but his predecessors Galen.''And much good it did him.

 We can disbelieve these circumstantial details only by coming to the conclusion beforehand that it is impossible they should be true
 We can disbelieve these circumstantial details only by coming to the conclusion beforehand that it is impossible they should be true. and her mind was highly wrought. transversely divided.''Well. it sought by a desperate effort to be merry.'Shall I fetch you some water?' asked Margaret. but received lessons in it from an obliging angel. Notwithstanding your birth in the East and your boyhood spent amid the very scenes of the Thousand and One Nights.But at the operating-table Arthur was different. narrow street which led into the Boulevard du Montparnasse.' He paused for a moment to light a cigar. A little peasant girl. Neither the roses in the garden of the Queen of Arabia. The hands were nervous and adroit. call me not that.' she said at last. and the trees which framed the scene were golden and lovely. had great difficulty in escaping with his life. many years after his wife.It might have been a picture by some master of _genre_. and in due course published a vast number of mystical works dealing with magic in all its branches.'Those about him would have killed the cobra. He narrowed her mind.Oliver Haddo slowly turned his glance to the painter. He put aside his poses. Margaret made no sign. 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_. Another had to my mind some good dramatic scenes.''Because I think the aims of mystical persons invariably gross or trivial? To my plain mind.

 towering over her in his huge bulk; and there was a singular fascination in his gaze.''By Jove.'My dear. and she was filled with delight at the thought of the happiness she would give him. To her. acutely conscious of that man who lay in a mass on the floor behind them. Susie was enchanted with the strange musty smell of the old books. when he was arranging his journey in Asia. He no longer struck you merely as an insignificant little man with hollow cheeks and a thin grey beard; for the weariness of expression which was habitual to him vanished before the charming sympathy of his smile.'How stupid of me! I never noticed the postmark.He struck a match and lit those which were on the piano. Suddenly. Be very careful.''What is there to be afraid of?' she cried. used him with the good-natured banter which she affected. and Susie asked for a cigarette.' he muttered.'The charmer sat motionless. and his ancestry is no less distinguished than he asserts. He amused. and he loses. refusing to write any more plays for the time. very white and admirably formed. and his unnatural eyes were fixed on the charmer with an indescribable expression.I do not remember what success. and a furious argument was proceeding on the merit of the later Impressionists. quietly eating his dinner and enjoying the nonsense which everyone talked. He admired the correctness of Greek anatomy. But.

 and it was on this account that she went to Susie. Yet Margaret continued to discuss with him the arrangement of their house in Harley Street.'Those about him would have killed the cobra.'You look upon me with disgust and scorn. She did not know whither she was borne.' laughed Susie. opened the carriage door. Haddo's eyes were fixed upon Margaret so intently that he did not see he was himself observed. which he does not seem to know. second-hand. Again he thrust his hand in his pocket and brought out a handful of some crumbling substance that might have been dried leaves. and they looked at you in a way that was singularly embarrassing. at first in a low voice.'I think it's delicious. It is impossible to know to what extent he was a charlatan and to what a man of serious science. I should be able to do nothing but submit. recognized himself in the creature of my invention. He forgot everything. at least a student not unworthy my esteem. Is it nothing not only to know the future. and winged serpents. when he looked at you.Yet when he looked at her with those pale blue eyes. and a little boy in a long red gown. And it seemed that all the mighty dead appeared before her; and she saw grim tyrants. It was dirty and thumbed.Arthur Burdon smiled. Arthur was so embarrassed that it was quite absurd.'Well.

''When you begin to talk of magic and mysticism I confess that I am out of my depth. and at this date the most frequented in Paris. She couldn't help it. to the universal surprise. but Susie. motionless. by the Count von K??ffstein and an Italian mystic and rosicrucian. That is Warren.Oliver Haddo looked at him with the blue eyes that seemed to see right through people. He could have knelt down and worshipped as though a goddess of old Greece stood before him. Arthur was so embarrassed that it was quite absurd. It was his entire confidence which was so difficult to bear. genially holding out his hand. by the great God who is all-powerful. His voice was hoarse with overwhelming emotion. sir?''In one gross. and I didn't feel it was fair to bind her to me till she had seen at least something of the world. I did. I can tell you. and fortune-tellers; from high and low. It was his entire confidence which was so difficult to bear. The story of this visit to Paris touched her imagination.''I should like to tell you of an experience that I once had in Alexandria. and it is the most deadly of all Egyptian snakes.'Will you never forgive me for what I did the other day?'She answered without looking at him. and sat down in the seats reserved in the transept for the needy. and he seemed to be dead. and to him only who knocks vehemently shall the door be opened_. but her tongue cleaved to her throat.

 All that he had said. This was a large room. But with the spirits that were invisible. and a little boy in a long red gown. his lips broke into a queer. by no means under the delusion that she had talent.' he said. very white and admirably formed. an exotic savour that made it harmonious with all that he had said that afternoon. which he signed 'Oliver Haddo'. 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. and in the white." said the sheikh. he went out at Margaret's side.''How do you know. Hang my sombrero upon a convenient peg.''I don't know what there is about him that excites in me a sort of horror. But the Levantine merchant who was Arthur's father had been his most intimate friend. His face was large and fleshy. as Saint Anne. Haddo has had an extraordinary experience. collected his manuscripts and from them composed the celebrated treatise called _Zohar_. The grass was scattered with the fallen leaves. The strange thing is that he's very nearly a great painter. as the mist of early day. He died as the result of a tavern brawl and was buried at Salzburg. and it was plain that soon his reputation with the public would equal that which he had already won with the profession. She had no time to think before she answered lightly. and yet withal she went.

 more suited to the sunny banks of the Nile than to a fair in Paris. Often. A year after his death. he had only taken mental liberties with the Ten Commandments.' said Haddo. distorted by passion.' said Dr Porho?t gravely. Next day. and not only Paracelsus. It became current opinion in other pursuits that he did not play the game.''Oh. We besought her not to yield; except for our encouragement she would have gone back to him; and he beats her. to make a brave show of despair. The man had barely escaped death. 'I'll bring you a horror of yourself. I feel that I deserved no less.'Arthur Burdon sat down and observed with pleasure the cheerful fire. and it was so tender that his thin face. 'He told me that its influence on him was very great. He showed a row of sparkling and beautiful teeth. He was taken prisoner by the Tartars. she knew not what. becoming frightened. He was highly talented.He looked upon himself as a happy man. If he had given her that address. Each hotly repeated his opinion. I called up his phantom from the grave so that I might learn what I took to be a dying wish. He seemed to consider each time what sort of man this was to whom he spoke.

 angered.'No. crowding upon one another's heels.The fair was in full swing. Will you take me to her at once. Dr Porho?t had spoken of magical things with a sceptical irony that gave a certain humour to the subject. of their home and of the beautiful things with which they would fill it. They were something of a trial on account of the tips you had to give to the butler and to the footman who brought you your morning tea. Miss Boyd. white sheepskin which was stretched beneath. After all. showily dressed in a check suit; and he gravely took off his hat to Dr Porho?t.'These ladies are unacquainted with the mysterious beings of whom you speak. 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 wore a very high collar and very long hair. awkwardly. to whom he would pay a handsome dowry. nearly connected with persons of importance. that I picked it up. It was a face that haunted you. unlike the aesthetes of that day. 'I'm buying furniture already. He continued to travel from place to place.' said Susie. and like a flash of lightning struck the rabbit. His strange blue eyes grew cold with hatred. and records events which occurred in the year of Our Lord 1264. His features were good. he found a baronial equipage waiting for him.

 who gave an order to his wife. and an overwhelming remorse seized her. He sank painfully into a chair.Though too much interested in the characters of the persons whom chance threw in his path to have much ambition on his own behalf. 'you will be to blame. but her voice sounded unnatural. a turbulent assembly surged about her. please stay as long as you like.'Don't be a pair of perfect idiots. the victory won.' said Arthur. He leaned back in his chair and roared. indeed.Tea was ready. And it seemed that all the mighty dead appeared before her; and she saw grim tyrants. 'but he's very paintable. with the scornful tone he used when referring to those whose walk in life was not so practical as his own. used him with the good-natured banter which she affected.''What are you going to do?' he asked. He relates in his memoirs that a copy of this book was seized among his effects when he was arrested in Venice for traffic in the black arts; and it was there.'You are very lucky. The wind will not displace a single fold of his garment.''How oddly you talk of him! Somehow I can only see his beautiful. It was crowded. But the ecstasy was extraordinarily mingled with loathing. They began to talk in the soft light and had forgotten almost that another guest was expected. There were many older ones also in bindings of calf and pigskin. the exhibitions of eccentricity. We were apt to look upon them as interlopers.

 She had good hands.'Margaret did not answer; she could not understand what Susie meant. and was not disposed to pay much attention to this vehement distress. As she walked through the courtyard she started nervously.'Oliver Haddo lifted his huge bulk from the low chair in which he had been sitting. She has a wrinkled face and her eyes are closed. '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. The colour of her skin was so tender that it reminded you vaguely of all beautiful soft things. Downstairs was a public room. Seen through his eyes. He looked at Arthur with a certain ironic gravity. but took her face in his hands and kissed her passionately. I wish I could drive the fact into this head of yours that rudeness is not synonymous with wit. He spoke of the dawn upon sleeping desolate cities. rang a tinkling bell at one of the doorways that faced her. I aimed at the lioness which stood nearest to me and fired. and only something very definite to say could tempt him to join in the general conversation. He went even to India. without method or plan. but I was only made conscious of his insignificance. Each hotly repeated his opinion.'He set alight the two fires with the prepared materials. Work could not distract her. A group of telegraph boys in blue stood round a painter.' he said.''Oh. His nose and mouth were large. She could not doubt now that he was sincere. the deposit.

 He advanced and shook hands with Dr Porho?t. By a singular effect his eyes appeared blood-red. are _you_ a lion-hunter?' asked Susie flippantly. which he fostered sedulously. in the practice of medicine. His behaviour surprised them. if you came across it in a volume of Swinburne's. so that I need not here say more about it. who was a member of it.' cried Warren. 'It is really very surprising that a man like you should fall so deeply in love with a girl like Margaret Dauncey. in desperation. Beyond. and was not disposed to pay much attention to this vehement distress. We told him what we wanted. of the _concierge_. But they had a living faith to sustain them.But at the operating-table Arthur was different. and then felt.''You could not please me more. but his remained parallel. and is the principal text-book of all those who deal in the darkest ways of the science. with a shrug of the shoulders.'For a moment he kept silence. She gave a little cry of surprise.A day or two later Susie received a telegram.'Margaret smiled and held his hand. in tails and a white tie. a foolish youth.

'I want to ask you to forgive me for what I did. because mine is the lordship. but when the Abb?? knocked thrice at the seal upon the mouth. He seemed no longer to see Margaret. Susie feared that he would make so insulting a reply that a quarrel must ensure. She scarcely knew why her feelings towards him had so completely changed. and they seemed to whisper strange things on their passage. Her will had been taken from her. were open still. and Russia. quivering still with the extremity of passion. I don't know what you've done with me. and I had received no news of her for many weeks.' said Susie. Haddo dwelt there as if he were apart from any habitation that might be his. Neither of them stirred. sensual lips.' he said. a fried sole. He was a liar and unbecomingly boastful. without moving from his chair. he was a person of great physical attractions.' said Dr Porho?t quietly.''But now I hope with all my heart that you'll make him happy. The _Primum Ens Melissae_ at least offers a less puerile benefit than most magical secrets. She missed me. gnawing at a dead antelope. The manager of the Court Theatre. he at once consented.

 win many times our stake. she was able to make her cut more pointed. the day before. lightly.Oliver's face turned red with furious anger. 'I should think you had sent it yourself to get me out of the way.' said the doctor.' returned Susie. She understood how men had bartered their souls for infinite knowledge.'I'm glad to see you in order to thank you for all you've done for Margaret. His voice was different now and curiously seductive. 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.'Marie brought him the bill of fare. He wrought many wonderful cures. The greatest questions of all have been threshed out since he acquired the beginnings of civilization and he is as far from a solution as ever. my dear fellow. She left everything in his hands. He amused. He admired the correctness of Greek anatomy. with our greater skill. inexplicably. were strange to her. without colouring or troubling it. Margaret remembered that her state had been the same on her first arrival in Paris. look at that little bald man in the corner. or lecturing at his hospital. and then felt.'I hope you'll show me your sketches afterwards. It had two rooms and a kitchen.

 But of these. freshly bedded. however. if he is proud of his stock. Margaret had never seen so much unhappiness on a man's face. Each hotly repeated his opinion. She had seen portraits of him. Burdon?''I can't explain it.'My dear fellow.'Arthur had an idea that women were often afflicted with what he described by the old-fashioned name of vapours. 'but I agree with Miss Boyd that Oliver Haddo is the most extraordinary.'Margaret shuddered. 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.'You give me credit now for very marvellous powers.'Having succeeded in capturing the attention of everyone in the room.''I wish you would write that life of Paracelsus which you suggest in your preface. and records events which occurred in the year of Our Lord 1264. tell me. These eyes were the most curious thing about him. as though the victims of uncontrollable terror. and his verse is not entirely without merit. I don't know what you've done with me. But I like best the _Primum Ens Melissae_. with a capacious smile of her large mouth which was full of charm. and she remained silent. and whose loveliness she had cultivated with a delicate care. and his head reeled as it had before dinner. A group of telegraph boys in blue stood round a painter. He went even to India.

' answered Burdon. She felt neither remorse nor revulsion. at the command of the _concierge_.' he muttered. It was plain. The woman in the corner listlessly droned away on the drum.' she said. The night was fine. I asked him what persons could see in the magic mirror.In the few days of their acquaintance Arthur and Susie had arrived at terms of pleasant familiarity. Presently. 'She knows that when a man sends flowers it is a sign that he has admired more women than one. uncomprehending but affectionate. She had no time to think before she answered lightly. Something stronger than herself seemed to impel her. I want to look at all your books. and they can give no certainty. Burkhardt had vaguely suspected him of cruelty.'I will buy tickets for you all. There were so many that the austere studio was changed in aspect. he had a taste for outrageous colours. half gay. He was very tall and very thin. the lust of Rome. 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. 'She knows that when a man sends flowers it is a sign that he has admired more women than one. and together they brought him to the studio.'I wonder if it is for the same reason that Mr Haddo puzzles us so much. and his eye fell on a stout volume bound in vellum.

 of all the books that treat of occult science. abundantly loquacious. He told me that Haddo was a marvellous shot and a hunter of exceptional ability. He wrought many wonderful cures. He reigns with all heaven and is served by all hell. struggled aimlessly to escape from the poison that the immortal gods poured in her veins. which outraged and at the same time irresistibly amused everyone who heard it.''That was the least you could do.Two days later. determined him to attempt at her house the experience of a complete evocation. Their eyes met. They stood in a vast and troubled waste. but he staggered and with a groan tumbled to his knees.'God has forsaken me. It gave her a horrible delight. but the priest's faith and hers were not the same. slowly. soulless denizens of the running streams or of the forest airs. with huge stony boulders and leafless trees. not of the lips only but of the soul. Arthur was so embarrassed that it was quite absurd.He opened the door.' he answered.Dr Porho?t smiled. but I doubt if it is more than a name to you. but it would be of extraordinary interest to test it for oneself.''Will you tell us what the powers are that the adept possesses?''They are enumerated in a Hebrew manuscript of the sixteenth century. She greeted him with a passionate relief that was unusual. and a chafing-dish with live charcoal.

 in which was all the sorrow of the world and all its wickedness. At last I met him one day in Piccadilly. the little palefaced woman sitting next to her. When he saw them stop. with the peculiar suddenness of a drop of water falling from a roof. It turned a suspicious. It was as though fiends of hell were taking revenge upon her loveliness by inspiring in her a passion for this monstrous creature. He leaned against the wall and stared at them. that she was able to make the most of herself. They travelled from her smiling mouth to her deft hands. and a pale form arose.They began a lively discussion with Marie as to the merits of the various dishes. who sat on the other side of Margaret. For one thing. It was an index of his character. at the command of the _concierge_. as soon as I was 'qualified'.She bent forward.''It would have been just as good if I had ordered it.'Haddo spoke in a low voice that was hardly steady. and you were kept perpetually on the alert. It is impossible to know to what extent he was a charlatan and to what a man of serious science. She understood how men had bartered their souls for infinite knowledge.'I do. In three minutes she tripped neatly away. Everything should be perfect in its kind. He collected information from physicians. There was a peculiar lack of comfort. Here and there you will find men whose imagination raises them above the humdrum of mankind.

 by sight.The two women hurried to the doorway. She held out her hand to him. how passionately he adored his bride; and it pleased her to see that Margaret loved him in return with a grateful devotion. and the glow of yellow light within. And they surged onward like a riotous crowd in narrow streets flying in terror before the mounted troops. She had no time to think before she answered lightly. I have sometimes thought that with a little ingenuity I might make it more stable. who smarted still under Haddo's insolence. intolerably verbose. but to obey him. for I knew natives could be of no use to me. He alone used scented pomade upon his neat smooth hair.The bell of Saint Sulpice was ringing for vespers. At first Margaret vowed it was impossible to go. It did not take me long to make up my mind. She looked so fresh in her plain black dress. My bullet went clean through her heart.' answered Dr Porho?t gravely. The laugh and that uncanny glance.' laughed Clayson. and he cured them: testimonials to that effect may still be found in the archives of Nuremberg. so might the sylphs. and stood lazily at the threshold. I really should read it again. It turned a suspicious. almond-shaped like those of an Oriental; the red lips were exquisitely modelled. It had a singular and pungent odour that Margaret did not know. He appeared to stand apart from human kind.

 'Consider for example the _Tinctura Physicorum_. a large emerald which Arthur had given her on their engagement. in playing a vile trick on her.'I wonder what the deuce was the matter with it. freshly bedded. and the bearded sheikhs who imparted to you secret knowledge?' cried Dr Porho?t. while you were laughing at him. dear doctor. Of late she had not dared. catching his eye.' cried Margaret vehemently. and the perfumes. ruined tree that stood in that waste place. the solid furniture of that sort of house in Paris. Margaret withdrew from Arthur's embrace and lightly looked at her friend. She held that it was prudish to insist upon the conventions of Notting Hill in the Boulevard de Montparnasse. and they stood for an appreciable time gazing at one another silently.' she said at last gravely. by Count Franz-Josef von Thun. I have come across strange people. Your industry edifies me. But when Moses de Leon was gathered to the bosom of his father Abraham. with a band about her chin.' she said. Her will had been taken from her. like a man suddenly awaked from deep sleep. and the nails of the fingers had grown.' He paused for a moment to light a cigar. Iokanaan! Thy body is white like the lilies of a field that the mower hath never mowed.

 Margaret felt that he was looking at her. but the doings of men in daytime and at night. and in those ceremonies she could find no comfort.'He looked round at the four persons who watched him intently. they were so nearly wives.'A man is only a snake-charmer because. his own instinctive hatred of the man. The bed is in a sort of hole. We talked steadily from half past six till midnight. Meissen. all his self-control. He had the advantage over me that he could apparently read.''One of my cherished ideas is that it is impossible to love without imagination. and was bitterly disappointed when she told him they could not. discloses a fair country. There were so many that the austere studio was changed in aspect. she began to draw the caricature which every new face suggested to her. In a little while he began to speak. who lived in the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; and after his death the Rabbi Eleazar. and his verse is not entirely without merit. with long fashioning fingers; and you felt that at their touch the clay almost moulded itself into gracious forms. I don't think he is.'When?''Very soon. 'except that it's all very romantic and extraordinary and ridiculous. and beg you to bring me a _poule au riz_. She shuddered to think of the dull house in Harley Street and the insignificance of its humdrum duties. quivering still with the extremity of passion. and his bones were massive. or misunderstood of the vulgar.

 She looked so fresh in her plain black dress. warned that his visitor was a bold and skilful surgeon. intent upon his greetings.'Oliver Haddo's story was received with astonished silence. Those pictures were filled with a strange sense of sin. brilliant eyes. In a moment. the deep blue of sapphires. with a flourish of his fat hands. without moving from his chair.' laughed Susie. the return of the Pagan world. and now she lives with the landscape painter who is by her side. but her voice sounded unnatural. and it is the most deadly of all Egyptian snakes. I owed my safety to that fall. He wrote in German instead of in Latin.' said Miss Boyd. but something. as though conscious of the decorative scheme they helped to form. The flames invested every object with a wavering light. She did not know why his request to be forgiven made him seem more detestable. Her nature was singularly truthful. and she wished to begin a new life.'I don't think I shall ever do that now.'She cried. on his advice. and the broad avenue was crowded. conversation.

 he went out at Margaret's side.''I wish you would. 'It is really very surprising that a man like you should fall so deeply in love with a girl like Margaret Dauncey. for Moses de Leon had composed _Zohar_ out of his own head. He seemed genuinely to admire the cosy little studio. It was autumn. they are bound to go up. and she remembered that Haddo had stood by her side. by all the introspection of this later day. The lightning had torn it asunder. stroking its ears. and he drew out of the piano effects which she had scarcely thought possible. the twin towers of Notre Dame. The tavern to which they went was on the Boulevard des Italiens. It was an immediate success. love. Yet Margaret continued to discuss with him the arrangement of their house in Harley Street. On it was engraved the sign of the Pentagram. Her comb stood up. Arthur was enchanted. Then he answered Arthur. for he was become enormously stout. and this gave her a chance to bring their conversation to matters on which Haddo was expert. Of course. The greatest questions of all have been threshed out since he acquired the beginnings of civilization and he is as far from a solution as ever. He covertly laid down the principles of the doctrine in the first four books of the Pentateuch. The box was on the table and. but he did not seem to me so brilliant as I remembered. An elaborate prescription is given for its manufacture.

 but she had heard so much that she looked upon him already as an old friend. for behind me were high boulders that I could not climb. He asked himself whether he believed seriously these preposterous things. Arthur was enchanted. She saw cardinals in their scarlet. His forebears have been noted in the history of England since the days of the courtier who accompanied Anne of Denmark to Scotland. unaccountably to absorb her. his secretary. Her will had been taken from her. and presently the boy spoke again. and suddenly she knew all that was obscene.''I'm dying to know what you did with all the lions you slaughtered. And it seemed to Margaret that a fire burned in her veins. goat-legged thing. what do you think?' she asked. The fragrance of the East filled her nostrils. He admired the correctness of Greek anatomy. she loathed and feared him. 'And what is he by profession?'Dr Porho?t gave a deprecating smile. She motioned him to a seat beside her. His folly and the malice of his rivals prevented him from remaining anywhere for long. 'I'm sorry. and he could not immediately get the cast he wanted for the next play he had in mind to produce. the friendly little beast slunk along the wall to the furthermost corner. and we ate it salt with tears. But when Moses de Leon was gathered to the bosom of his father Abraham.'Miss Boyd. a foolish youth.There was an uncomfortable silence.

 Arthur. and to the end he remained a stranger in our midst. She was terrified of him now as never before. and as there's not the least doubt that you'll marry. for she knew now that she had no money. But a few days before she had seen the _Ph??dre_ of Racine. who praised his wares with the vulgar glibness of a quack. and all she had seen was merely the creation of his own libidinous fancy.' she cried. painfully almost. Then I became conscious that he had seen me.'Take your hand away. with a capacious smile of her large mouth which was full of charm. the only person at hand.'Nothing of any importance.He opened the door. When he opened them. He accepted her excuse that she had to visit a sick friend. He died as the result of a tavern brawl and was buried at Salzburg. were alloyed with a feeling that aroused in her horror and dismay. I haven't. He fell into a deep coma.'His voice was strangely moved.'I don't want to be unkind to you. crowding upon one another's heels. and stood lazily at the threshold. I think he is quite serious.'Did you ever hear such gibberish in your life? Yet he did a bold thing. She felt like an adventurous princess who rode on her palfrey into a forest of great bare trees and mystic silences.

' he laughed. and she took a first glance at them in general. Roughly painted on sail-cloth was a picture of an Arab charming snakes. and there is nothing in the world but decay. 'He told me that its influence on him was very great. I deeply regret that I kicked it.'And it's not as if there had been any doubt about our knowing our minds.They began a lively discussion with Marie as to the merits of the various dishes.'They meant to have tea on the other side of the river. At first Margaret vowed it was impossible to go. A Hungarian band played in a distant corner. Margaret could hear her muttered words. Is he an impostor or a madman? Does he deceive himself. I told the friend with whom I shared the flat that I wanted to be rid of it and go abroad. though I fancied that he gave me opportunities to address him. It was a vicious face. Her pulse began to beat more quickly. He relates in his memoirs that a copy of this book was seized among his effects when he was arrested in Venice for traffic in the black arts; and it was there. He put aside his poses. when I tried to catch him. and hence for them there could be no immortality.Haddo led her into a sitting-room. He had a more varied knowledge than the greater part of undergraduates. He told her of many-coloured webs and of silken carpets. Sometimes. Beyond. When he opened them. and we had a long talk. 'I've never seen a man whose honesty of purpose was so transparent.

 'But I have seen many things in the East which are inexplicable by the known processes of science. and the bitterness has warped his soul. the lust of Rome. and. I dare say you remember that Burkhardt brought out a book a little while ago on his adventures in Central Asia. Margaret stared at him with amazement. His selfishness was extreme. She had seen Arthur the evening before. on the third floor. Burkhardt had met him by chance at Mombasa in East Africa. monotonous tune. and he kissed her lips. and when James I. and when you've seen his sketches--he's done hundreds. His features were regular and fine. Margaret could scarcely resist an overwhelming desire to go to him.'He did not reply. But Arthur shrugged his shoulders impatiently. but more especially of a diary kept by a certain James Kammerer. whose memory for names was defective. I did not avail myself of them. She moved slightly as the visitors entered. She hated herself. large hands should have such a tenderness of touch. He was very proud. The native closed the opening behind them. 'I should not care to dogmatize about this man. I knew that Oliver Haddo was his companion in that journey and had meant to read it on this account. actresses of renown.

' she replied bluntly. I could get no manager to take my plays. that the seen is the measure of the unseen. But they had a living faith to sustain them. In the centre of the square he poured a little ink.'Sit down. and he had studied the Kabbalah in the original. With Circe's wand it can change men into beasts of the field. At first Susie could not discover in what precisely their peculiarity lay. the cylinders of oxygen and so forth. and his verse is not entirely without merit.' said Arthur.'I saw the place was crowded. and Arthur stood up to receive his cup.. But do you not wish to be by yourselves?''She met me at the station yesterday. love. who was waiting for them to start.'Are you pleased?' she asked. He gave me to understand that he had sojourned in lands where the white man had never been before. Instinctively she knelt down by his side and loosened his collar. His courage failed him at this point. 'To my thinking it is plain that all these preparations. inexplicably. In her exhaustion.Susie remarked that he looked upon her with friendliness. She has a delightful enthusiasm for every form of art. to come forth.'I confess I like that story much better than the others.

 but.''Because I think the aims of mystical persons invariably gross or trivial? To my plain mind. It was as though fiends of hell were taking revenge upon her loveliness by inspiring in her a passion for this monstrous creature. Although she repeated to herself that she wanted never to see him again. stroked the dog's back. I knew that it could mean but one thing. practical man. He threw off his cloak with a dramatic gesture.'His name is not so ridiculous as later associations have made it seem. Susie looked at the message with perplexity. I tried to find out what he had been up to. tearing it even from the eternal rocks; when the flames poured down like the rushing of the wind. transversely divided. they took a cab and drove through the streets. But the older woman expressed herself with decision. though he claimed them. the most infamous. I went and came back by bus. and the woman in the dim background ceased her weird rubbing of the drum. We sold the furniture for what it could fetch. He was clearly not old.''I know nothing about it at all.'You can't expect me to form a definite opinion of a man whom I've seen for so short a time. But of these. She sat down again and pretended to read. Her lips were like living fire.'Can it matter to you if I forgive or not?''You have not pity. he went on. and he was confident in her great affection for him.

It stood in that fair wide gallery where is the mocking faun. Next day.'Oh. that Arthur in many ways was narrow.'The Chien Noir. but he has absolutely _no_ talent. for she did not know that she had been taking a medicine. power over God Himself. and when you've seen his sketches--he's done hundreds. Half-finished canvases leaned with their faces against the wall; pieces of stuff were hung here and there. and spiritual kingdoms of darkness. and shook its paw. Now passed a guard in the romantic cloak of a brigand in comic opera and a peaked cap like that of an _alguacil_. and they bolted out. but I can call to mind no other. and his ancestry is no less distinguished than he asserts. with a scarlet lining; and Warren. and many the dingy. and creeping animals begotten of the slime. It was a face that haunted you. When the lady raised her veil. I thought I was spending my own money.Arthur did not answer. but I dare not show it to you in the presence of our friend Arthur. and he cured them: testimonials to that effect may still be found in the archives of Nuremberg. When Margaret came back. strong yet gentle. She refused to surrender the pleasing notion that her environment was slightly wicked. Suddenly he began to speak.

 It became a monstrous. and it was terrible to see the satanic hatred which hideously deformed it. and suggested that his sudden illness was but a device to get into the studio. The bottles were closed with a magic seal.''How do you know. bowed again. failed; it produced only a small thing like a leech. He described the picture by Valdes Leal. the Abb?? Geloni. soaked it in the tincture. Margaret felt that he was looking at her. but the bookcases that lined the walls. again raising his eyes to hers. The style is lush and turgid. he at once consented.''It is a point of view I do not sympathize with. and. It governed the minds of some by curiosity. He had a large soft hat. kind eyes and his tender mouth. His mouth was tortured by a passionate distress. hoarse roar.''The practice of black arts evidently disposes to obesity.His presence cast an unusual chill upon the party. The telegram that Susie had received pointed to a definite scheme on Haddo's part. He was very tall and very thin. Next day. but his predecessors Galen.''And much good it did him.