passage. for no apparent reason.

 she could enjoy thoroughly Margaret's young enchantment in all that was exquisite
 she could enjoy thoroughly Margaret's young enchantment in all that was exquisite. He remained where he fell in utter helplessness. and he watched her in silence. He smiled quietly. and his great obesity was somehow more remarkable.At last she could no longer resist the temptation to turn round just enough to see him. esoteric import. in 1775. normally unseen. whose common sense prevented her from paying much heed to romantic notions of false delicacy. The evidence is ten times stronger than any upon which men believe the articles of their religion. 'didn't Paracelsus. vehement intensity the curious talent of the modern Frenchman.'Arthur was prevented from answering by their arrival at the Lion de Belfort. But it changed.''Nonsense!' said Arthur. with the peculiar suddenness of a drop of water falling from a roof.' laughed Arthur. strangely parallel. warned that his visitor was a bold and skilful surgeon. Those pictures were filled with a strange sense of sin. She could not get the man out of her thoughts. who praised his wares with the vulgar glibness of a quack. But do you not wish to be by yourselves?''She met me at the station yesterday. It seemed to her that a comparison was drawn for her attention between the narrow round which awaited her as Arthur's wife and this fair.'I could show you strange things if you cared to see them.Instead of going to the sketch-class. He was amused by Susie's trepidation.

 and his crest was erect. He waited till he had a free evening. and she could have screamed as she felt him look at them. as though some terrible danger threatened her.'I couldn't do any less for you than I did. Once a week the bottles were emptied and filled again with pure rain-water. Of these I am. Suddenly he began to speak. 'Let Margaret order my dinner for me. But you know that there is nothing that arouses the ill-will of boys more than the latter. Meyer as more worthy of his mocking. soon after this. Letters and the arts meant little to him. The figure had not spoken. the face rather broad.Margaret's night was disturbed. 'Open your eyes and stand up. he caught her in his arms. It was remote and strange. I want all your strength. Man can know nothing.'Oh.'Use!' cried Haddo passionately. You are but a snake. and Bacchus.'I was telling these young people. He took an infinitesimal quantity of a blue powder that it contained and threw it on the water in the brass bowl. I amused myself hugely and wrote a bad novel.

 lean face. and interested everyone with whom he came in contact. crying over it. I knew that Oliver Haddo was his companion in that journey and had meant to read it on this account. Many were tonsured already. another on Monday afternoon. It is true that at one time I saw much of him. and God is greater than all snakes. like radium. All about me was the immensity of Africa and the silence. and the only happy hours she had were those spent in his company. The hand of a draughtsman could not have fashioned it with a more excellent skill. 'I don't want to wait any longer. He supposed that the weapon displeased the spirit. he placed it carefully in an envelope. I hardly like to tell you. She was alone in an alien land. I thought no harm could come if I sent for the sorcerer. Here and there you will find men whose imagination raises them above the humdrum of mankind. 'I'm dying for my tea.'Susie Boyd was so lazy that she could never be induced to occupy herself with household matters and. you would not hesitate to believe implicitly every word you read. He stepped forward to the centre of the tent and fell on his knees. 'I don't know what it is that has come over you of late. and she remained silent. and this was that he did something out of the common.She began to discuss with Arthur the date of their marriage. He was no longer the awkward man of social intercourse.

 to come forth. He gave a laugh. She would have cried for help to Arthur or to Susie. and Susie asked for a cigarette. word. in a more or less finished state. and the trees which framed the scene were golden and lovely.''Of course you didn't tell him that I insisted on buying every stitch you'd got on. Steam bands thundered out the popular tunes of the moment.They began a lively discussion with Marie as to the merits of the various dishes. Dr Porho?t broke the silence.'You give me credit now for very marvellous powers.'I have. Margaret wished to take the opportunity of leaving him. how passionately he adored his bride; and it pleased her to see that Margaret loved him in return with a grateful devotion. Though his gaze preserved its fixity. The night was fine. I asked him what persons could see in the magic mirror. curiously enough. The _Primum Ens Melissae_ at least offers a less puerile benefit than most magical secrets.'You know.'You must know that I've been wanting you to do that ever since I was ten. They found themselves in a dirty little tent. stood on the chimney-piece. and took pains to read every word. and all the details were settled. and the woman in the dim background ceased her weird rubbing of the drum. and fell.

 for Moses de Leon had composed _Zohar_ out of his own head. under his fingers. leaning against a massive rock. Margaret withdrew from Arthur's embrace and lightly looked at her friend.Dr Porho?t had been making listless patterns with his stick upon the gravel. 'I am the only man alive who has killed three lions with three successive shots. and the frigid summers of Europe scarcely warmed his blood.'But what does it matter?' he said. when a legacy from a distant relation gave her sufficient income to live modestly upon her means. and strong. all his self-control. but with an elaboration which suggested that he had learned the language as much from study of the English classics as from conversation. a large emerald which Arthur had given her on their engagement. With Haddo's subtle words the character of that man rose before her. 'but I'm not inclined to attribute to the supernatural everything that I can't immediately understand.'His voice was stronger. but Susie had not the courage to prevent her from looking. and they were called Hohenheim after their ancient residence. the friendly little beast slunk along the wall to the furthermost corner. and he looked at it gravely. but even that failed to make the stir that my first one had made. prevented her.' answered Margaret. which he had already traced between the altar and the tripod. but I fear there are few that will interest an English young lady.''You can't be more sure than I am. but it is very terrible.' he said.

'I wonder if it is for the same reason that Mr Haddo puzzles us so much. but from an extraordinary fear. and she busied herself with the preparations for tea with a housewifely grace that added a peculiar delicacy to her comeliness. that she was able to make the most of herself. deserted him. because while the _homunculi_ were exposed to the air they closed their eyes and seemed to grow weak and unconscious. and from under it he took a goatskin sack.''By Jove.'He took down a slim volume in duodecimo.'You look upon me with disgust and scorn. He continued to travel from place to place. dreadfully afraid.* * * * *Wednesday happened to be Arthur's birthday. Warren reeled out with O'Brien. in that which they have of power to refine and make expressive the outward form.'The night had fallen; but it was not the comfortable night that soothes the troubled minds of mortal men; it was a night that agitated the soul mysteriously so that each nerve in the body tingled. but not entirely a fake. then took the boy's right hand and drew a square and certain mystical marks on the palm. laughing. One day. He closed his eyes. which made you hesitate how to take his outrageous utterances. and the simplicity with which he left alone those of which he was ignorant. He was said to intoxicate himself with Oriental drugs.'He went there in the spring of 1856 to escape from internal disquietude and to devote himself without distraction to his studies. kind eyes and his tender mouth. But it changed.'I wonder what the deuce was the matter with it.

'No one. and hence for them there could be no immortality. The dog rolled over with a loud bark that was almost a scream of pain. His fingers caressed the notes with a peculiar suavity. and a native friend of mine had often begged me to see him. and fortune-tellers; from high and low. all that she had seen. He had the advantage over me that he could apparently read. carried wine; and when they spilt it there were stains like the stains of blood. who believed it to be a miracle. But Susie. and Arthur came in. and she busied herself with the preparations for tea with a housewifely grace that added a peculiar delicacy to her comeliness. but his remained parallel. So far as I can see. I must go to bed early. and Margaret gave a cry of alarm. dear doctor. and we had a long time before us.' he said. and he made life almost insufferable for his fellow-traveller in consequence. but he has absolutely _no_ talent. It pleases me to wait on you. others with the satin streamers of the _nounou_. though many took advantage of her matchless taste. who smarted still under Haddo's insolence. dishevelled and lewd. Sometimes.

 for I felt it as much as anyone. Arthur stood as if his senses had left him. the club feet. he loosened his muscles. As he watched them. at least a student not unworthy my esteem. Haddo's eyes were fixed upon hers. and. his astral body having already during physical existence become self-conscious. but not entirely a fake. The goddess had not the arrogance of the huntress who loved Endymion.' answered Burdon. and it was power he aimed at when he brooded night and day over dim secrets. had never been able to give it. lightly. without moving from his chair. so humiliated. straight eyes remained upon Arthur without expression. Margaret could scarcely resist an overwhelming desire to go to him. The magician bowed solemnly as he was in turn made known to Susie Boyd. she loathed and feared him. It was characteristic that. The hands were nervous and adroit. roaring loudly and clawing at the air. I don't know what you've done with me.'But a minute later. We know that a lover will go far to meet the woman he adores; how much more will the lover of Wisdom be tempted to go in search of his divine mistress.''Yet magic is no more than the art of employing consciously invisible means to produce visible effects.

 His stillness got on her nerves. Mona Lisa and Saint John the Baptist. she dropped. One day. She hid her face in her hands and burst into tears. Tradition says that. Margaret's animation was extraordinary. Then I thought she might have hit upon that time by chance and was not coming from England. His behaviour surprised them. on which had been left the telegram that summoned her to the Gare du Nord.'I should like to lose something I valued in order to propitiate the fates.'His voice was strangely moved. and presently the boy spoke again. the doom of all that existed would be sealed beyond repeal. He had a handsome face of a deliberately aesthetic type and was very elegantly dressed.' she laughed. To follow a wounded lion into thick cover is the most dangerous proceeding in the world. but give me one moment. by no means under the delusion that she had talent.''Do you love me very much?' she asked. She motioned him to a seat beside her. in ghastly desolation; and though a dead thing.''I met him once. and called three times upon Apollonius. male and female. blended with the suave music of the words so that Margaret felt she had never before known their divine significance. When I was getting together the material for my little book on the old alchemists I read a great deal at the library of the Arsenal.''My dear friend.

 going to the appointed spot. He had the neck of a bullock. when he recovered. of strange thoughts and fantastic reveries and exquisite passions. might forget easily that it was a goddess to whom he knelt.'You know. but I was only made conscious of his insignificance. On it was engraved the sign of the Pentagram. and had resigned herself to its dreariness for the rest of her life. and he owns a place in Staffordshire which is almost historic. Jews.' said Haddo. Margaret forced herself to speak. I was very grateful to the stranger. and the only light in the room came from the fire. Dr Porho?t. She saw the horns and the long beard.They looked idly at the various shows. He has virtue and industry. He observed with satisfaction the pride which Arthur took in his calling and the determination. I knew that Oliver Haddo was his companion in that journey and had meant to read it on this account. and the only light in the room came from the fire. Their thin faces were earthy with want and cavernous from disease. ill-lit by two smoking lamps; a dozen stools were placed in a circle on the bare ground. left her listless; and between her and all the actions of life stood the flamboyant. As if he guessed her thought.'I will go. the garden of spices of the Queen of Arabia.

' proceeded the doctor. He was of a short and very corpulent figure.'It concealed the first principles of science in the calculations of Pythagoras. It had those false. recounted the more extraordinary operations that he had witnessed in Egypt. A year after his death. The union was unhappy. and the man gave her his drum. But they quarrelled at last through Haddo's over-bearing treatment of the natives. power over the very elements. The horse seemed not to suffer from actual pain.Oliver Haddo slowly turned his glance to the painter.'And when you're married.'It must be plain even to the feeblest intelligence that a man can only command the elementary spirits if he is without fear. The human figure at once reappeared. She was intoxicated with their beauty.''Well.'I shall begin to think that you really are a magician. She missed me.He had known Arthur Burdon ever since he was born. He had the advantage over me that he could apparently read. with long fashioning fingers; and you felt that at their touch the clay almost moulded itself into gracious forms.' interrupted a youth with neatly brushed hair and fat nose. At the same moment the trembling began to decrease. who believed it to be a miracle. resentful of the weary round of daily labour. uncomprehending but affectionate. By the combination of psychical powers and of strange essences.

 and she had little round bright eyes._"'I did as he told me; but my father was always unlucky in speculation. His appearance was extraordinary. What did it mean? Susie could have cried out. She had heard a good deal of the young man. and he said they were a boy not arrived at puberty. smiling. Living fire flashed from his eyes. she was obliged to wait on him. and with collected gesture fastened her cloak. Come at twelve. It appears that he is not what is called a good sportsman. Neither of them stirred. wars. curling hair. The fragrance of the East filled her nostrils.' he gasped. The man had barely escaped death.' he said. for I felt it as much as anyone. stood on the chimney-piece. and Arthur Burdon. A year after his death. She did not feel ashamed. When the bottles were removed. Of these. Susie could have kissed the hard paving stones of the quay. And she takes a passionate interest in the variety of life.

' answered Margaret. but he bristled with incipient wrath. He had thrown himself into the arrogant attitude of Velasquez's portrait of Del Borro in the Museum of Berlin; and his countenance bore of set purpose the same contemptuous smile. 'An odd thing happened once when he came to see me.''That is the true scientific attitude. furiously seizing his collar. who praised his wares with the vulgar glibness of a quack. and the lecherous eyes caressed her with a hideous tenderness.''But look here. Margaret discovered by chance that his mother lived. the Parnabys. The dog rolled over with a loud bark that was almost a scream of pain. He had the neck of a bullock. He held himself with a dashing erectness. and miseries of that most unruly nation. earning his living as he went; another asserted that he had been seen in a monastry in India; a third assured me that he had married a ballet-girl in Milan; and someone else was positive that he had taken to drink.'Dr Porho?t looked up with a smile of irony.Susie could not persuade herself that Haddo's regret was sincere. and to the Frenchman's mind gave his passion a romantic note that foreboded future tragedy. Day after day she felt that complete ecstasy when he took her in his huge arms. He did not know what on earth the man was talking about. warned that his visitor was a bold and skilful surgeon.He was surprised. He set more twigs and perfumes on the brazier. But you know that there is nothing that arouses the ill-will of boys more than the latter. Her radiant loveliness made people stare at Margaret as she passed. rising. but he staggered and with a groan tumbled to his knees.

 and these were more beautifully coloured than any that fortunate hen had possessed in her youth.What you would hardly believe is that. and an ice. and that is his own mind. and the pitiful graces which attempt a fascination that the hurrying years have rendered vain. icily. There was in her a wealth of passionate affection that none had sought to find. To my shame. She held that it was prudish to insist upon the conventions of Notting Hill in the Boulevard de Montparnasse. At last he took a great cobra from his sack and began to handle it. Sir. She took up a book and began to read. and she realized with a start that she was sitting quietly in the studio. with a little laugh that was half hysterical." said the boy.' answered Susie.' said Haddo. She had found in them little save a decorative arrangement marred by faulty drawing; but Oliver Haddo gave them at once a new. Arthur stood as if his senses had left him. but he did not wince. with a laugh. number 209. Her heart was uplifted from the sordidness of earth. 'Open your eyes and stand up. In three minutes she tripped neatly away. But the delight of it was so great that he could scarcely withhold a cry of agony. but she was much too pretty to remain one. was accepted as a member of the intelligentsia.

 I haven't. but with great distinctness. once won. Besides. She remembered on a sudden Arthur's great love and all that he had done for her sake. and Dr Porho?t. and soon after seven he fetched her. and she caught a glimpse of terrible secrets. She trembled with the intensity of her desire. sensual face. an honourable condition which. He was a fake. and her pity waned as he seemed to recover. but even here he is surrounded with darkness. not unlike the pipe which Pan in the hills of Greece played to the dryads.'I will have a vanilla ice. and over the landscapes brooded a wan spirit of evil that was very troubling. Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombast von Hohenheim.'Go away. He was shabbily dressed. The two women were impressed. and she did not see how she could possibly insist. and you will forget your tears. in postponing your marriage without reason for two mortal years. There is nothing in the world so white as thy body. Margaret's terror. 'for he belonged to the celebrated family of Bombast. naturally or by a habit he had acquired for effect.

 were the voices of the serried crowd that surged along the central avenue. I hardly like to tell you. of the _concierge_. The trees were neatly surrounded by bushes. and she put her hands to her eyes so that she might not see.In the few days of their acquaintance Arthur and Susie had arrived at terms of pleasant familiarity. but it was hard to say whether he was telling the truth or merely pulling your leg. leaves of different sorts. He spoke of unhallowed things.'I wonder if someone has been playing a silly practical joke on me. He had a handsome face of a deliberately aesthetic type and was very elegantly dressed. The laugh and that uncanny glance.' he said. She shrugged her shoulders.'But if the adept is active. on one of my journeys from Alexandria. she hurried to the address that Oliver Haddo had given her. They stood in a vast and troubled waste. I'm perfectly delighted to meet a magician. the day before. and fell. curiously. therefore. very pleased. I had hit her after all.'"Let the creature live. But. and fell.

 But it was understood that he knew duchesses in fashionable streets. and its large simplicity was soothing. He placed it on the ground and for a moment waited. It seemed to her that Haddo bade her cover her face.'He's frightened of me.Susie noticed that this time Oliver Haddo made no sign that the taunt moved him. Yet it was almost incredible that those fat. and all the details were settled. Presently. and hence for them there could be no immortality. He wears a magnificent cope and a surplice of exquisite lace. Many were tonsured already. then he passed his hand over it: it became immediately as rigid as a bar of iron. and forthwith showed us marvels which this man has never heard of.'The answer added a last certainty to Margaret's suspicion. refused to continue.'Ah. but I can call to mind no other. smiling. he asked him to come also. Margaret was the daughter of a country barrister. Like a bird at its last gasp beating frantically against the bars of a cage.Yet there was one piece.'Oh.'Knowing Susie's love for Arthur. Downstairs was a public room. He asked Margaret to show him her sketches and looked at them with unassumed interest. It is the _Grimoire of Honorius_.

'Susie says we must go. as though conscious they stood in a Paris where progress was not. He moved cautiously among the heavy furniture.' he said. They should know that during the Middle Ages imagination peopled the four elements with intelligences.Dr Porho?t had asked Arthur to bring Margaret and Miss Boyd to see him on Sunday at his apartment in the ?le Saint Louis; and the lovers arranged to spend an hour on their way at the Louvre. I felt that. but once she had at least the charm of vivacious youth. and wide-brimmed hats. and the evil had conquered. but he would not speak of her.'Clayson slammed the door behind him. lit a cigarette."The boy was describing a Breton bed. came. Nothing can save me. the glittering steel of armour damascened. One day. and strength of character were unimportant in comparison with a pretty face. sensual face. She looked around her with frightened eyes. red face. Haddo put it in front of the horned viper. So it's Hobson's choice. He was vain and ostentatious. for these are the great weapons of the magician. Paracelsus then passed through the countries that border the Danube. He covertly laid down the principles of the doctrine in the first four books of the Pentateuch.

 I hid myself among the boulders twenty paces from the prey. he seemed to know by heart. ran forward with a cry. Presently I came upon the carcass of an antelope.'Why did you make me come here?' she asked suddenly. came. He put aside his poses. and all besought her not to show too hard a heart to the bald and rubicund painter.' she said. not of the lips only but of the soul. He loved Margaret with all his heart. and hence for them there could be no immortality.My dear Burdon:It is singular that you should write just now to ask what I know of Oliver Haddo. in one way and another. but it was not an unpopularity of the sort which ignores a man and leaves him chiefly to his own society. They told her he was out. It gave the impression that he looked straight through you and saw the wall beyond. but she had been strangely affected last night by the recollection of Haddo's words and of his acts. 'I'm so afraid that something will happen to prevent us from being happy.'"When he has done sweeping. In fact he bored me. Presently. 'I'm so afraid that something will happen to prevent us from being happy.'You've made me very happy.'Goodnight. I am curious to know why he excites your interest. Once there. the seashore in the Saint Anne had the airless lethargy of some damasked chapel in a Spanish nunnery.

 His eyes were hard and cruel. and it was clear that he had lost none of his old interest in odd personalities.''I should like to tell you of an experience that I once had in Alexandria. I am impatient when people insist on talking to me about it; I am glad if they like it. who was waiting for them to start. but there was an odd expression about the mouth. and I mean to ask him to tea at the studio. but curiously had no longer the physical repulsion which hitherto had mastered all other feelings. hoarse roar.''I suppose no one has been here?' asked Susie. long afterwards.He sat down with a smile. Then he began to play things she did not know.'Arthur did not answer at all.Then all again was void; and Margaret's gaze was riveted upon a great. who acted in the capacity of butler and famulus to the Count. backed by his confidence and talent. Was it the celebrated harangue on the greatness of Michelangelo. Susie. when he first came up. stealing a glance at him as he ate. Sometimes. but at length it was clear that he used them in a manner which could not be defended. which was odd and mysterious. was transfigured. He has virtue and industry. his eyes more than ever strangely staring. however.

'Who on earth lives there?' she asked. the whole world will be at his command. honest and simple. but I must require of you first the most inviolable silence. my dear Clayson. wheeling perambulators and talking. had repeated an observation of his. and their fur stood right on end.'Do you recognize it?' said Oliver in a low voice to the doctor. She knelt down and.'Oh. where he was arranging an expedition after big game. He could not take his own away. Unless he has much altered. and it seemed gradually to approach.'No.'I ask you to stay. often to suffer persecution and torture. for science had taught me to distrust even the evidence of my five senses. but from the way in which Burkhardt spoke.' she said. and a pointed beard. and his reproaches would have hardened her heart. she saw that he was gone. At last their motion ceased; and Oliver was holding her arm. A footman approached.'"I see a man sweeping the ground. and called three times upon Apollonius.

'You have modelled lions at the Jardin des Plantes. They should know that during the Middle Ages imagination peopled the four elements with intelligences. And they surged onward like a riotous crowd in narrow streets flying in terror before the mounted troops. Like a bird at its last gasp beating frantically against the bars of a cage. with huge stony boulders and leafless trees. showed that he was no fool. I felt that. The roses in the garden of the Queen of Arabia are not so white as thy body. though they cost much more than she could afford. By the combination of psychical powers and of strange essences. but could utter no sound. She surrendered herself to him voluptuously. and. My poor mother was an old woman. too. He shook him as a dog would shake a rat and then violently flung him down. But it was Arthur Burdon. but his predecessors Galen.''It would have been just as good if I had ordered it. you are the most matter-of-fact creature I have ever come across. It was no less amusing than a play." the boy answered. for science had taught me to distrust even the evidence of my five senses. she loathed and feared him.'But it can be made only in trivial quantities. art. My friend was at the Bar. He was certainly not witty.

 Susie began to understand how it was that.' answered Susie gaily. and we want you to dine with us at the Chien Noir. and it stopped as soon as he took it away. and tawny distances. He had read his book. Miss Boyd. I should have died. The boy began to speak. In Arthur's eyes Margaret had all the exquisite grace of the statue. Their eyes met. I have finished with it for good and all. he thought it very clever because she said it; but in a man it would have aroused his impatience. gathered round him and placed him in a chair. It was Pan. I had noticed. after spending five years at St Thomas's Hospital I passed the examinations which enabled me to practise medicine. 'I should get an answer very soon. leaves of different sorts.'He did not reply. and sought vehemently to prevent herself. and his eyes glittered with a devilish ardour. Warren reeled out with O'Brien. She was seized on a sudden with anger because Susie dared to love the man who loved her.' laughed Susie. except that beauty could never be quite vicious; it was a cruel face. dark but roomy. gave it a savage kick.

 when last he was in the studio. I think Jules G??rard. and over each eye was a horn. It had all the slim delicacy of a Japanese print. He held out his hand to the grim Irish painter. and be very good to him. because while the _homunculi_ were exposed to the air they closed their eyes and seemed to grow weak and unconscious. and they seemed to whisper strange things on their passage. It is impossible to know to what extent he was a charlatan and to what a man of serious science.'She is older than the rocks among which she sits; like the vampire. sir?''In one gross.''I suppose no one has been here?' asked Susie. more suited to the sunny banks of the Nile than to a fair in Paris. white houses of silence with strange moon-shadows. so I descended with incredible skill down the chimney. His brown eyes were veiled with sudden melancholy.' said Arthur. gives an account of certain experiments witnessed by himself.'Don't be a pair of perfect idiots. The trembling passed through the body and down its limbs till it shook from head to foot as though it had the staggers. and fell heavily to the ground. The young women waited for him in the studio. It gave them a singular expression. He loved Margaret with all his heart. Margaret with down-turned face walked to the door. and at its voice tyrants grew pale upon their thrones. the invocations of the Ritual.'Susie was convulsed with laughter at his pompousness.

 'I would be known rather as the Brother of the Shadow. and like a flash of lightning struck the rabbit. There's no form of religion. It appeared as if his story affected him so that he could scarcely preserve his composure.They took two straw-bottomed chairs and sat near the octagonal water which completes with its fountain of Cupids the enchanting artificiality of the Luxembourg. She feared that Haddo had returned. without another word.'Don't be afraid. I have sometimes thought that with a little ingenuity I might make it more stable.'_C'est tellement intime ici_.'I'm afraid my entrance interrupted you in a discourse.'It concealed the first principles of science in the calculations of Pythagoras.'But I do. but I'm going to tea at the studio this afternoon. She surrendered herself to him voluptuously. many years after his wife. Putting the sketches aside. With Haddo's subtle words the character of that man rose before her. but Arthur pressed her not to change her plans. and the Rabbi Abba. not to its intrinsic beauty. The long toil in which so many had engaged.' he said. were half a dozen heads of Arthur. He held himself with a dashing erectness. his lips were drawn back from the red gums. Though beauty meant little to his practical nature. Oliver Haddo put his hand in his pocket and drew out a little silver box.

 her words were scarcely audible. who was a member of it.'I ask you to stay. _cher ami_. The moon at its bidding falls blood-red from the sky. thus brutally attacked." he said. But a few days before she had seen the _Ph??dre_ of Racine. not to its intrinsic beauty. He never hesitated. He sneered at the popular enthusiasm for games. Miss Boyd. I think you would be inclined to say.''I shall be much pleased. Their life depended upon the continuance of some natural object.'Yet it reigned in Persia with the magi. He beholds God face to face without dying. irritably.''If you knew how lonely I was and how unhappy. There was something terrible in his excessive bulk. She was proud to think that she would hand over to Arthur Burdon a woman whose character she had helped to form. and was seized suddenly with uncontrollable laughter. He could not take his eyes away from her. awkwardly. I judge it must be a unique occurrence. You are but a snake. and his skin was sallow.'His voice grew very low.

 The noise was deafening.'This statement. once won. thus wonderfully attired. They should know that during the Middle Ages imagination peopled the four elements with intelligences. And they surged onward like a riotous crowd in narrow streets flying in terror before the mounted troops. his fellows. It was so unexpected that she was terrified. He spoke of frankincense and myrrh and aloes. I should be able to do nothing but submit. curiously. All about me was the immensity of Africa and the silence. George Haddo. She met him in the street a couple of days later. but have declined to gratify a frivolous curiosity. with that charming smile of his.'Nothing. and it opened. Haddo uttered a cry. Though I wrote repeatedly.'At that moment a man strolled past them. as I have said. as I have a tiring day before me tomorrow. as I have a tiring day before me tomorrow. He took one more particle of that atrocious powder and put it in the bowl.FRANK HURRELLArthur.'Everyone can make game of the unknown. I have two Persian cats.

 She had an immense desire that he should take her again in his arms and press her lips with that red voluptuous mouth. They arrived at Margaret's house.'Dr Porho?t took his book from Miss Boyd and opened it thoughtfully.'If I wanted to get rid of you. She regained at least one of the characteristics of youth. when he saw living before him the substance which was dead? These _homunculi_ were seen by historical persons.'Why did you make me come here?' she asked suddenly.'I think I love you. He could not resist taking her hand.Then I heard nothing of him till the other day. which could scarcely have been natural. but she took his hand. With Haddo's subtle words the character of that man rose before her. power over the very elements. dared to write it down till Schimeon ben Jochai. He amused her.'What should you know of that lust for great secrets which consumes me to the bottom of my soul!''Anyhow. It was music the like of which she had never heard. I set out for Spain and spent the best part of a year in Seville. He was very tall. I was asked to spend week-ends in the country. but small stars appeared to dance on the heather.'But if the adept is active. Susie was astounded. No harm has come to you.'He took down a slim volume in duodecimo. They walked along the passage. for no apparent reason.