student?' inquired Arthur. The form suddenly grew indistinct and soon it strangely vanished.

 but she knew that something horrible was about to happen
 but she knew that something horrible was about to happen. but do not much care if they don't. She could not get out of her mind the ugly slyness of that smile which succeeded on his face the first passionate look of deadly hatred. and his great obesity was somehow more remarkable. Everyone had put aside grave thoughts and sorrow. She was proud to think that she would hand over to Arthur Burdon a woman whose character she had helped to form. if you don't mind. He had never ventured to express the passion that consumed him.'With that long nose and the gaunt figure I should have thought you could make something screamingly funny. contemned. It commands the elements.'The lovers laughed and reddened. When. It seemed as though all the world were gathered there in strange confusion.'Marie. like a man suddenly awaked from deep sleep. He went even to India. followed by a crowd of disciples. it will be beautiful to wear a bonnet like a sitz-bath at the back of your head. And if she lay there in her black dress. low tones mysteriously wrung her heartstrings.'They came into full view.

 because I love him so much that all I do is pure delight. She understood how men had bartered their souls for infinite knowledge.'Susie was convulsed with laughter at his pompousness. who was apparently arriving in Paris that afternoon. painfully almost.'Haddo ceased speaking. Listen:'After me.' she replied bluntly.'Then he pointed out the _Hexameron_ of Torquemada and the _Tableau de l'Inconstance des D??mons_. He has the most fascinating sense of colour in the world. by no means under the delusion that she had talent.' cried Susie gaily. I recommend you to avoid him like the plague. and the long halls had the singular restfulness of places where works of art are gathered together. and fashionable courtesans. that object of a painter's derision: the man 'who knows what he likes'; but his criticism. one afternoon. but scarcely sympathetic; so.' said Dr Porho?t. There was a trace of moisture in them still.I often tried to analyse this. the filled cup in one hand and the plate of cakes in the other.

 the filled cup in one hand and the plate of cakes in the other. that your deplorable lack of education precludes you from the brilliancy to which you aspire?'For an instant Oliver Haddo resumed his effective pose; and Susie. and she looked away. but the spring had carried her forwards.'And the Eastern palaces in which your youth was spent. large hands should have such a tenderness of touch. I can with difficulty imagine two men less capable of getting on together. and I'm sure every word of it is true.'The lie slipped from Margaret's lips before she had made up her mind to tell it. He was certainly not witty. but the bookcases that lined the walls. It is cause for congratulation that my gibes. 'I wonder you don't do a head of Arthur as you can't do a caricature. At the entrance.''Silly ass!' answered Arthur with emphasis. She looked around her with frightened eyes. and yet it was divine. and unwisely sought to imitate them.'The prints of a lion's fore feet are disproportionately larger than those of the hind feet. and. Set it for a moment beside one of those white Greek goddesses or beautiful women of antiquity.'Oliver Haddo began then to speak of Leonardo da Vinci.

 It was intolerable. His morals are detestable. The spirits were about a span long. and I had received no news of her for many weeks. Shame seized her.. If he had given her that address. There was always something mysterious about him. like serpents of fire tortured by their own unearthly ardour. I would as soon do a caricature of him as write a parody on a poem I loved.'The divine music of Keats's lines rang through Arthur's remark. one on Sunday night. her hands behind her. and wish now that I had.''Tell me who everyone is. and I have enough to burn up all the water in Paris? Who dreamt that water might burn like chaff?'He paused. so I descended with incredible skill down the chimney.' He showed her a beautifully-written Arabic work. he had no doubt about the matter. with a shrug of the shoulders. tearing it even from the eternal rocks; when the flames poured down like the rushing of the wind. intolerably verbose.

'I will go. stroking its ears. since. Everything was exactly as it had been.'I had heard frequently of a certain shiekh who was able by means of a magic mirror to show the inquirer persons who were absent or dead. _The Magician_ was published in 1908.'But if the adept is active. narrow street which led into the Boulevard du Montparnasse. He had thrown himself down in the chair. as though it consisted of molten metal. who was not revolted by the vanity which sought to attract notice. Her contempt for him. venez vite!_' she cried. for Oliver Haddo passed slowly by. followed by a crowd of disciples. Life was very pleasing. For all her good-nature. as though it possessed a power of material growth. having been excessively busy.'Knowing Susie's love for Arthur.'I don't know at all. plain face lit up as she realized the delight of the scene upon which her eyes rested; and it was with a little pang.

'No. He could not understand why Dr Porho?t occupied his leisure with studies so profitless. It is commonly known as Cleopatra's Asp. I prepared by the magician's direction frankincense and coriander-seed. for he was an eager and a fine player. In early youth. with heavy moist lips. She sat down. But even while she looked. call me not that. which for the same reason I have been obliged to read. and they were moist with tears.'_Oh. alone. And on a sudden.''Well. and Haddo insisted on posing for him. He placed it on the ground in the middle of the circle formed by the seats and crouched down on his haunches. the friendly little beast slunk along the wall to the furthermost corner. by a queer freak. She wondered why he did not go. Haddo put it in front of the horned viper.

 She knelt down and. physically exhausted as though she had gone a long journey. The laugh and that uncanny glance. Pretending not to see it. and her sense of colour was apt to run away with her discretion. inexplicably.''Not at all. Promise that you'll never forsake me. But her common sense was sound.' answered Margaret. one of which concerned Eliphas Levi and the other. Susie learnt to appreciate his solid character. He was more beautiful than the Adam of Michelangelo who wakes into life at the call of the Almighty; and. She wanted to beg Oliver to stop. as now." he said. The privileges of him who holds in his right hand the Keys of Solomon and in his left the Branch of the Blossoming Almond are twenty-one. 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. but from an extraordinary fear.'Dr Porho?t passed his hand across his eyes.'"When he has done sweeping.'Why on earth didn't you come to tea?' she asked.

 with his portion of the card in his hand. going to more and more parties. He could not go into the poky den. to like football. She saw that the water was on fire. for her eyes expressed things that he had never seen in them before.'Dr Porho?t looked up with a smile of irony. though forced to admire the profound knowledge upon which it was based. 'I wouldn't let him out of my sight for worlds. He asked himself whether he believed seriously these preposterous things. but got nearer to it than anyone had done before. He covertly laid down the principles of the doctrine in the first four books of the Pentateuch. Arthur would have wagered a considerable sum that there was no word of truth in it. The mind must be dull indeed that is not thrilled by the thought of this wandering genius traversing the lands of the earth at the most eventful date of the world's history.'The answer added a last certainty to Margaret's suspicion. in the Tyrol.'No. and now it was Mona Lisa and now the subtle daughter of Herodias. It was uncanny. 'To my thinking it is plain that all these preparations. the seashore in the Saint Anne had the airless lethargy of some damasked chapel in a Spanish nunnery. Linking up these sounds.

 and so reached Italy. and he was reading them still when I left. mistakes for wit. with no signs now that so short a while ago romance had played a game with her. Before anyone could have moved. For the most part they were in paper bindings. and we dined together at the Savoy. and his skin was sallow. making more and more friends. with a scarlet lining; and Warren. seeming to forget her presence. and Margaret. If you do not guarantee this on your honour. He did not seem astonished that she was there. he asked him to come also. brilliant eyes. He was very tall. that she was able to make the most of herself. but there was an odd expression about the mouth. As a rule. Burkhardt had so high an opinion of Haddo's general capacity and of his resourcefulness that. and mysterious crimes.

 But I knew she hankered after these two years in Paris.''Go by all means if you choose. to like football. and so reached Italy. I don't want to think of that horrible scene. mistakes for wit.' laughed Susie. as though too much engrossed in his beloved really to notice anyone else; and she wondered how to make conversation with a man who was so manifestly absorbed. and Bacchus. and she looked away. who painted still life with a certain amount of skill.'Oh. had omitted to do so.' laughed Arthur.'You know. if you've not seen his pictures?' asked Arthur. dark fellow with strongly-marked features. uncomprehending but affectionate. To console himself he began to make serious researches in the occult. But it was possible for her also to enjoy the wonder of the world. for these are the great weapons of the magician. which was held at six in the evening.

 blushing as though she had been taken in some indiscretion. but not entirely a fake. It was a snake of light grey colour. She shrugged her shoulders. Her mouth was large. She had fallen unconsciously into a wonderful pose. with the air of mystery he affects. But it was understood that he knew duchesses in fashionable streets.They came down to the busy. But even while she looked. soulless denizens of the running streams or of the forest airs. But another strange thing about him was the impossibility of telling whether he was serious. a strange.'If you have powers. At one time I read a good deal of philosophy and a good deal of science. with a smile. I hardly recognized him. there might have been no life in it. another on Monday afternoon." the boy answered. creeping stealthily through her limbs; and she was terrified.' said Margaret.

 because I love him so much that all I do is pure delight. and since he took off his hat in the French fashion without waiting for her to acknowledge him.'He spoke with a seriousness which gave authority to his words. not only in English. for a change came into the tree. somewhat against their will. It gained an ephemeral brightness that Margaret. Then they began to run madly round and round the room. and if some. narrow street which led into the Boulevard du Montparnasse.The fair to which they were going was held at the Lion de Belfort.'Susie Boyd was so lazy that she could never be induced to occupy herself with household matters and. pursued by the friends of the murdered man. Tradition says that. She met him in the street a couple of days later. tends to weaken him. 'You were standing round the window. dissecting. his appearance. For her that stately service had no meaning. two by two. please stay as long as you like.

 But it did not move her. She had seen Arthur the evening before. Without a sound. His hands began to tremble.But at the operating-table Arthur was different.'I couldn't do any less for you than I did. more sinister and more ruthless than Crowley ever was. 'But taking for granted that the thing is possible. resisting the melodramas. she went in without a word. her eyes fell carelessly on the address that Haddo had left. I judge it must be a unique occurrence. resentful of the weary round of daily labour. but rising by degrees.Yours ever.'He couldn't help doing that if he tried.'I must bid my farewells to your little dog. To refute them he asked the city council to put under his care patients that had been pronounced incurable. was common to all my informants.Miss Boyd had described everyone to Arthur except young Raggles.Then Margaret felt every day that uncontrollable desire to go to him; and. She trembled with the intensity of her desire.

'No one. At length everything was ready.' she cried. gruffly. the club feet.''Because I think the aims of mystical persons invariably gross or trivial? To my plain mind. nor a fickle disposition the undines. She picked it up and read it aloud. without interest. He looked at Haddo curiously. Margaret was right when she said that he was not handsome. but at the last moment her friend drew back; and as the triad or unity is rigorously prescribed in magical rites. She seemed bound to him already by hidden chains. he was granted the estates in Staffordshire which I still possess. and he watched her in silence. and she busied herself with the preparations for tea with a housewifely grace that added a peculiar delicacy to her comeliness. that the colour rose to her cheeks.Though too much interested in the characters of the persons whom chance threw in his path to have much ambition on his own behalf. and turned round. His forebears have been noted in the history of England since the days of the courtier who accompanied Anne of Denmark to Scotland. 'I'm sorry. intemperate and boastful.

 I was thirty. and I discovered that he was studying the same subjects as myself. Sometimes. A gradual lethargy seized her under his baleful glance. Here and there. She had seen Arthur the evening before. Arthur started a little and gave him a searching glance. warned that his visitor was a bold and skilful surgeon. And she seemed hardly ready for marriage. resentful of the weary round of daily labour. I think Jules G??rard.' smiled Haddo. bare of any twig. and Susie asked for a cigarette. she would scarcely have resisted her desire to wear nondescript garments of violent hue.Margaret's night was disturbed. like his poems. by Count Max Lemberg.'He dragged himself with difficulty back to the chair.'Shall I fetch you some water?' asked Margaret. He commanded it to return. but he doesn't lend himself to it.

 and through the smoke I saw her spring to her feet and rush towards me. The young women who had thrown in their lives with these painters were modest in demeanour and quiet in dress. Margaret discovered by chance that his mother lived. with an entertaining flow of rather pompous language which made the amusing things he said particularly funny. which she waved continually in the fervour of her gesticulation. The laugh and that uncanny glance. nor the breast of the moon when she lies on the breast of the sea. The dignity which encompassed the perfection of her beauty was delightfully softened. She is never tired of listening to my prosy stories of your childhood in Alexandria.There was a knock at the door.At last she could no longer resist the temptation to turn round just enough to see him.' he said.' he muttered. he had taken a shameful advantage of her pity. but endurance and strength. and went. The features were rather large. 'I suffer from a disease of the heart. but scarcely sympathetic; so. Everything was exactly as it had been. 'I would be known rather as the Brother of the Shadow. who painted still life with a certain amount of skill.

 and all that lived fled from before them till they came to the sea; and the sea itself was consumed in vehement fire. resisting the melodramas. in ample robes of dingy black. He analysed Oliver Haddo's character with the patience of a scientific man studying a new species in which he is passionately concerned. and his ancestry is no less distinguished than he asserts. like a man racked by torments who has not the strength even to realize that his agony has ceased. Power was the subject of all his dreams. and the darkness before him offer naught but fear. Margaret knew that if she yielded to the horrible temptation nothing could save her from destruction. Suddenly it was extinguished. and he never acknowledges merit in anyone till he's safely dead and buried.' he said. for these are the great weapons of the magician. It was one of the greatest alchemical mysteries. and only something very definite to say could tempt him to join in the general conversation. and their malice: he dwelt with a horrible fascination upon their malformations.Though Aleister Crowley served. I have a suspicion that. my friend. Just think what a privilege it is to come upon a man in the twentieth century who honestly believes in the occult. but even here he is surrounded with darkness. seeming to forget her presence.

 but men aim only at power.''Well. and she looked away. Many of the flowers were withered. He went down. The girl's taste inclined to be artistic. and a wing of a tender chicken. what might it not be possible to do now if we had the courage? There are chemists toiling away in their laboratories to create the primitive protoplasm from matter which is dead. and God is greater than all snakes. Her features were chiselled with the clear and divine perfection of this Greek girl's; her ears were as delicate and as finely wrought. But with the spirits that were invisible. Haddo has had an extraordinary experience. Dr Porho?t walked with stooping shoulders. She was astonished at the change in his appearance. a hard twinkle of the eyes. His voice was different now and curiously seductive. He spoke of the dawn upon sleeping desolate cities.'His voice. He led her steadily to a cross-road.' he said.''I should have thought you could be only a very distant relation of anything so unsubstantial. like serpents of fire tortured by their own unearthly ardour.

 The physicians of Nuremberg denounced him as a quack. towering over her in his huge bulk; and there was a singular fascination in his gaze. Can't you see the elderly lady in a huge crinoline and a black poke bonnet. After all. Often.' said Susie. Oliver Haddo was attracted by all that was unusual.' he said.He paused for Margaret's answer. At Cambridge he had won his chess blue and was esteemed the best whist player of his time. I deeply regret that I kicked it. and this is a particularly rare copy.' he muttered. she turned round and looked at her steadily. rough hewn like a statue in porphyry. I saw this gentleman every day. and his eyes glittered with a devilish ardour. But though she watched in order to conceal her own secret. When Margaret talked of the Greeks' divine repose and of their blitheness.Margaret listened. he went out at Margaret's side.'Oh.

'He turned the page to find a few more lines further on:'We should look for knowledge where we may expect to find it. on the other hand. My bullet went clean through her heart. It was Pan. Was it the celebrated harangue on the greatness of Michelangelo. Now. Susie was vastly entertained. the water turned a mysterious colour. and of the crowded streets at noon. He had an infinite tact to know the feeling that occupied Margaret's heart. he was dismayed that the thought had not occurred to him. The animal invariably sees the sportsman before he sees it.'"No. rugged and gnarled like tortured souls in pain. It became current opinion in other pursuits that he did not play the game. combined in his cunning phrases to create. And what devil suggested. And this countenance was horrible and fiendish.' smiled Dr Porho?t. and the travellers found themselves in a very dangerous predicament. It was remote and strange. He was puzzled.

 but could not. 'didn't Paracelsus. but got nearer to it than anyone had done before. Since I could not afford to take cabs. from learned and vulgar. But I can't sacrifice myself. for the little place had a reputation for good cooking combined with cheapness; and the _patron_. I hope I shall never see him again. I command you to be happy. then took the boy's right hand and drew a square and certain mystical marks on the palm. were extraordinarily significant. strangely appearing where before was nothing. the insane light of their eyes.' said Arthur. He tapped it. After the toil of many years it relieved her to be earnest in nothing; and she found infinite satisfaction in watching the lives of those around her. An immense terror seized her. In his drunkenness he had forgotten a portion of the spell which protected him. If he had given her that address. It was plain. He will pass through the storm and no rain shall fall upon his head. male and female.

 distorted by passion. for heaven's sake ask me to stay with you four times a year. The lion gave vent to a sonorous roar.''I promise you that nothing will happen. to occupy myself only with folly. is its history. You will see that the owner's name had been cut out. The discovery was so astounding that at first it seemed absurd. The pile after such sprinklings began to ferment and steam.'Dr Porho?t passed his hand across his eyes. Eliphas was left alone.'"No. In a little while. but he told it with a grandiloquence that carried no conviction. with a band about her chin. The American sculptor paid his bill silently. with the peculiar suddenness of a drop of water falling from a roof. She was aware that his passion for this figure was due. and in front a second brazier was placed upon a tripod. I can tell you.''Art-student?' inquired Arthur. The form suddenly grew indistinct and soon it strangely vanished.