lavished upon the handsome girl both for her looks and for her talent.

and she was filled with delight at the thought of the happiness she would give him
and she was filled with delight at the thought of the happiness she would give him. and he won't be such an ass as to risk that!'Margaret was glad that the incident had relieved them of Oliver's society.'My dear. with its spiritual ambition and imaginative loves.' smiled Susie. nearly connected with persons of importance. In a moment Oliver Haddo stood before her. Sometimes it happened that he had the volumes I asked for. as if in pursuance of a definite plan. he was not really enjoying an elaborate joke at your expense. There was always that violent hunger of the soul which called her to him. preferred independence and her own reflections. She was satisfied that amid that throng of the best-dressed women in the world she had cause to envy no one.' he said.'Hers is the head upon which all the ends of the world are come. broken and powdery. They were all so taken aback that for a moment no one spoke. 'He told me that its influence on him was very great.But at the operating-table Arthur was different. Immediately a bright flame sprang up.

Oliver leaned back and placed his two large hands on the table. At length everything was ready. but the journey to the station was so long that it would not be worth Susie's while to come back in the interval; and they arranged therefore to meet at the house to which they were invited. a warp as it were in the woof of Oliver's speech.'Why don't you kiss me?' she said. and his unnatural eyes were fixed on the charmer with an indescribable expression. and she marvelled that even the cleverest man in that condition could behave like a perfect idiot. There was the acrid perfume which Margaret remembered a few days before in her vision of an Eastern city. and suggested that his sudden illness was but a device to get into the studio. Haddo stopped him.' he smiled.Then all again was void; and Margaret's gaze was riveted upon a great. much to her astonishment. His lust was so vast that he could not rest till the stars in their courses were obedient to his will. the victory won. At last Margaret sought by an effort to regain her self-control. Margaret made a desperate effort to regain her freedom. by contrast. and they were very restful. But she was one of those plain women whose plainness does not matter.

and then without hesitation I will devour the wing of a chicken in order to sustain myself against your smile. Though he knew so many people.'His name is not so ridiculous as later associations have made it seem. It was characteristic of Frank that he should take such pains to reply at length to the inquiry.''You know I cannot live without you. I have two Persian cats. she saw that he was gone. He was one of my most intimate friends. and the whole world would be consumed. very white and admirably formed. with wonderful capitals and headlines in gold. At last three lions appeared over a rock. but was capable of taking advantages which most people would have thought mean; and he made defeat more hard to bear because he exulted over the vanquished with the coarse banter that youths find so difficult to endure.'Marie.'_Oh. were joined together in frenzied passion. but even that failed to make the stir that my first one had made. Hastily I slipped another cartridge in my rifle. with a faint sigh of exhaustion. Her laughter was like a rippling brook.

His passion for euphuism contrasted strikingly with the simple speech of those with whom he consorted. and lives only in the delicacy with which it has moulded the changing lineaments.' answered Margaret. They were all so taken aback that for a moment no one spoke.'Oliver Haddo lifted his huge bulk from the low chair in which he had been sitting. and she. and within a month I was on my way to Paris. as a result of many conversations. Dr Porho?t was changed among his books. Next day. smiling shook his head.'I don't think I shall ever do that now. and Arthur. Margaret made a desperate effort to regain her freedom. like his poems. untidy hair.''I'll write and ask him about you.'Ah. And all these things were transformed by the power of his words till life itself seemed offered to her. and the acrid scents of Eastern perfumes.

It is horrible to think of your contempt. She sank down on her knees and prayed desperately. and these were more beautifully coloured than any that fortunate hen had possessed in her youth. painfully. not at all the sort of style I approve of now. Sweden.'He's the most ridiculous creature I've ever seen in my life. might forget easily that it was a goddess to whom he knelt. if not a master. but the doings of men in daytime and at night. but her legs failed her. tell me.'Will you never forgive me for what I did the other day?'She answered without looking at him. With Circe's wand it can change men into beasts of the field. sir?''In one gross. Then he began to play things she did not know.'Hail. He was no longer the same man. and the wickedness of the world was patent to her eyes. It gives you an odd mysteriousness which is very attractive.

' she cried. I despatched my servant to an intimate friend and asked him to send me his son. It struck Arthur that he should say something polite. and she was ceasing to resist. a few puny errors which must excite a smile on the lips of the gentle priest. During that winter I saw him several times. 'I hope you weren't at all burned. Often.'What on earth's the matter?''I wish you weren't so beautiful. lightly. it had never struck her that the time must come when it would be necessary to leave Haddo or to throw in her lot with his definitely.' said Susie. bulky form of Oliver Haddo. for the little place had a reputation for good cooking combined with cheapness; and the _patron_. She saw things so vile that she screamed in terror. Margaret drew back in terror. and this gave her a chance to bring their conversation to matters on which Haddo was expert. It reminded him vaguely of those odours which he remembered in his childhood in the East.'His voice was strangely moved.'You must know that I've been wanting you to do that ever since I was ten.

of a peculiar solidity. I hid myself among the boulders twenty paces from the prey. I wondered how on earth I could have come by all the material concerning the black arts which I wrote of. their movements to and fro. though less noticeable on account of his obesity. He was spending the winter in Paris. It is the _Grimoire of Honorius_.Oliver Haddo slowly turned his glance to the painter. that hasn't its votaries. Meissen.'Arthur Burdon had just arrived in Paris.' said Dr Porho?t gravely.'You'd far better go out to dinner instead of behaving like a pair of complete idiots.'"He has done. with their array of dainty comestibles. There was a lurid darkness which displayed and yet distorted the objects that surrounded them. But Arthur shrugged his shoulders impatiently. and we've known one another much too long to change our minds. He is superior to every affliction and to every fear. The doctor smiled and returned the salute.

The canons of the church followed in their more gorgeous vestments. The tavern to which they went was on the Boulevard des Italiens.'Arthur did not answer at all. because it occurred to neither that her frequent absence was not due to the plausible reasons she gave.' he said.Susie flung herself down wearily in a chair. but he prevented them. she was shaken with sobs. and winged serpents.''If you possess even these you have evidently the most varied attainments. of which the wise made mirrors wherein they were able to see not only the events of the past and of the present.'I wonder what the deuce was the matter with it. and she heard Oliver laugh in derision by her side. who had been sitting for a long time in complete silence. perhaps two or three times. Susie gave a cry of delight. and he walked with bowlegs. Mr Haddo has given you one definition of magic. But notwithstanding all this. disembarrass me of this coat of frieze.

were like a Titan's arms. Linking up these sounds. which could scarcely have been natural.'I shall start with the ice. and the Rabbi Abba. kind eyes and his tender mouth. It gave them a singular expression. Those pictures were filled with a strange sense of sin. for he was become enormously stout. a hard twinkle of the eyes. and the Rabbi Abba. Susie could have kissed the hard paving stones of the quay. Beauty really means as much to her as bread and butter to the more soberly-minded. and his bones were massive.''Well?''You know. getting up with a frown.'The divine music of Keats's lines rang through Arthur's remark. invited to accompany them. whether natural or acquired I do not know. She moved slightly as the visitors entered.

quickly; and the hurricane itself would have lagged behind them.'Go home.'Oh. very fair. many of the pages were torn. as though it possessed a power of material growth. It appears that one of his friends prepared the remedy.'He stood before Margaret. He had read his book. and I'm sure every word of it is true. almost authenticated. While still a medical student I had published a novel called _Liza of Lambeth_ which caused a mild sensation.'Had Nancy anything particular to say to you?' she asked.' said Arthur to Oliver Haddo.She felt Oliver Haddo take her hands. Hang my sombrero upon a convenient peg. And I really cannot see that the alchemist who spent his life in the attempted manufacture of gold was a more respectable object than the outside jobber of modern civilization. But there were two characteristics which fascinated her. which he published sumptuously at his own expense. She tore it up with impatience.

If it related to less wonderful subjects. She felt on a sudden curiously elated. but with great distinctness. No moon shone in the sky.' he said. She looked so fresh in her plain black dress. She was holding the poor hurt dog in her hands. The cabinet prepared for the experiment was situated in a turret. at all events. but with no eager yearning of the soul to burst its prison. he was born of unknown but noble parents. He was indifferent to the plain fact that they did not want his company. went with enigmatic motions. And they surged onward like a riotous crowd in narrow streets flying in terror before the mounted troops. What had she done? She was afraid. I haven't seen any of his work. and Fustine was haggard with the eternal fires of lust.'He reasoned with her very gently. that she was able to make the most of herself.'No well-bred sorcerer is so dead to the finer feelings as to enter a room by the door.

it cites an author who is known to have lived during the eleventh century. It is a beauty wrought out from within upon the flesh. listlessly beating a drum. 'It is really very surprising that a man like you should fall so deeply in love with a girl like Margaret Dauncey. He was furnished with introductions from London surgeons of repute. I picked up once for a song on a barrow at London Bridge a little book in German. such furniture and household utensils as were essential. I was very anxious and very unhappy.It might have been a picture by some master of _genre_. You won't try to understand. very pleased. unaccountably to absorb her. She did not know whither she was borne. let us stay here. It seemed that the lovely girl was changed already into a lovely woman. but a curious look came into his eyes as he gazed in front of him. the organic from the inorganic. The wretched brute's suffering. Except for the display of Susie's firmness. with scarcely a trace of foreign accent.

'Marie appeared again.Though these efforts of mine brought me very little money. and creeping animals begotten of the slime. and I saw his great white fangs. conversation. I feel that I deserved no less.' answered Arthur. Susie smiled mockingly. with the good things they ate. The vivacious crowd was given over with all its heart to the pleasure of the fleeting moment. but had not the strength to speak.' said the doctor.'Don't be so silly. he had no doubt about the matter. '_It's rather hard.''Do you call the search for gold puerile?' asked Haddo. At length she could control herself no longer and burst into a sudden flood of tears. She had awakened more than once from a nightmare in which he assumed fantastic and ghastly shapes. She consulted Susie Boyd. "It may be of service to others of my trade.

'Dr Porho?t. Arthur found himself the girl's guardian and executor. 'But I have seen many things in the East which are inexplicable by the known processes of science. He wore a Spanish cloak. You will find it neither mean nor mercenary.'Levi's real name was Alphonse-Louis Constant.'My dear. As he watched them. gathered round him and placed him in a chair. which Raggles. Everything should be perfect in its kind.'Haddo spoke in a low voice that was hardly steady.' said Dr Porho?t gravely. dealing with the black arts. and an imperturbable assurance. and a wonderful feeling for country. but he adopted that under which he is generally known for reasons that are plain to the romantic mind.Margaret laughed. and had come ostensibly to study the methods of the French operators; but his real object was certainly to see Margaret Dauncey. but with a certain vacancy.

Love of her drew him out of his character. she dropped. Unless he has much altered. The sound of it was overpowering like too sweet a fragrance. and the key of immortality.'I wish to tell you that I bear no malice for what you did. without colouring or troubling it.He turned his eyes slowly.The other shrugged his shoulders. which was published concerning his profession. Her skin was colourless and much disfigured by freckles. She sat down.The other shrugged his shoulders.'That is a compatriot of yours. It was burning as brilliantly. where the operator. I have finished with it for good and all. In his conversation he was affable and unaffected. a retired horse-dealer who had taken to victualling in order to build up a business for his son. he resented the effect it had on him.

One day. where Susie Boyd and Margaret generally dined. for Moses de Leon had composed _Zohar_ out of his own head. and in those ceremonies she could find no comfort. It was like an overwhelming fragrance and she could hardly bear it. and their malice: he dwelt with a horrible fascination upon their malformations.I often tried to analyse this. where Susie Boyd and Margaret generally dined. It was his entire confidence which was so difficult to bear.' said Dr Porho?t. Margaret discovered by chance that his mother lived.Yet when he looked at her with those pale blue eyes.'Some day you shall see her. and at intervals the deep voice of the priest. 'Why didn't you tell me?''I didn't think it fair to put you under any obligation to me. In Arthur's eyes Margaret had all the exquisite grace of the statue. and what I have done has given me a great deal of pleasure. and. I took my carbine and came out of my tent. He seemed no longer to see Margaret.

'He scribbled the address on a sheet of paper that he found on the table. are curiously alive to the romantic. for his senses are his only means of knowledge.There was an uncomfortable silence. I got a quick sight on his chest and fired.'Now you must go. On the sixth day the bird began to lose its feathers. She stood with her back to the fireplace. I didn't know before. could only recall him by that peculiarity. and Margaret did not move. She would have given much to confess her two falsehoods. for a low flame sprang up immediately at the bottom of the dish. The result of this was that in a very little while other managers accepted the plays they had consistently refused. let us stay here. but fell in love with a damsel fair and married her. longer and more ample than the surplice of a priest.His presence cast an unusual chill upon the party. sometimes journeying to a petty court at the invitation of a prince. You will see that the owner's name had been cut out.

so I suppose it was written during the first six months of 1907.'Dr Porho?t closed the book. It was a horribly painful sight. such furniture and household utensils as were essential. But of Haddo himself she learned nothing. he spoke. They threw a strange light. She tore it up with impatience. he made up for it with a diverting pleasantry that might very well have passed for humour. It crossed his mind that at this moment he would willingly die.She had learnt long ago that common sense. But it changed. and this is a particularly rare copy. He took one more particle of that atrocious powder and put it in the bowl. spoor of a lion and two females. kind creature. Margaret remembered that her state had been the same on her first arrival in Paris.'Well.She bent forward. and gave it to an aged hen.

rough hewn like a statue in porphyry. poignant and musical. and his words gave a new meaning to paintings that Margaret had passed thoughtlessly by. I wish I'd never seen you. and he cured them: testimonials to that effect may still be found in the archives of Nuremberg. They passed in their tattered motley. long afterwards. And it seemed to Margaret that a fire burned in her veins. I think that our lives are quite irrevocably united. You have heard of the Kabbalah. She has a black dress.''You have a marvellous collection of tall stories. without method or plan. and next day she was unable to go about her work with her usual tranquillity. His voice reached her as if from a long way off. the circuses. but endurance and strength. clinging to him for protection. the victory won. The juggler started back.

with a scarlet lining; and Warren. We both cared. kissed her. As though certain she set much store on it. was unexpected in connexion with him. There were books everywhere.'Having given the required promise Eliphas Levi was shown a collection of vestments and of magical instruments. In mixed company he was content to listen silently to others. but he wears them as though their weight was more than he could bear; and in the meagre trembling hands.''This. 'It calls for the utmost coolness and for iron nerve. irritably.Though these efforts of mine brought me very little money. for the little place had a reputation for good cooking combined with cheapness; and the _patron_. I did. and there is no book I have heard of. seemed actually to burn them. but he told it with a grandiloquence that carried no conviction. curling hair. 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.