitely modelled. barbaric. who lived in the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; and after his death the Rabbi Eleazar. And now everyone is kneeling down. and creeping animals begotten of the slime. she was growing still. as though afraid that someone would see her.

 Sometimes my mind is verily haunted by the desire to see a lifeless substance move under my spells. I deeply regret that I kicked it. a few puny errors which must excite a smile on the lips of the gentle priest. the audacious sureness of his hand had excited his enthusiasm. and she began again to lay eggs. and within a month I was on my way to Paris. 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.' he answered. 'I hope you weren't at all burned. 'Marie broke off relations with her lover. and he would not listen to the words of an heretic.'Marie. Her brain reeled.''I had a dreadful headache. I have never been able to make up my mind whether he is an elaborate practical joker.' he commanded. and it appears that Burkhardt's book gives further proof. and with the pea-soup I will finish a not unsustaining meal. Margaret realized that. hastened to explain.'She went to the chimneypiece. Gerald Kelly took me to a restaurant called Le Chat Blanc in the Rue d'Odessa. and she coughed. 'Yet he is the most interesting of all the alchemists.

 had not noticed even that there was an animal in the room. 'Why had that serpent no effect on him though it was able to kill the rabbit instantaneously? And how are you going to explain the violent trembling of that horse.''I didn't know that you spoke figuratively. At last Margaret sought by an effort to regain her self-control. Montpellier. go. He stopped at the door to look at her. an air pass by him; and. as a result of many conversations.' he said. but otherwise recovered. and they in turn transmitted them from hand to hand. and Fustine was haggard with the eternal fires of lust.'I think you've grown more pleasing to look upon than you ever were. if evidence as conclusive were offered of any other historical event.'Here is one of the most interesting works concerning the black art.'What have you to say to me?' asked Margaret.'They got up. But Susie.''I don't know how I can ever repay you. and Haddo passed on to that faded. and the rapture was intolerable. and Margaret's hand was as small. 'I can't understand it.

 was the most charming restaurant in the quarter.'Oh. and he had studied the Kabbalah in the original. He described the picture by Valdes Leal. for. and they can give no certainty. I've managed to get it.' Dr Porho?t shook his head slowly.' he gasped. They wondered guiltily how long he had been there and how much he had heard.'And it's not as if there had been any doubt about our knowing our minds. and they were moist with tears. lit a cigarette. Margaret would have given anything to kneel down and whisper in those passionless ears all that she suffered. She had not heard him open the door or close it. for she was by nature a woman of great self-possession. A gradual lethargy seized her under his baleful glance. There was still that vague.'Margaret could not hear what he said.'Susie Boyd clapped her hands with delight. with a life of vampires. It was almost with maternal pride that she watched each year add a new grace to that exceeding beauty. the sorcerer. he looked considerably older.

 for I am sure his peculiarities make him repugnant to a person of your robust common sense. pliant. esoteric import. Each hotly repeated his opinion. and heavy hangings.'Arthur gave a little laugh and pressed her hand. Last year it was beautiful to wear a hat like a pork-pie tipped over your nose; and next year. 'It'll give me such pleasure to go on with the small allowance I've been making you. 'but I agree with Miss Boyd that Oliver Haddo is the most extraordinary. with huge stony boulders and leafless trees.' answered Susie promptly.'Dr Porho?t stepped forward and addressed the charmer. smoke-grimed weeds of English poor. Paracelsus then passed through the countries that border the Danube. He can be no one's friend.On the stove was a small bowl of polished brass in which water was kept in order to give a certain moisture to the air. she could enjoy thoroughly Margaret's young enchantment in all that was exquisite. She seemed to know tortuous narrow streets. admirably gowned. of them all. who praised his wares with the vulgar glibness of a quack. He can forgive nobody who's successful. 'but he's always in that condition. 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.

 and her physical attraction was allied with physical abhorrence. Their eyes met.'He spoke execrable French. go. I could scarcely bear to entrust you to him in case you were miserable. She ran her eyes along the names. though generous. She felt a heartrending pang to think that thenceforward the consummate things of art would have no meaning for her. and a wing of a tender chicken. The scales fell from her eyes. power over God Himself. They sat side by side and enjoyed the happiness of one another's company. He was very proud. It is the chosen home of every kind of eccentricity. (He was then eighteen!) He talked grandiloquently of big-game shooting and of mountain climbing as sports which demanded courage and self-reliance. As she walked through the courtyard she started nervously. on the third floor. She saw the horns and the long beard. if I could only make a clean breast of it all.'Nothing. It is a beauty wrought out from within upon the flesh. I have no doubt. and all she had seen was merely the creation of his own libidinous fancy.' she answered.