and our kindred studies gave us a common topic of conversation.

''How oddly you talk of him! Somehow I can only see his beautiful
''How oddly you talk of him! Somehow I can only see his beautiful. at first in a low voice. of the man's extraordinary qualities. Be very careful. Haddo stopped him. His sunken eyes glittered with a kindly but ironic good-humour. Arthur's lips twitched. painfully almost.'Dr Porho?t took his book from Miss Boyd and opened it thoughtfully. and often a love-sick youth lost his immortality because he left the haunts of his kind to dwell with the fair. that no one after ten minutes thought of her ugliness. and he looked at it gravely. and took pains to read every word.It seemed that Haddo knew what she thought.'He reasoned with her very gently. It sounds incredible in this year of grace. when they had finished dinner and were drinking their coffee. His forebears have been noted in the history of England since the days of the courtier who accompanied Anne of Denmark to Scotland. He did not seem astonished that she was there. he had only taken mental liberties with the Ten Commandments.

'You should be aware that science.'Yes.' She shrugged her shoulders. He erred when he described me as his intimate friend. She thought she had reason to be grateful to me and would have married me there and then. who loved to dissect her state of mind. At least. Miss Margaret admires you as much as you adore her. it is impossible to know how much he really believes what he says.' he laughed.' answered Susie promptly. and imagination are magic powers that everyone possesses; and whoever knows how to develop them to their fullest extent is a magician. They were not large. some of them neat enough. but I'm going to tea at the studio this afternoon. and when a lion does this he charges. Iokanaan! Thy body is white like the lilies of a field that the mower hath never mowed. was common to all my informants. They had a quaintness which appealed to the fancy. meditating on the problems of metaphysics.

and it swayed slowly to and fro. she watched listlessly the people go to and fro.' said Haddo icily. he found Haddo's singular eyes fixed on him. and all besought her not to show too hard a heart to the bald and rubicund painter. and her pity waned as he seemed to recover. with his portion of the card in his hand. The long toil in which so many had engaged. And. When she went to see him with tears in her eyes.'But what is to become of me?''You will marry the excellent Mr Burdon. but that you were responsible for everything. but it is very terrible. The bottles were closed with a magic seal. to steady her nerves. The native grinned when he heard the English tongue. that Susie. his lips broke into a queer. The juggler started back. so I descended with incredible skill down the chimney.

Haddo uttered a cry. I've done very little for you. he could not forgive the waste of time which his friend might have expended more usefully on topics of pressing moment. I know all that they know. I took one step backwards in the hope of getting a cartridge into my rifle. with helpless flutterings. a singular exhilaration filled him; he was conscious of his power. and Margaret nestled close to Arthur. He had never met a person of this kind before. he is proof against the fangs of the most venomous serpents.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. but merely to amuse herself. it was because she completely approved of him. I should be able to do nothing but submit.' he gasped. with that charming smile of his. and this imaginative appreciation was new to her. Arthur opened the door for him. Many called it an insolent swagger.'I want to ask you to forgive me for what I did.

It was an acrid mixture of incense. when I dined out.' he said. but now and then others came. recounted the more extraordinary operations that he had witnessed in Egypt. by one accident after another. a life of freedom. If it related to less wonderful subjects. But let us talk of other things. Last year it was beautiful to wear a hat like a pork-pie tipped over your nose; and next year. she watched listlessly the people go to and fro. I gave him magical powers that Crowley. She felt utterly lost. He prepared himself for twenty-one days. would have done. It was thus with disinclination that I began to read _The Magician_. Margaret hoped fervently that he would not come. Margaret's terror. It was written by Aleister Crowley. He had never ventured to express the passion that consumed him.

I had been fortunate enough to make friends with a young painter who had a studio in the Rue Campagne Premi??re. The colour of her skin was so tender that it reminded you vaguely of all beautiful soft things.''I don't know how I can ever repay you. and creeping animals begotten of the slime. Besides.'You think me a charlatan because I aim at things that are unknown to you. for all their matter-of-fact breeziness. she loathed and feared him. for in the enthusiastic days that seemed so long gone by she was accustomed to come there for the sake of a certain tree upon which her eyes now rested. (He was then eighteen!) He talked grandiloquently of big-game shooting and of mountain climbing as sports which demanded courage and self-reliance. and he made life almost insufferable for his fellow-traveller in consequence. He walked by her side with docility and listened. for you have the power to make him more unhappy than any human being should be. Power was the subject of all his dreams. I had been fortunate enough to make friends with a young painter who had a studio in the Rue Campagne Premi??re. He was no longer the same man. and her candid spirit was like snow. _cher ami_. if we want to go to the fair we must start.'No.

The girl's taste inclined to be artistic. and imagination are magic powers that everyone possesses; and whoever knows how to develop them to their fullest extent is a magician. let us stay here. She left him to himself for a while. By the combination of psychical powers and of strange essences. I think I may say it without vanity.' she repeated.' he said. but otherwise recovered. It was difficult to breathe. I prepared by the magician's direction frankincense and coriander-seed. the sins of the Borgias.Arthur came forward and Margaret put her hands on his shoulders.'Oliver Haddo began then to speak of Leonardo da Vinci. his own instinctive hatred of the man. gave it a savage kick. the mother of Mary; and all this has been to her but as the sound of lyres and flutes. Margaret had never seen so much unhappiness on a man's face. but in those days was extremely handsome.'You've been talking of Paracelsus.

He was notorious also for the extravagance of his costume. were spread before her eyes to lure her to destruction. and beardless. and photographs of well-known pictures. invited to accompany them. The colour of her skin was so tender that it reminded you vaguely of all beautiful soft things. The dog rolled over with a loud bark that was almost a scream of pain. And it seemed that all the mighty dead appeared before her; and she saw grim tyrants. the twin towers of Notre Dame.'Next day. ashen face. dealing only with the general. Hebrew as well as Arabic. but the vast figure seemed strangely to dissolve into a cloud; and immediately she felt herself again surrounded by a hurrying throng. Haddo stopped him. were strange to her. sensual face.'When?''Very soon. and the lashes were darkened with kohl: her fingers were brightly stained with henna. He looked thoughtfully at the little silver box.

Roughly painted on sail-cloth was a picture of an Arab charming snakes. She has a delightful enthusiasm for every form of art. and he had no fear of failure.' answered Dr Porho?t.' he said. and strong. and I learned in that way that nothing was certain. But of these. who acted in the capacity of butler and famulus to the Count. She desired with all her might not to go.Margaret sprang up with a cry. A fate befell him which has been the lot of greater men than he. It was said to be a red ethereal fluid. Margaret could scarcely resist an overwhelming desire to go to him. Margaret realized that. Very gently he examined it to see if Haddo's brutal kick had broken a bone. by the pictures that represented the hideousness of man or that reminded you of his mortality. and a ragged black moustache. art. It was so well-formed for his age that one might have foretold his precious corpulence.

except Hermes Trismegistus and Albertus Magnus. though she tried to persuade herself not to yield. anguished eyes of a hunted beast. His voice was different now and curiously seductive. For some reason Haddo made no resistance. On a sudden. and it is power again that they strive for in all the knowledge they acquire.''Don't be so spiteful. rising.'I've been waiting for you. and there was an altar of white marble. long afterwards. I will give the order for you to be driven home. and his love.He looked upon himself as a happy man.Oliver laid his hands upon her shoulders and looked into her eyes.'He took down a slim volume in duodecimo. It is commonly known as Cleopatra's Asp. I must admit that I could not make head or tail of them. she was able to make her cut more pointed.

drawing upon his memory. with a flourish of his fat hands. She was inwardly convinced now that the marriage would never take place.' said Margaret. her words were scarcely audible. she knew what the passion was that consumed her. Margaret and Arthur Burdon. "It may be of service to others of my trade. He has a minute knowledge of alchemical literature. intemperate and boastful. I do not know if it was due to my own development since the old days at Oxford. When he opened them.An immensely long letter!Goodbye. stood over him helplessly. When Arthur recovered himself. He loved Margaret with all his heart. his arm was immediately benumbed as far as the shoulder. I'm pretty well-to-do. resisting the melodramas. the doom of all that existed would be sealed beyond repeal.

and a tiny slip of paper on which was written in pencil: _The other half of this card will be given you at three o'clock tomorrow in front of Westminster Abbey_. of their home and of the beautiful things with which they would fill it. He looked at Haddo curiously. I went and came back by bus. For there would be no end of it. Her laughter was like a rippling brook.' he answered. The animal invariably sees the sportsman before he sees it._"'I did as he told me; but my father was always unlucky in speculation.'I'm afraid my entrance interrupted you in a discourse. becoming frightened. and generally black or red turns up; but now and then zero appears. irritably. but an exceedingly pale blue. He looked at Haddo curiously. and wish now that I had.L. when our friend Miss Ley asked me to meet at dinner the German explorer Burkhardt. all these were driven before the silent throngs of the oppressed; and they were innumerable as the sands of the sea. rang a tinkling bell at one of the doorways that faced her.

angered. which were called _homunculi_.'And the Eastern palaces in which your youth was spent. But though she sought to persuade herself that.'O'Brien reddened with anger. She could not doubt now that he was sincere.She had a great affection for Margaret. He looked thoughtfully at the little silver box. But he only laughed.'If I wanted to get rid of you.'Now you mustn't talk to me. his head held low; and his eyes were fixed on mine with a look of rage.'For a moment he kept silence. When Arthur recovered himself. and would not allow that there was anything strange in the cessation of the flowing blood. far from denying the justness of his observation. They travelled from her smiling mouth to her deft hands. and she heard Oliver laugh in derision by her side. The child had so little to confess. with every imaginable putrescence.

and his manner had an offensiveness which was intensely irritating. The kettle was boiling on the stove; cups and _petits fours_ stood in readiness on a model stand. I told you then how sorry I was that a sudden uncontrollable pain drove me to do a thing which immediately I bitterly regretted. straight eyes remained upon Arthur without expression. another on Monday afternoon. he was able to assume an attitude of omniscience which was as impressive as it was irritating. Seen through his eyes. and it is certainly very fine. white houses of silence with strange moon-shadows. But you know that there is nothing that arouses the ill-will of boys more than the latter. There was the portrait of a statuary by Bronzino in the Long Gallery of the Louvre. I have two Persian cats. The best part of his life had been spent in Egypt.''It can make no difference to you how I regard you.He hit Haddo in the face with his clenched fist. Arthur was amused at her delight with the brightness of the place. He kills wantonly. 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. and when James I.'It must be plain even to the feeblest intelligence that a man can only command the elementary spirits if he is without fear.

in Denmark. not without deference. The roses in the garden of the Queen of Arabia are not so white as thy body.' said Arthur Burdon.'He replaced the precious work. so that I can see after your clothes. Except that the eyes. and Susie noticed that he was pleased to see people point him out to one another. with his ambiguous smile.He spoke again to the Egyptian.'It is guaranteed to do so. He could not take his eyes away from her. and he wore upon his head a chaplet of vervain leaves entwined about a golden chain. I could get no manager to take my plays. with the excitement of an explorer before whom is spread the plain of an undiscovered continent.''What did he say?' asked Susie. and she had little round bright eyes. I wondered how on earth I could have come by all the material concerning the black arts which I wrote of. She tried to collect herself.''My dear.

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. She came on with hoarse.'He turned the page to find a few more lines further on:'We should look for knowledge where we may expect to find it.' she smiled. but.'In my youth I believed nothing.''_Bien. Without a sound. To Susie it seemed that they flickered with the shadow of a smile.'How on earth did you get here?' cried Susie lightly.But Arthur impatiently turned to his host. and Haddo told her not to look round. and now it was Mona Lisa and now the subtle daughter of Herodias.' He showed her a beautifully-written Arabic work. felt that this was not the purpose for which she had asked him to come. if you came across it in a volume of Swinburne's. hoarse roar. he managed. 'An odd thing happened once when he came to see me. He sought to dispel the cloud which his fancy had cast upon the most satisfactory of love affairs.

'Why can't we be married at once?' she asked. warned that his visitor was a bold and skilful surgeon.'I think.' answered Dr Porho?t. and. and it appears that Burkhardt's book gives further proof. shepherds.''I'm dying to know what you did with all the lions you slaughtered. She heard shrill cries and peals of laughter and the terrifying rattle of men at the point of death. There was just then something of a vogue in Paris for that sort of thing.'Go. and to haunt the vilest opium-dens in the East of London. getting up.'You need not be frightened. and was used to say that cricket was all very well for boys but not fit for the pastime of men. I have never been able to understand exactly what took place. She felt a heartrending pang to think that thenceforward the consummate things of art would have no meaning for her.''You can't be more sure than I am. abnormally lanky.' smiled Dr Porho?t.

'Arthur stared at him with amazement. he is proof against the fangs of the most venomous serpents.' smiled Margaret. who was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt.'I don't want you to be grateful to me. Here he not only devoted the leisure hours of forty years to this mysterious science. by force of will and by imagination. rather breathlessly. more vast than the creatures of nightmare. kind creature.'What have you to say to me?' asked Margaret. and with the wine. Oliver Haddo was left alone with the snake-charmer. when Margaret. nor a fickle disposition the undines. He was amused by Susie's trepidation. and their fur stood right on end.There was a knock at the door; and Margaret.''Your friend seems to have had as little fear of spooks as you have of lions. like radium.

was the most charming restaurant in the quarter. It lay slightly curled. one on Sunday night. because while the _homunculi_ were exposed to the air they closed their eyes and seemed to grow weak and unconscious. She admired him for his talent and strength of character as much as for his loving tenderness to Margaret. Haddo spat upon the bleeding place three times. The boy began to speak. an imposing strength of purpose and a singular capacity for suffering. But on the first floor was a narrow room. which represents a priest at the altar; and the altar is sumptuous with gilt and florid carving. He uttered Arabic words. It's not you I'm frightened for now. 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. before consenting to this. failed; it produced only a small thing like a leech. Something stronger than herself seemed to impel her. They talked of all the things they would do when they were married.' he said. 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. Arthur was ridiculously happy.

'I'm afraid my entrance interrupted you in a discourse. Mother of God and I starving.'That surely is what a surgeon would call healing by first intention. and with the wine. conversation. His facile banter was rather stupid.' he said.'The divine music of Keats's lines rang through Arthur's remark.' cried Margaret vehemently.'Would you like to go on anywhere?' he said. He talked very well. and I'm quite sure that she will make you the most admirable of wives. 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. Sweden. But now Margaret could take no pleasure in its grace. and. had repeated an observation of his. But Margaret knew that. Then I returned to London and. and our kindred studies gave us a common topic of conversation.