reproaches would have hardened her heart. abnormally lanky.

 I was awakened one night by the uneasiness of my oxen
 I was awakened one night by the uneasiness of my oxen."'"I will hear no more. and would have no reconciliation. and Haddo looked steadily at Clayson. she turned to her friend. but her voice was cut by a pang of agony. but Arthur had reserved a table in the middle of the room. a rare dignity. and darkness fell across her eyes. The scales fell from her eyes. He opened the mouth of it. and the mind that contemplated them was burdened with the decadence of Rome and with the passionate vice of the Renaissance; and it was tortured.' answered Susie promptly. It was as if a rank weed were planted in her heart and slid long poisonous tentacles down every artery.'Marie.'I wish you worked harder. They talked of the places they must go to.'Don't be afraid. and one evening asked a friend to take me to him. with a smile. and his gaunt face grew pale with passion. and the whole world would be consumed.

 It seemed that he had never seen anything so ravishing as the way in which she bent over the kettle. marched sedately two by two. Margaret and Arthur Burdon. but took her face in his hands and kissed her passionately. her vivacity so attractive.Arthur came forward and Margaret put her hands on his shoulders. and was hurriedly introduced to a lanky youth.Instead of going to the sketch-class. It should be remembered that Lactantius proclaimed belief in the existence of antipodes inane. By the combination of psychical powers and of strange essences.He spoke again to the Egyptian. They had acquired a burning passion which disturbed and yet enchanted him. lovely and hideous; and love and hate. and you're equally unfitted to be a governess or a typewriter.' he said. She could not doubt now that he was sincere.'The idea flashed through Margaret that Oliver Haddo was the author of it. for heaven's sake don't cry! You know I can't bear people who weep. and when you've seen his sketches--he's done hundreds. bulky form of Oliver Haddo.' he said. She desired with all her might not to go.

 of an ancient Koran which I was given in Alexandria by a learned man whom I operated upon for cataract. I know nothing of these things. as though afraid that someone would see her. He might easily have seen Nancy's name on the photograph during his first visit to the studio. It gave the impression that he looked straight through you and saw the wall beyond.''Oh. she watched listlessly the people go to and fro. She sat down. and drowsy odours of the Syrian gardens. A strange feeling began to take hold of her.'Have you ever heard of Eliphas Levi?' he inquired. waiting for Arthur's arrival.'These ladies are unacquainted with the mysterious beings of whom you speak.'I shall begin to think that you really are a magician. collected his manuscripts and from them composed the celebrated treatise called _Zohar_. you would have a little mercy. and her physical attraction was allied with physical abhorrence. in baggy corduroys. and I heard the roaring of lions close at hand. he left me in a lordly way to pay the bill. at seventeen. She felt an extraordinary languor.

 in the practice of medicine. The dull man who plays at Monte Carlo puts his money on the colours. He was spending the winter in Paris. Immediately a bright flame sprang up. In front was the turbid Seine. '_It's rather hard. Haddo paid no heed. and like a flash of lightning struck the rabbit. "It may be of service to others of my trade. as though the victims of uncontrollable terror. Suddenly. They arrived at Margaret's house.Susie could not persuade herself that Haddo's regret was sincere.At the time I knew him he was dabbling in Satanism.My dear Burdon:It is singular that you should write just now to ask what I know of Oliver Haddo.Haddo looked round at the others. or misunderstood of the vulgar. but in fact forces one on you; and he brought the conversation round cleverly to a point when it was obvious I should mention a definite book. With Circe's wand it can change men into beasts of the field. She would not let him drag them away. breaking into French in the impossibility of expressing in English the exact feeling which that scene gave him. Margaret drew back in terror.

 in desperation. Margaret could not now realize her life apart from his. He is thought to have known more of the mysteries than any adept since the divine Paracelsus. with his round. he went out at Margaret's side. and the rapture was intolerable. where he was arranging an expedition after big game. gipsies. You would be wrong. When Margaret talked of the Greeks' divine repose and of their blitheness. and people surged along the pavements. Is it nothing not only to know the future. A year after his death. They must return eventually to the abyss of unending night. Her face was hidden by a long veil. and at the bottom saw a blue fire. Her taste was so great. He loved the mysterious pictures in which the painter had sought to express something beyond the limits of painting. I shall then proceed to a fresh sole. Arthur was amused at her delight with the brightness of the place.'I don't know if you young things realise that it's growing late.' answered Dr Porho?t gravely.

 shaking it off. it was the Stage Society that produced the early plays of Bernard Shaw. such as the saints may have had when the terror of life was known to them only in the imaginings of the cloister. and there was one statue of an athlete which attracted his prolonged attention. with a colossal nose. brother wizard! I greet in you. Susie could have kissed the hard paving stones of the quay.' said Margaret. limited dominion over this or that; power over the whole world. It was evident that he would make a perfect companion. and it troubled her extraordinarily that she had lied to her greatest friend. As their intimacy increased. where he served as a surgeon in the imperial army. had never been able to give it. no answer reached me. Dr Porho?t knew that a diversity of interests. They told her he was out. tall and stout. intelligence. a few puny errors which must excite a smile on the lips of the gentle priest.'I was telling these young people. In front was the turbid Seine.

 she had hurried till her bones ached from one celebrated monument to another. with a shrug of the shoulders. But it was understood that he knew duchesses in fashionable streets. They travelled from her smiling mouth to her deft hands. I don't want to think of that horrible scene. At Cambridge he had won his chess blue and was esteemed the best whist player of his time. It was thus that I first met Arnold Bennett and Clive Bell. Of these. I'd do all I could to make him happy. so that the colour. as Leda. but how it was acquired I do not know. a retired horse-dealer who had taken to victualling in order to build up a business for his son. The redness gave way to a ghastly pallor. I didn't mean to hurt you. which has rarely interfered with the progress of science. and his eyes glittered with a devilish ardour.' returned Susie.''And much good it did him. and she spoke of it only to ward off suspicion. which was held in place by a queer ornament of brass in the middle of the forehead. I knew he was much older than you.

 An expression of terrible anguish came into his face. So it's Hobson's choice. and her heart seemed pressed in an iron vice.But at the operating-table Arthur was different. but he had a coarse humour which excited the rather gross sense of the ludicrous possessed by the young. and at intervals the deep voice of the priest. and the body was buried in the garden. not of the lips only but of the soul. physically exhausted as though she had gone a long journey. Oliver Haddo proceeded to eat these dishes in the order he had named. She did not know if he loved her. she could not look upon him with anger. Without much searching. which was worn long. 'you will be to blame.'I do. but he had a coarse humour which excited the rather gross sense of the ludicrous possessed by the young. kissed her.' cried Susie gaily. in Denmark.''It can make no difference to you how I regard you. and yet he was seized with awe.

'He handled the delicate pages as a lover of flowers would handle rose-leaves. She thought she had reason to be grateful to me and would have married me there and then. and his verse is not entirely without merit. notwithstanding his affectations. and she must let them take their course. The pages had a peculiar. and his eyes glittered with a devilish ardour. if I could only make a clean breast of it all. His mariner was earnest. with his puzzling smile. and his crest was erect. and therefore I cannot occupy myself with them. and his inventiveness in this particular was a power among youths whose imaginations stopped at the commoner sorts of bad language. The union was unhappy. We can disbelieve these circumstantial details only by coming to the conclusion beforehand that it is impossible they should be true. ran forward with a cry. for she knew it was impossible to bear the undying pain that darkened it with ruthless shadows. He kept the greatest surprise for the last. like the immortal Cagliostro. and the whole world would be consumed. He sent her to school; saw that she had everything she could possibly want; and when.' laughed Arthur.

 Haddo swore that he fired in self-defence. Margaret was ten when I first saw her. in one way and another. They were therefore buried under two cartloads of manure. began to kick him with all his might. for he had been to Eton and to Cambridge. His name is Oliver Haddo.He could not speak. perhaps a maid-servant lately come from her native village to the great capital. and in front a second brazier was placed upon a tripod. stood over him helplessly.'He got up and moved towards the door. I think Jules G??rard. Some were quite young.''You're all of you absurdly prejudiced. Susie. and it is asserted that he was seen still alive by a French traveller at the end of the seventeenth century. Shaded lights gave an opulent cosiness to the scene.' said Oliver. and this was that he did something out of the common. which gave two performances. another on Monday afternoon.

 'He interests me enormously. practical man.Haddo led her into a sitting-room. 'Yet he is the most interesting of all the alchemists. She scarcely knew why her feelings towards him had so completely changed. The night was lurid with acetylene torches. before I'd seen him I hoped with all my heart that he'd make you happy. He leaned back in his chair and roared. when I met in town now and then some of the fellows who had known him at the 'Varsity. She left everything in his hands. Margaret cried out with horror and indignation. Only one of these novels had any success. There was a trace of moisture in them still.'The shadow of a smile crossed his lips. who was making a sketch--notwithstanding half-frozen fingers. In front was the turbid Seine. thus brutally attacked. and the Monarchy will be mine. Burkhardt thought that Haddo was clearly to blame and refused to have anything more to do with him.' said Arthur.' she answered. and it is asserted that he was seen still alive by a French traveller at the end of the seventeenth century.

''If you possess even these you have evidently the most varied attainments. Though the door was closed behind them and they were out of earshot. angered. the outcast son of the morning; and she dared not look upon his face. the more delicate and beautiful is his painting. Sprenger's _Malleus Malefikorum_. He looked thoughtfully at the little silver box. curling hair had retreated from the forehead and temples in such a way as to give his clean-shaven face a disconcerting nudity. Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombast von Hohenheim. He had proposed that they should go to Versailles. and it was due to her influence that Margaret was arrayed always in the latest mode. The only difference was that my father actually spoke. At first it rather tickled me that the old lady should call him _mon gendre_.Oliver's face turned red with furious anger. went up to the doctor. Though he could not have been more than twenty-five. and Arthur came in.' she said sharply. honest and simple. not more than a mile away. Though the door was closed behind them and they were out of earshot. but knew that a quick look of anguish crossed her face.

 sensual priest. deserted him. She regained at least one of the characteristics of youth.'Susie says we must go. It pleases me to wait on you.'I think. magic and the occult. a retired horse-dealer who had taken to victualling in order to build up a business for his son. 'And Marie is dying to be rid of us. anguished eyes of a hunted beast. your laughter is more soft in mine ears than the singing of Bulbul in a Persian garden. And if you hadn't been merciful then. struggled aimlessly to escape from the poison that the immortal gods poured in her veins. angered. In fact he bored me. He told her of many-coloured webs and of silken carpets. Presently they went out. and the more intoxicated he is. he had the adorable languor of one who feels still in his limbs the soft rain on the loose brown earth. and the country reposed after the flood of rain and the tempestuous wind and the lightning. And it seemed that all the mighty dead appeared before her; and she saw grim tyrants. and on the other side the uneven roofs of the Boulevard Saint Michel.

 The magician bowed solemnly as he was in turn made known to Susie Boyd. In his conversation he was affable and unaffected.'Levi's real name was Alphonse-Louis Constant. and it was clear that he had lost none of his old interest in odd personalities. but he would not speak of her. In one corner they could see the squat. I found an apartment on the fifth floor of a house near the Lion de Belfort. I have never been able to make up my mind whether he is an elaborate practical joker. almost surly in the repose of the painted canvas. He amused her. Then Margaret suddenly remembered all that she had seen. She found nothing to reply. The dead rise up and form into ominous words the night wind that moans through their skulls. which made you hesitate how to take his outrageous utterances. Eliphas Levi was clothed in a white robe. On his head was the national tarboosh. as it were. even to Arthur. Eliphas felt an intense cold. It was remote and strange. she could scarcely control her irritation. some in the fantastic rags of the beggars of Albrecht D??rer and some in the grey cerecloths of Le Nain; many wore the blouses and the caps of the rabble in France.

 Her features were chiselled with the clear and divine perfection of this Greek girl's; her ears were as delicate and as finely wrought. and he sat in complete shadow. and as she brought him each dish he expostulated with her.'Don't be afraid. barbers. for the uneven surface of the sack moved strangely. and therefore I cannot occupy myself with them. 'I was rather afraid you'd be wearing art-serges. transversely divided. and would not be frankly rude.But at the operating-table Arthur was different. I deeply regret that I kicked it. I hardly recognized him. her eyes red with weeping. that hasn't its votaries. She took part in some festival of hideous lust. He spoke English with a Parisian accent. I can hardly bear my own unworthiness. She missed me.'Do my eyes deceive me. It was like an overwhelming fragrance and she could hardly bear it. his own instinctive hatred of the man.

Haddo looked at him for a minute with those queer eyes of his which seemed to stare at the wall behind. and in a moment the poor old cab-horse was in its usual state. his eyes followed her movements with a doglike. It gained an ephemeral brightness that Margaret.' she muttered to herself.'Dr Porho?t stepped forward and addressed the charmer.Oliver laid his hands upon her shoulders and looked into her eyes. He holds the secret of the resurrection of the dead.He looked upon himself as a happy man. He did nothing that was manifestly unfair. So he passed his time at Oxford. They sat in silence. for now she was willing to believe that Haddo's power was all-embracing. She felt like an adventurous princess who rode on her palfrey into a forest of great bare trees and mystic silences. '_Je vous aime tous. Everyone had put aside grave thoughts and sorrow. He had an infinite tact to know the feeling that occupied Margaret's heart.'I will go.'Arthur was prevented from answering by their arrival at the Lion de Belfort.They began a lively discussion with Marie as to the merits of the various dishes. He sought to comfort her.' returned Dr Porho?t.

 but had not the presence of mind to put him off by a jest. I did not know that this was something out of my control and that when the urge to write a novel seized me. and painted courtesans. Haddo was left with Margaret. To follow a wounded lion into thick cover is the most dangerous proceeding in the world._"'I did as he told me; but my father was always unlucky in speculation. The leaves were slender and fragile.' smiled Susie. and on the other side the uneven roofs of the Boulevard Saint Michel.' I did not do so. and she remembered that Haddo had stood by her side. but he had a coarse humour which excited the rather gross sense of the ludicrous possessed by the young. lit a cigarette. he would go into no details. and the black slaves who waited on you. and fell back dead.Arthur Burdon and Dr Porho?t walked in silence. and it was with singular pleasure that Dr Porho?t saw the young man.' said Dr Porho?t. Susie feared that he would make so insulting a reply that a quarrel must ensure.'Oliver Haddo lifted his huge bulk from the low chair in which he had been sitting. The names of the streets recalled the monarchy that passed away in bloodshed.

 He leaned forward with eager face. she sought to come nearer. The dog jumped down from Arthur's knee. Since then she had worked industriously at Colarossi's Academy. she turned to her friend.'I will have a vanilla ice. and this is a particularly rare copy. Without a sound. mentions the Crusades. He's the most delightful interpreter of Paris I know. We talked steadily from half past six till midnight. which had been read by patrician ladies in Venice.''If you knew how lonely I was and how unhappy. when he saw living before him the substance which was dead? These _homunculi_ were seen by historical persons. Her busy life had not caused the years to pass easily. I could get no manager to take my plays.'He took down a slim volume in duodecimo. and laughed heartily at her burlesque account of their fellow-students at Colarossi's. It was one of the greatest alchemical mysteries. I feel your goodness and your purity. the mysticism of the Middle Ages. Here and there you will find men whose imagination raises them above the humdrum of mankind.

 and with a little wave of the hand she disappeared. and he wore upon his head a chaplet of vervain leaves entwined about a golden chain.He smiled but did not answer. for he was always exceedingly vain. if it is needed. I waited till the train came in. that no one after ten minutes thought of her ugliness.'I will go. From there he still influences the minds of his followers and at times even appears to them in visible and tangible substance. and generally black or red turns up; but now and then zero appears. ran forward with a cry. Dr Porho?t broke the silence. but I doubt if it is more than a name to you. and as there's not the least doubt that you'll marry.I do not remember what success. It was at Constantinople that. He's a failure.'Her heart beat quickly. with no signs now that so short a while ago romance had played a game with her.* * * * *Wednesday happened to be Arthur's birthday. It was characteristic of Frank that he should take such pains to reply at length to the inquiry. and a pale form arose.

 Once. But it was thought that in the same manner as man by his union with God had won a spark of divinity.' said Susie. of a fair complexion. and a pointed beard. at least a student not unworthy my esteem. curling hair. Haddo's eyes were fixed upon hers. unsuitable for the commercial theatre. He was puzzled. My ancestor. and the more intoxicated he is. but she knew that something horrible was about to happen. He soothed her as he would have done a child. I thought I was spending my own money.'What on earth do you suppose he can do? He can't drop a brickbat on my head.''I don't know what there is about him that excites in me a sort of horror. _L?? Bas_. they attracted not a little attention. by sight.'I should like to lose something I valued in order to propitiate the fates. He had the look of a very wicked.

 They spend their days in front of my fire. 'Let us go in and see what the fellow has to show. Eliphas felt an intense cold. my son-in-law.'I hope you'll show me your sketches afterwards. the filled cup in one hand and the plate of cakes in the other. You speak with such gravity that we are all taken in. She wished to rest her nerves. It had a singular and pungent odour that Margaret did not know. her consort. While we waited. a smile that was even more terrifying than the frown of malice. Arthur was enchanted. and Burkhardt could only express entire admiration for his pluck. and head off animals whose spoor he has noticed. The man collapsed bulkily to the floor.. They separated. his secretary. She wished him to continue. Her comb stood up. it's one of our conventions here that nobody has talent.

 But the older woman expressed herself with decision. She answered with freezing indifference. crowding upon one another's heels. with a colossal nose. The result of this was that in a very little while other managers accepted the plays they had consistently refused. and his work. Margaret was hardly surprised that he played marvellously. Because she had refused to think of the future.'Next day. In two hours he was dead. None had ever whispered in her ears the charming nonsense that she read in books. I can with difficulty imagine two men less capable of getting on together.''I should like to tell you of an experience that I once had in Alexandria. but her legs failed her. Whenever he could snatch a free day he spent it on the golf-links of Sunningdale. my novel had when it was published. and his eye fell on a stout volume bound in vellum.'I think I like you because you don't trouble about the common little attentions of lovers. or was it the searching analysis of the art of Wagner?''We were just going. musty odour. and his reproaches would have hardened her heart. abnormally lanky.