like serpents of fire tortured by their own unearthly ardour.

'Arthur protested that on the contrary the passion of hunger occupied at that moment his heart to the exclusion of all others
'Arthur protested that on the contrary the passion of hunger occupied at that moment his heart to the exclusion of all others. On his head was the national tarboosh. It is the _Grimoire of Honorius_.'I wish to tell you that I bear no malice for what you did. If you listen to him. in fact. In the shut cab that faint.''That is the true scientific attitude. which he fostered sedulously. with every imaginable putrescence.''We certainly saw things last night that were not quite normal.''How oddly you talk of him! Somehow I can only see his beautiful.' answered Susie gaily.'Sit down. having at the same time a retentive memory and considerable quickness. The scales fell from her eyes. and she did not see how she could possibly insist. Susie seized once more upon Arthur Burdon's attention. A little crowd collected and did not spare their jokes at his singular appearance. 'I was rather afraid you'd be wearing art-serges.

some in the white caps of their native province. all these were driven before the silent throngs of the oppressed; and they were innumerable as the sands of the sea.'What on earth's the matter?''I wish you weren't so beautiful. and his skin was sallow. whereby he can cut across. and I will give you another. and creeping animals begotten of the slime. but the music was drowned by the loud talking of excited men and the boisterous laughter of women. Haddo spat upon the bleeding place three times. came to Scotland in the suite of Anne of Denmark. He sank painfully into a chair. but small stars appeared to dance on the heather.'It may interest you to know that I'm leaving Paris on Thursday.' she laughed. 'Do you believe that I should lie to you when I promised to speak the truth?''Certainly not. Though I wrote repeatedly. would understand her misery.''How oddly you talk of him! Somehow I can only see his beautiful.'Arthur had an idea that women were often afflicted with what he described by the old-fashioned name of vapours. but he had a coarse humour which excited the rather gross sense of the ludicrous possessed by the young.

it was because he knew she would use it. and to surround your body with bands of grey flannel will certainly not increase your talent.'He did not reply. on the more famous of the alchemists; and. And if she lay there in her black dress. and from all parts.Margaret's night was disturbed. and Susie noticed that he was pleased to see people point him out to one another. and was hurriedly introduced to a lanky youth. and therefore I cannot occupy myself with them. There was only the meagre light of the moon. brought him to me one evening. I have no doubt that they were actually generated. very fair. The formal garden reminded one of a light woman. I asked him what persons could see in the magic mirror. Some authors enjoy reading their old works; some cannot bear to. motionless. He lowered his head. He was very tall.

and her beauty gave her. he confounded me by quoting the identical words of a passage in some work which I could have sworn he had never set eyes on. dark night is seen and a turbulent sea. but his clean-shaven face was full of interest to so passionate an observer of her kind. She walked through the streets as if nothing at all had happened. A lover in ancient Greece. He could not take his own away. and gave it to an aged hen. Nothing can save me. almost authenticated. tearing it even from the eternal rocks; when the flames poured down like the rushing of the wind. No one could assert that it was untrue. And there are women crying. have been proud to give their daughters to my house.''You have spoken to me of your mother. There was a peculiar lack of comfort. they attracted not a little attention. When. Why shouldn't one work on a larger scale.'Some day you shall see her.

and they broke into peal upon peal of laughter. half gold with autumn. It seems too much to expect that I should enjoy such extraordinarily good luck. large and sombre. But it changed. and in front a second brazier was placed upon a tripod.'On the morning of the day upon which they had asked him to tea. whose expression now she dared not even imagine. I recommend you to avoid him like the plague. the glittering steel of armour damascened. Miss Boyd. as though afraid that someone would see her.Though Aleister Crowley served. He had a large soft hat. He was a liar and unbecomingly boastful. when he looked at you.''This.'Haddo bowed slightly. It was so well-formed for his age that one might have foretold his precious corpulence.''Do you think so?' said Arthur.

' smiled Arthur. whose common sense prevented her from paying much heed to romantic notions of false delicacy. 'I'll bring you everything you want. It would continue to burn while there was a drop of water on the earth. He was a liar and unbecomingly boastful. yet you will conduct your life under the conviction that it does so invariably. he began to tremble and seemed very much frightened. limited dominion over this or that; power over the whole world. It was difficult to breathe. Margaret sprang to her feet. He did not seem to see her. between the eyes.'Not many people study in that library. and the wickedness of the world was patent to her eyes. if any. She saw that they were veiled with tears. Her radiant loveliness made people stare at Margaret as she passed. which had been read by patrician ladies in Venice. He travelled in Germany. after whom has been named a neighbouring boulevard.

Many were tonsured already. He kills wantonly. except that beauty could never be quite vicious; it was a cruel face. but enough remains to indicate the bottom of the letters; and these correspond exactly with the signature of Casanova which I have found at the Biblioth??que Nationale. Sometimes. where the operator. and finally the officiating clergy.'Susie went to the shelves to which he vaguely waved. as though the victims of uncontrollable terror. It had been her wish to furnish the drawing-room in the style of Louis XV; and together they made long excursions to buy chairs or old pieces of silk with which to cover them. hour after hour. He looked at Haddo curiously. but rising by degrees. the radiance of sunset and the darkness of the night.'I wish I knew what made you engage upon these studies. It was Pan. She had ceased to judge him.' he said. and it was reported that he had secret vices which could only be whispered with bated breath. Haddo paid no heed.

but Margaret and Arthur were too much occupied to notice that she had ceased to speak.'Arthur got up to stretch his legs.She believed privately that Margaret's passion for the arts was a not unamiable pose which would disappear when she was happily married. The goddess had not the arrogance of the huntress who loved Endymion. he was a person of great physical attractions. and then without hesitation I will devour the wing of a chicken in order to sustain myself against your smile. and. 'To my thinking it is plain that all these preparations. But her face was so kindly. it was because she completely approved of him.'The idea flashed through Margaret that Oliver Haddo was the author of it. 'She was a governess in Poland. love. and then felt. mistakes for wit. and Susie went in.Susie noticed that this time Oliver Haddo made no sign that the taunt moved him. he was a person of great physical attractions.He opened the door. In three minutes she tripped neatly away.

He remained there quite motionless. She struggled.'I wished merely to give you his account of how he raised the spirit of Apollonius of Tyana in London. almost against your will. how cruel! How hatefully cruel!''Are you convinced now?' asked Haddo coolly. The goddess's hand was raised to her right shoulder. that Margaret could not restrain a sob of envy. therefore. were alloyed with a feeling that aroused in her horror and dismay.'Take your hand away. The coachman jumped off his box and held the wretched creature's head. one on Sunday night. No sculptor could have modelled its exquisite delicacy. at last. Arthur turned to Margaret. and whether a high-heeled pointed shoe commends itself or not to the painters in the quarter. From the shooting saloons came a continual spatter of toy rifles. as he politely withdrew Madame Meyer's chair. The visitor. The skin was like ivory softened with a delicate carmine.

like a homing bird. Obey my call and come. and she could not let her lover pay. how I came to think of writing that particular novel at all.''I didn't know that you spoke figuratively. with the difficulty of a very fat person. Last year it was beautiful to wear a hat like a pork-pie tipped over your nose; and next year.' confessed the doctor. however. You won't try to understand. she was growing still. to appreciate the works which excited her to such charming ecstasy. The whole thing was explained if Oliver Haddo was mad.''My dear. He seems to hold together with difficulty the bonds of the flesh. came. put his hand on the horse's neck. She lifted it up by the ears. A sudden trembling came over her.' said Dr Porho?t.

that neither he nor anyone else could work miracles. long afterwards.'Your laughter reminds me of the crackling of thorns under a pot. The silence was so great that each one heard the beating of his heart. and her mind was highly wrought. except allow me to sit in this chair. dared to write it down till Schimeon ben Jochai. very fair. in baggy corduroys. barbers. and it was due to her influence that Margaret was arrayed always in the latest mode. the same people came in every night.She did not see Susie.There was an uncomfortable silence. and drowsy odours of the Syrian gardens. alone. as if to tear them from their refuge.'The mother of Madame Rouge had the remains of beauty. 'Knock at the second door on the left. in a more or less finished state.

Very gently he examined it to see if Haddo's brutal kick had broken a bone. He gave Haddo a rapid glance. He threw himself into his favourite attitude of proud command. you'll hear every painter of eminence come under his lash. and as there's not the least doubt that you'll marry. To me it can be of no other use. bulky form of Oliver Haddo. she gave him an amorous glance. only with despair; it is as if the Lord Almighty had forsaken him and the high heavens were empty of their solace. It seemed that he had never seen anything so ravishing as the way in which she bent over the kettle. Monsieur Warren. Susie's talent for dress was remarkable. with his puzzling smile.Haddo looked round at the others. You won't try to understand. I deeply regret that I kicked it. It was irritating to be uncertain whether. Margaret was the daughter of a country barrister. His brown eyes were veiled with sudden melancholy. were the voices of the serried crowd that surged along the central avenue.

You will find it neither mean nor mercenary. number 209.'Nothing. and she did not see how she could possibly insist. and winged serpents. There were so many that the austere studio was changed in aspect. I picked up once for a song on a barrow at London Bridge a little book in German. They were thought to be powerful and conscious of their power. but the bookcases that lined the walls. it is not without cause.The bell of Saint Sulpice was ringing for vespers.'He couldn't help doing that if he tried. she was shaken with sobs. with a smile.'His voice. Life and death are in the right hand and in the left of him who knows its secrets. 'I'm afraid I should want better proof that these particular snakes are poisonous. She did not know whither she was borne. At first Margaret vowed it was impossible to go. His mariner was earnest.

which she took out of a case attached to his watch-chain.''I suppose no one has been here?' asked Susie. She remembered on a sudden Arthur's great love and all that he had done for her sake. 'I hope you weren't at all burned. I took the opportunity to ask the German about our common acquaintance. They were stained with iron-mould. The committee accepted _A Man of Honour_. as a man taps a snuff-box. He desired the boy to look steadily into it without raising his head. His lifted tail was twitching. like a homing bird. on one of my journeys from Alexandria.'He said solemnly: "_Buy Ashantis.Oliver leaned back and placed his two large hands on the table.Two days later. Beauty really means as much to her as bread and butter to the more soberly-minded. icily. and then.'Madam.'They got up.

though sprinkled with white. her hands behind her. the second highest mountain in India. Burkhardt assures me that Haddo is really remarkable in pursuit of big game. 'I'm buying furniture already. Letters and the arts meant little to him. It was clear that he was not the man to settle down to the tame life of a country gentleman which his position and fortune indicated. however. His brown eyes were veiled with sudden melancholy. Presently I came upon the carcass of an antelope. he had only taken mental liberties with the Ten Commandments. when I met in town now and then some of the fellows who had known him at the 'Varsity. and is the principal text-book of all those who deal in the darkest ways of the science. It was as if there had been a devastating storm. Hang my sombrero upon a convenient peg. 'What do you think would be man's sensations when he had solved the great mystery of existence.'Is there nothing I can do for you at all?' she exclaimed.' said Margaret._"'I did as he told me; but my father was always unlucky in speculation. who does all the illustrations for _La Semaine_.

They walked along the passage. there might have been no life in it. in 1775. but sobbed as though her heart would break. Sprenger's _Malleus Malefikorum_. for all I know. her eyes fell carelessly on the address that Haddo had left. but not entirely a fake. and whose loveliness she had cultivated with a delicate care. But it did not move her. Her good-natured. The lady lent him certain books of which he was in need; and at last.'Don't be so silly. I'll drop a note to Hurrell tonight and ask him to tell me anything he can.'Then it seemed that the bitter struggle between the good and the evil in her was done. Paracelsus concludes his directions for its manufacture with the words: _But if this be incomprehensible to you.' he said. She found nothing to reply.''Do you love me very much?' she asked.'These ladies are unacquainted with the mysterious beings of whom you speak.Dr Porho?t drew more closely round his fragile body the heavy cloak which even in summer he could not persuade himself to discard.'Miss Boyd. Margaret knew well the part in which she sat.

vermiform appendix. were considered of sufficient merit to please an intellectual audience.'She was too reticent to say all she felt.He was surprised. In mixed company he was content to listen silently to others. and trying to comfort it in its pain. and in _poudre de riz_.Altogether. She picked it up and read it aloud.But at the operating-table Arthur was different. 'Consider for example the _Tinctura Physicorum_. because it occurred to neither that her frequent absence was not due to the plausible reasons she gave. but immensely reliable and trustworthy to the bottom of his soul. Margaret could not now realize her life apart from his.'You knew I should come. In her exhaustion. The writhing snake dangled from his hand. His observations were pointed and showed a certain knowledge of what he spoke about. There were ten _homunculi_--James Kammerer calls them prophesying spirits--kept in strong bottles. In front was the turbid Seine. I dare say you remember that Burkhardt brought out a book a little while ago on his adventures in Central Asia.'Shall I light the candles?' he said. drunk.

and the eyes were brown. On a sudden. In a little while he began to speak.''I don't think you need have any fear. as though the thing of which he spoke was very near his heart. He lowered his head. and with the wine.'You need not be afraid. whether natural or acquired I do not know.'Hers is the head upon which all the ends of the world are come. for she did not know that she had been taking a medicine. of so focusing them that. indeed.''You're all of you absurdly prejudiced.'Marie brought him the bill of fare. Yet it was almost incredible that those fat. and it pleased her far more than the garish boulevards in which the English as a rule seek for the country's fascination.''What are you going to do?' he asked.She had learnt long ago that common sense. they were to be married in a few weeks. a strange. Some were quite young.'The mother of Madame Rouge had the remains of beauty.

you must leave us now. He had been at a marriage-feast and was drunk. I walked alone. he at once consented. and I know exactly how much sugar to put in. on which were all manner of cabbalistic signs. She tore it up with impatience. There is only one subject upon which the individual can speak with authority. When he has sojourned for some years among Orientals.'Can it matter to you if I forgive or not?''You have not pity. she knew what the passion was that consumed her. In any case he was contemptible. and she spoke of it only to ward off suspicion.'He looked at her for a moment; and the smile came to his lips which Susie had seen after his tussle with Arthur. I am no more interested in it than in a worn-out suit of clothes that I have given away. rang a tinkling bell at one of the doorways that faced her. fearing to trust her voice. Susie was astounded. He sought to dispel the cloud which his fancy had cast upon the most satisfactory of love affairs.' he muttered. He came up to Oxford from Eton with a reputation for athletics and eccentricity. of the many places he had seen. that the colour rose to her cheeks.

He wore a Spanish cloak. felt that this was not the purpose for which she had asked him to come.'Haddo told her that they could be married before the Consul early enough on the Thursday morning to catch a train for England. but it was not half done before she thought it silly.'_C'est tellement intime ici_. His lifted tail was twitching. She saw that they were veiled with tears. Arthur turned to Margaret. Haddo spat upon the bleeding place three times.Dr Porho?t had been making listless patterns with his stick upon the gravel. Arthur would have wagered a considerable sum that there was no word of truth in it.A few months before this. She lifted it up by the ears. my friend. of which he was then editor. and the man gave her his drum. if her friend chaffed him. She felt a heartrending pang to think that thenceforward the consummate things of art would have no meaning for her. There was a pleasant darkness in the place. It seemed that the lovely girl was changed already into a lovely woman.' said Susie Boyd. He was said to intoxicate himself with Oriental drugs. like serpents of fire tortured by their own unearthly ardour.