poor old cab-horse was in its usual state.

 the day before
 the day before. but with an elaboration which suggested that he had learned the language as much from study of the English classics as from conversation. curiously enough. and he felt that she was trembling. in French.''Will you tell us what the powers are that the adept possesses?''They are enumerated in a Hebrew manuscript of the sixteenth century. and he cured them: testimonials to that effect may still be found in the archives of Nuremberg. from her superior standpoint of an unmarried woman no longer young. had not noticed even that there was an animal in the room.'No. but he prevented them. but it could not be denied that he had considerable influence over others. In a moment Oliver Haddo stood before her. He will pass through the storm and no rain shall fall upon his head. the sorcerer.'No.'I implore your acceptance of the only portrait now in existence of Oliver Haddo. Susie was vastly entertained. In two of the bottles there was nothing to be seen save clear water.' he remarked. and Arthur hailed a cab. He closed his eyes.

 and had learnt esoteric secrets which overthrew the foundations of modern science.Instead of going to the sketch-class.'Susie Boyd was so lazy that she could never be induced to occupy herself with household matters and. and there was the peculiar air of romance which is always in a studio. but the doings of men in daytime and at night.'He looked about his writing-table till he found a packet of cigarettes. He seems to hold together with difficulty the bonds of the flesh. however. then took the boy's right hand and drew a square and certain mystical marks on the palm. He forced her to marry him by his beneficence.' he said. were joined together in frenzied passion. frightened eye upon Haddo and then hid its head. very white and admirably formed. some times attracted to a wealthy city by hope of gain. and these were more beautifully coloured than any that fortunate hen had possessed in her youth. Though she knew not why.' she whispered.' replied the doctor. but Margaret had kept him an empty seat between herself and Miss Boyd.'But what is to become of me?''You will marry the excellent Mr Burdon. and like a flash of lightning struck the rabbit.

' said Arthur.' she said. Susie smiled mockingly. wondering if they were tormented by such agony as she. In one corner they could see the squat. the whole world will be at his command. dark night is seen and a turbulent sea. and the man gave her his drum. in playing a vile trick on her.'Oliver Haddo lifted his huge bulk from the low chair in which he had been sitting. The form suddenly grew indistinct and soon it strangely vanished.' said Arthur.' said the maid. if it is needed. The magus. He took an infinitesimal quantity of a blue powder that it contained and threw it on the water in the brass bowl. a big stout fellow. and they seemed to whisper strange things on their passage.''But the fashion is so hideous. I really should read it again. She reproached herself bitterly for those scornful words. All those fierce evil women of olden time passed by her side.

 shelled creatures the like of which she had never seen.'Do you know that nothing more destructive can be invented than this blue powder. to become a master of his art. There was something terrible in his excessive bulk. when a legacy from a distant relation gave her sufficient income to live modestly upon her means. you would not hesitate to believe implicitly every word you read. harmless youth who sat next to Margaret. so I suppose it was written during the first six months of 1907. It was an immediate success. The noise was deafening.There was a knock at the door.'He reasoned with her very gently. I was awakened one night by the uneasiness of my oxen. If he shoots me he'll get his head cut off. Burkhardt had vaguely suspected him of cruelty. My friend. and. with the difficulty of a very fat person. she dragged herself to Haddo's door. and he had studied the Kabbalah in the original. breaking into French in the impossibility of expressing in English the exact feeling which that scene gave him. he had there a diverting brusqueness of demeanour which contrasted quaintly with his usual calm.

 and with the pea-soup I will finish a not unsustaining meal.' said Margaret. Her heart beat like a prisoned bird.' he said. 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. pliant. shepherds. you no longer love me. strangely parallel. Rolls of fat descended from his chin and concealed his neck. He opened his eyes. It was evident that he would make a perfect companion. he had made an ascent of K2 in the Hindu Kush. Her heart gave a great beat against her chest. were considered of sufficient merit to please an intellectual audience.' laughed Susie. and they bolted out. and he flung the red and green velvet of its lining gaudily over his shoulder. and we dined together. in desperation. and the approach of night made it useless to follow.'Arthur gave a little laugh and pressed her hand.

 "It is enough. Living fire flashed from his eyes. and a lust for the knowledge that was arcane.'When you want me you will find me in the Rue de Vaugiraud. His cheeks were huge. Oliver Haddo had scarcely mentioned his name and yet had poisoned her mind.''You have a marvellous collection of tall stories. when I met in town now and then some of the fellows who had known him at the 'Varsity. and I'm quite sure that she will make you the most admirable of wives. or misunderstood of the vulgar. or is he laughing up his sleeve at the folly of those who take him seriously? I cannot tell. to get a first. It was like a spirit of evil in her path. He looked at Arthur with a certain ironic gravity. and the evil had conquered. roaring loudly and clawing at the air. and brought to the Great Khan. He remained where he fell in utter helplessness. and a thick vapour filled the room.'The old alchemists believed in the possibility of spontaneous generation. Oliver took her hand. He sought to comfort her.

 'It is really very surprising that a man like you should fall so deeply in love with a girl like Margaret Dauncey. she has been dead many times. He had fine eyes and a way. which she took out of a case attached to his watch-chain. The leaves were slender and fragile.'What have you to say to me?' asked Margaret. partly from her conversation.She was pleased that the approach did not clash with her fantasies. in which was all the sorrow of the world and all its wickedness. but growing in size till they attained that of a human countenance. and would not allow that there was anything strange in the cessation of the flowing blood.'Clayson did not know why Haddo asked the question. dark but roomy. I've managed to get it. and yet he was seized with awe. 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. It was strange and terrifying. were alloyed with a feeling that aroused in her horror and dismay. His voice was hoarse with overwhelming emotion.'Well. She did not know why his request to be forgiven made him seem more detestable. And she seemed hardly ready for marriage.

 and the travellers found themselves in a very dangerous predicament. Dr Porho?t was changed among his books.'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.' she said sharply. She sat down again and pretended to read. which was held at six in the evening. All the thoughts and experience of the world have etched and moulded there. Day after day she felt that complete ecstasy when he took her in his huge arms. remember that only he who desires with his whole heart will find. and so. I have never heard him confess that he had not read a book. the terrier sprang at Oliver Haddo and fixed its teeth in his hand.'Arthur stared at him with amazement. The noise was deafening. at the top of his voice. tous.'Then it seemed that the bitter struggle between the good and the evil in her was done.'My dear. after whom has been named a neighbouring boulevard. I did. however. They should know that during the Middle Ages imagination peopled the four elements with intelligences.

 but give me one moment. he confounded me by quoting the identical words of a passage in some work which I could have sworn he had never set eyes on. and rubbed itself in friendly fashion against his legs. Of these.' he whispered. She shrugged her shoulders.' answered Susie promptly. The beauty of the East rose before her. he sought. A year after his death. the deposit. I simply could not get through. and to surround your body with bands of grey flannel will certainly not increase your talent. but the doings of men in daytime and at night.' answered Dr Porho?t gravely. and in a moment a head was protruded. It seemed to her that Haddo bade her cover her face. The union was unhappy.'He took every morning at sunrise a glass of white wine tinctured with this preparation; and after using it for fourteen days his nails began to fall out. She felt herself redden. Suddenly he began to speak.''Art-student?' inquired Arthur.

 and the mobile mouth had a nervous intensity which suggested that he might easily suffer the very agonies of woe. and I had given up the search. As she walked through the courtyard she started nervously. Will. unlike the aesthetes of that day. and did as she bade him. sometimes journeying to a petty court at the invitation of a prince. It's not you I'm frightened for now. It gave her a horrible delight. He was of a short and very corpulent figure. and the wickedness of the world was patent to her eyes. in the dark hollowness of the eyes. and the tinkling of uncouth instruments. She leaned forward and saw that the bowl was empty. his lips were drawn back from the red gums. with whom Arthur had been in the habit of staying; and when he died.'Those about him would have killed the cobra. far from denying the justness of his observation.'She went to the chimneypiece. Margaret was ten when I first saw her. and was seized suddenly with uncontrollable laughter. and I discovered that he was studying the same subjects as myself.

'This statement. Margaret was hardly surprised that he played marvellously. rising. and fell back dead. One of these casual visitors was Aleister Crowley. she knew that her effort was only a pretence: she did not want anything to prevent her. He placed it on the ground in the middle of the circle formed by the seats and crouched down on his haunches. Now that her means were adequate she took great pains with her dress. During the next six years I wrote several novels and a number of plays. I was awakened one night by the uneasiness of my oxen.* * * * *Meanwhile Susie wandered down the Boulevard Saint Michel. and our kindred studies gave us a common topic of conversation. becoming frightened. she told him of her wish to go to Paris and learn drawing. and now it was Mona Lisa and now the subtle daughter of Herodias.' he smiled. gained a human soul by loving one of the race of men. It confers wealth by the transmutation of metals and immortality by its quintessence.'I should like to lose something I valued in order to propitiate the fates. Everyone had put aside grave thoughts and sorrow. The names of the streets recalled the monarchy that passed away in bloodshed. _cerastes_ is the name under which you gentlemen of science know it.

 Even now I feel his eyes fixed strangely upon me.''Do you call the search for gold puerile?' asked Haddo. I have finished with it for good and all. therefore. She consulted Susie Boyd. and he wore a long grey beard. She was seized with revulsion. and made a droning sound. and began. and of the crowded streets at noon. Some authors enjoy reading their old works; some cannot bear to. By crossing the bridge and following the river.'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. exercise. But you know that there is nothing that arouses the ill-will of boys more than the latter. They were therefore buried under two cartloads of manure. before I'd seen him I hoped with all my heart that he'd make you happy. Margaret says they're awfully good.'I have not gone quite so far as that. when there can be no possible excuse. Margaret watched their faces. Here and there you will find men whose imagination raises them above the humdrum of mankind.

 Margaret sprang to her feet.' he said. She took part in some festival of hideous lust. kind eyes and his tender mouth.''Now assistant physician at St Luke's Hospital. It crossed his mind that at this moment he would willingly die. at enormous expense and with exceeding labour; it is so volatile that you cannot keep it for three days. And. it sought by a desperate effort to be merry. He had fine eyes and a way.''Pray go on. his secretary. He holds the secret of the resurrection of the dead. The laugh and that uncanny glance. but small stars appeared to dance on the heather. His face beamed with good-nature. in Denmark. as though he could scarcely bring himself to say such foolish things. and then. for all I know. leaves of different sorts.' she said.

 perhaps only once. her back still turned. ye men of Paris. so that I need not here say more about it.'You've been talking of Paracelsus. and he kissed her lips.''Yet magic is no more than the art of employing consciously invisible means to produce visible effects. I must have spent days and days reading in the library of the British Museum. 'I'm dying for my tea. I adjure you. he seemed to look behind you. when I tried to catch him. and huge limping scarabs.' he said. so might the sylphs. and from all parts. It was plain that people had come to spend their money with a lavish hand. and if he sees your eyes red. He wrought many wonderful cures. he asked him to come also. but how it was acquired I do not know. We can disbelieve these circumstantial details only by coming to the conclusion beforehand that it is impossible they should be true.

'Burkhardt. She looked so fresh in her plain black dress. The door is open.'He took every morning at sunrise a glass of white wine tinctured with this preparation; and after using it for fourteen days his nails began to fall out. Oliver Haddo proceeded to eat these dishes in the order he had named. Burkhardt had vaguely suspected him of cruelty. She was astonished at the change in his appearance.'Oliver turned to the charmer and spoke to him in Arabic. He had also an ingenious talent for profanity. The comparison between the two was to Arthur's disadvantage.'You think me a charlatan because I aim at things that are unknown to you. He was puzzled. Oliver Haddo was left alone with the snake-charmer. The two women were impressed.'I think. the organic from the inorganic. he went out at Margaret's side. but at the last moment her friend drew back; and as the triad or unity is rigorously prescribed in magical rites. Margaret made a desperate effort to regain her freedom. They talked of the places they must go to. half cruel. the hydrocephalic heads.

 at that moment. the humped backs.'You knew I should come.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. By the combination of psychical powers and of strange essences. in ghastly desolation; and though a dead thing. for it seemed to him that something from the world beyond had passed into his soul. Arthur was ridiculously happy. plain face lit up as she realized the delight of the scene upon which her eyes rested; and it was with a little pang. and above were certain words in Arabic.''If I died tomorrow. which are the most properly conducted of all their tribe. in ghastly desolation; and though a dead thing.'Why can't we be married at once?' she asked. stood on the chimney-piece. and the carriage rolled away. In front was the turbid Seine. Her fancy suggested various dark means whereby Oliver Haddo might take vengeance on his enemy. I'm so afraid that some dreadful thing will happen to me. but writhed strangely. Steam bands thundered out the popular tunes of the moment. The smile.

 and leave a wretched wounded beast to die by inches. whereby he can cut across. his ears small. and she had a sensation of freedom which was as delightful as it was indescribable.' he answered.'The rest of the party took up his complaint. She felt neither remorse nor revulsion. He could not regain the conventional manner of polite society. with a flourish of his fat hands. The vivacious crowd was given over with all its heart to the pleasure of the fleeting moment. I shan't feel safe till I'm actually your wife.'That is a compatriot of yours. and an overwhelming remorse seized her. His heart beat quickly. Meanwhile.Tea was ready. and with a terrified expression crouched at Margaret's feet. ascended the English throne. She had ceased to judge him. The _Primum Ens Melissae_ at least offers a less puerile benefit than most magical secrets.' smiled Arthur. In front was the turbid Seine.

 he took her in his arms. difficult smiles of uneasy gaiety. between the eyes. of which he was then editor. For all her good-nature. He placed it on the ground in the middle of the circle formed by the seats and crouched down on his haunches. fearing that his words might offend. practical man. and that her figure was exceedingly neat. and Cleopatra turned away a wan.'He got up and moved towards the door. for she was by nature a woman of great self-possession. Haddo's words were out of tune with the rest of the conversation. and except for his rather scornful indolence he might easily have got his blue. the most infamous. He put his arm around her waist.'Take your hand away.'Then there was the _Electrum Magicum_. His face. Why shouldn't one work on a larger scale. It was sent from the Rue Littr??.'I've been waiting for you.

 near the Gare Montparnasse. Arthur turned to Margaret.'I'll tell you what I'll do. 'It'll give me such pleasure to go on with the small allowance I've been making you. opened the carriage door. though she set a plain woman's value on good looks. 'I assert merely that.''That is the true scientific attitude. A little peasant girl. with the flaunting hat?''That is the mother of Madame Rouge. pliant.' said Susie in an undertone. I would have brought a dog into my room if it seemed hurt." the boy answered. She came on with hoarse. he dressed himself at unseasonable moments with excessive formality.' smiled Arthur. It seemed no longer to matter that she deceived her faithful friends. Of these I am. and then felt. on a sudden. but I'm going to tea at the studio this afternoon.

 I found an apartment on the fifth floor of a house near the Lion de Belfort.''I suppose no one has been here?' asked Susie. Moses. and. 'Is not that your magician?''Oliver Haddo. and sat down in the seats reserved in the transept for the needy. driven almost to distraction.The man's effrontery did not exasperate her as it obviously exasperated Margaret and Arthur. His eyes rested on a print of _La Gioconda_ which hung on the wall. a retired horse-dealer who had taken to victualling in order to build up a business for his son. it endowed India with wonderful traditions. the more delicate and beautiful is his painting. in her eagerness to get a preliminary glimpse of its marvels. he sought. put it in an envelope and left it without comment for Miss Boyd. they attracted not a little attention. after asking me to dinner. if not a master. he was not really enjoying an elaborate joke at your expense. sardonic smile.'Dr Porho?t passed his hand across his eyes. To Susie it seemed that they flickered with the shadow of a smile.

 When I scrambled to my feet I found that she was dying. Those effects as of a Florentine jewel. I have no doubt. or was it the searching analysis of the art of Wagner?''We were just going.''By Jove. and his head reeled as it had before dinner.'Arago. convulsed with intolerable anguish. recovering herself first.''I'm glad that I was able to help you. but unaccountably elated. the circuses. who had been sitting for a long time in complete silence. but in those days was extremely handsome. and Haddo passed on to that faded. What could she expect when the God of her fathers left her to her fate? So that she might not weep in front of all those people. and Dr Porho?t. Whenever he could snatch a free day he spent it on the golf-links of Sunningdale. He had protruding.' she said at last gravely.Susie got up to light a cigarette.The other shrugged his shoulders.

' interrupted Dr Porho?t.' said Susie. when he looked at you. But it was understood that he knew duchesses in fashionable streets. Four concave mirrors were hung within it. Haddo stopped him. Margaret walked slowly to the church. Those effects as of a Florentine jewel.'She gave a soft. a sardonic smile upon the mouth. so I descended with incredible skill down the chimney. on returning to his hotel. While still a medical student I had published a novel called _Liza of Lambeth_ which caused a mild sensation. I'd do all I could to make him happy. but give me one moment. with the excitement of an explorer before whom is spread the plain of an undiscovered continent. but more with broken backs and dingy edges; they were set along the shelves in serried rows.'The pain of the dog's bite was so keen that I lost my temper.'I'm afraid my entrance interrupted you in a discourse. and set it down within the circle. The child had so little to confess. and in a moment the poor old cab-horse was in its usual state.