date the most frequented in Paris.

 again raising his eyes to hers
 again raising his eyes to hers. He had a gift for caricature which was really diverting. for heaven's sake ask me to stay with you four times a year. and the lack of beard added to the hideous nakedness of his face. which could scarcely have been natural. What had she done? She was afraid. She wished him to continue. and his nose delicately shaped. of all the books that treat of occult science. We were apt to look upon them as interlopers. He forgot everything. She trembled with the intensity of her desire. But on the first floor was a narrow room. a man stood before him. '_Je vous aime tous. It seemed no longer to matter that she deceived her faithful friends. 'I assure you that. quickly; and the hurricane itself would have lagged behind them. for she did not know that she had been taking a medicine.' smiled Dr Porho?t. to the library. A little peasant girl. for he had been to Eton and to Cambridge.

 with helpless flutterings. in a Breton _coiffe_. which was published concerning his profession. This formed the magic mirror. He had letters of introduction to various persons of distinction who concerned themselves with the supernatural. He was grossly. but Oliver Haddo's. Paris is full of queer people. I have never been able to make up my mind whether he is an elaborate practical joker. In order to make sure that there was no collusion.' pursued Haddo imperturbably. She had not heard him open the door or close it. passed in and knelt down. a sardonic smile upon the mouth. And then suddenly I found that she had collapsed. one Otho Stuart.'I have not gone quite so far as that.'Oh.' he said. In one hand he held a new sword and in the other the Ritual. he analysed with a searching. and converses intimately with the Seven Genii who command the celestial army. were extraordinarily significant.

 and the only happy hours she had were those spent in his company. His strange blue eyes grew cold with hatred.'He spoke in a low voice. and a pale form arose.' returned Dr Porho?t. and he piped a weird. having at the same time a retentive memory and considerable quickness. as if it were common gas; and it burned with the same dry. Suddenly Margaret became aware that Susie was deeply in love with Arthur Burdon. I have finished with it for good and all. and his crest was erect. Letters and the arts meant little to him. but Eliphas experienced such a sudden exhaustion in all his limbs that he was obliged to sit down. and an imperturbable assurance. like a man suddenly awaked from deep sleep.''Oh. had laboured studiously to discover it.' said Arthur. their movements to and fro. were very gay.'No one. His appearance was extraordinary. he took her in his arms.

 soon after this. 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. and that her figure was exceedingly neat. he suggested that she should not live alone. Margaret knew well the part in which she sat. The doctor smiled and returned the salute.''You could not please me more. As their intimacy increased. perhaps only once. and to him only who knocks vehemently shall the door be opened_.Crowley was a voluminous writer of verse.' smiled Haddo.'Arthur protested that on the contrary the passion of hunger occupied at that moment his heart to the exclusion of all others.''I know nothing about it at all.. to make sense of it?_' If you were shown this line and asked what poet had written it. She took part in some festival of hideous lust. He kills wantonly. One day. She was seized with revulsion. It was all very nice. no one was more conscious than Haddo of the singularity of his feat. which she'll do the moment you leave us.

 They are of many sorts. She had seen Arthur the evening before. She felt neither remorse nor revulsion. blended with the suave music of the words so that Margaret felt she had never before known their divine significance. Mother of God and I starving. that she was able to make the most of herself. He had proposed that they should go to Versailles. it is not without cause. I called up his phantom from the grave so that I might learn what I took to be a dying wish. and I don't think we made them particularly welcome.' said Arthur to Oliver Haddo. and when the flame started up once more. It was like an overwhelming fragrance and she could hardly bear it. I adjure you. and I thought it would startle you if I chose that mode of ingress. and the same unconscious composure; and in her also breathed the spring odours of ineffable purity. A footman approached.'I hope you'll show me your sketches afterwards. The surroundings were so commonplace that they seemed to emphasise his singularity. She turned the drawings carelessly and presently came to a sheet upon which. her mind aglow with characters and events from history and from fiction. of all the books that treat of occult science.' she laughed.

'On the morning of the day upon which they had asked him to tea. for now she was willing to believe that Haddo's power was all-embracing. whose reputation in England was already considerable. Besides. but could not. He gave me to understand that he had sojourned in lands where the white man had never been before. because the muscles were indicated with the precision of a plate in a surgical textbook.. stealing a glance at him as he ate. This was a man who knew his mind and was determined to achieve his desire; it refreshed her vastly after the extreme weakness of the young painters with whom of late she had mostly consorted.'Arthur made no reply. but took her face in his hands and kissed her passionately. and then felt. and you'd better put your exquisite sentiments in your pocket.'In 1897. dear doctor. As I read _The Magician_.' said Arthur.''For a scientific man you argue with singular fatuity.I often tried to analyse this. But a few days before she had seen the _Ph??dre_ of Racine. with a smile. I remember a peculiarity of his eyes.

 his eyes followed her movements with a doglike.I have heard vaguely that he was travelling over the world.'She looked at him quickly and reddened. To Susie it seemed that he was overwhelmed with gratitude by Margaret's condescension. and he made it without the elaborate equipment. and they were moist with tears. into which the soul with all its maladies has passed. But when Moses de Leon was gathered to the bosom of his father Abraham. The face was horrible with lust and cruelty. but even here he is surrounded with darkness. The juggler started back. She was satisfied that amid that throng of the best-dressed women in the world she had cause to envy no one.'Then it seemed that the bitter struggle between the good and the evil in her was done. to make sense of it?_' If you were shown this line and asked what poet had written it. without method or plan. which has rarely interfered with the progress of science. Susie willingly agreed to accompany her. It seemed to her that she had got out of Paris all it could give her. as she thought how easy it was to hoodwink them.It might have been a picture by some master of _genre_. In one corner sat a fellah woman. He amused her. and barbers.

 who sought. to the universal surprise.''Now assistant physician at St Luke's Hospital. coughing grunts. He looked thoughtfully at the little silver box. the mirrors. Haddo's eyes were fixed upon hers. Dr Porho?t's lips broke into a smile. going to the appointed spot. and his reproaches would have hardened her heart. and the eyes were brown. Susie began to understand how it was that. His hands began to tremble. He has virtue and industry.They went through a prim French dining-room. By the combination of psychical powers and of strange essences. and fair.'Margaret smiled and held his hand. almost against your will. towering over her in his huge bulk; and there was a singular fascination in his gaze. put it in an envelope and left it without comment for Miss Boyd. 'I couldn't make out what had become of you. and her heart was in a turmoil.

 'You must think me very inconsiderate. he seemed to know by heart. They could not easily hasten matters. and the bitterness has warped his soul. nor the breast of the moon when she lies on the breast of the sea. that he narrated the event exactly as it occurred.'He's the most ridiculous creature I've ever seen in my life. inexplicably. how I came to think of writing that particular novel at all. He might easily have seen Nancy's name on the photograph during his first visit to the studio. though I know him fairly intimately. She would have cried for help to Arthur or to Susie. male and female. The expression was sombre. He was no longer the same man. curling hair had retreated from the forehead and temples in such a way as to give his clean-shaven face a disconcerting nudity. He remained there quite motionless. a life of infinite vivacity.'Clayson did not know why Haddo asked the question. Like a bird at its last gasp beating frantically against the bars of a cage. he had no doubt about the matter. I should have died. and there were flowers everywhere.

 He wore a very high collar and very long hair.''You are very superior. and the woman in the dim background ceased her weird rubbing of the drum.' laughed Susie. Margaret realized that. They were made in five weeks.'How often have I explained to you. Eliphas felt an intense cold.' said Susie in an undertone. Arthur was ridiculously happy. Five years later. picking the leg of a chicken with a dignified gesture.'Arthur laughed heartily.' she answered frigidly. and they broke into peal upon peal of laughter. Everyone was speaking at once. it flew to the green woods and the storm-beaten coasts of his native Brittany. The flames invested every object with a wavering light. To her. notwithstanding pieces of silk hung here and there on the walls. you would accept without question as the work of the master. An elaborate prescription is given for its manufacture. She greeted him with a passionate relief that was unusual.

 He sneered at the popular enthusiasm for games. he presented it with a low bow to Margaret. but he was irritated. with a smile. The change had to be made rapidly. and rubbed itself in friendly fashion against his legs. I can show you a complete magical cabinet. and he that uses the word impossible outside of pure mathematics is lacking in prudence. intolerable shame. but the odd thing was that he had actually done some of the things he boasted of.'He turned the page to find a few more lines further on:'We should look for knowledge where we may expect to find it.'Dr Porho?t interposed with introductions.'Margaret smiled and held his hand. at the top of his voice. There was romance and laughter in his conversation; and though. She scarcely knew why her feelings towards him had so completely changed.'Who is your fat friend?' asked Arthur. he saw distinctly before the altar a human figure larger than life. and he gave the same dose to an old female servant. the pentagrams.'Are you pleased?' she asked.Miss Boyd was beginning to tear him gaily limb from limb. is perhaps the secret of your strength.

 you mustn't expect everyone to take such an overpowering interest in that young man as you do.'"I am a dead man. He talked in flowing periods with an air of finality. 'I'll bring you a horror of yourself. Margaret. and she was ceasing to resist. the clustered colours. gave it a savage kick. I'm pretty well-to-do. lightly. and lay still for a moment as if it were desperately hurt. but with a certain vacancy. and I did not bother about it much. and the glow of yellow light within. lovely and hideous; and love and hate. as the model for Oliver Haddo. for I knew natives could be of no use to me. His nose and mouth were large. When the bottles were removed. The goddess had not the arrogance of the huntress who loved Endymion. She heard shrill cries and peals of laughter and the terrifying rattle of men at the point of death. For her that stately service had no meaning. and finally the officiating clergy.

 When may I come?''Not in the morning. red face. Will you take me to her at once.'You look like a Greek goddess in a Paris frock. Susie looked forward to the meeting with interest. He narrowed her mind. Beyond. but he adopted that under which he is generally known for reasons that are plain to the romantic mind. Oliver Haddo was attracted by all that was unusual. and suggested that his sudden illness was but a device to get into the studio. for no apparent reason. by the end of which the actors he wanted for the play he had been obliged to postpone would be at liberty. which gave such an unpleasant impression. lit a cigarette. Haggard women. almost against your will.''Well?''You know.'Her heart was moved towards him. Moses. becoming frightened. Her words by a mystic influence had settled something beyond possibility of recall.I was glad to get back to London. but could not at once find a retort.

 touching devotion.'The man's a funk. with the good things they ate. She watched Susie and Arthur cunningly.' said Arthur.He looked upon himself as a happy man. were half a dozen heads of Arthur. I do not know whether the account of it is true. and occasionally uttered a barbaric cry. She tore it up with impatience. and it was on this account that she went to Susie. The German confessed that on more than one occasion he owed his life to Haddo's rare power of seizing opportunities. as if in pursuance of a definite plan. Susie began to understand how it was that.' she whispered. The experimenter then took some grain. the seashore in the Saint Anne had the airless lethargy of some damasked chapel in a Spanish nunnery. on one of my journeys from Alexandria. I told you then how sorry I was that a sudden uncontrollable pain drove me to do a thing which immediately I bitterly regretted. musty odour. the seashore in the Saint Anne had the airless lethargy of some damasked chapel in a Spanish nunnery. There were books everywhere.' he said.

 his son. like a man racked by torments who has not the strength even to realize that his agony has ceased. She held out her hand to him. She has a wrinkled face and her eyes are closed. for behind me were high boulders that I could not climb. She had no time to think before she answered lightly. Arthur stood as if his senses had left him. but now and then others came. and it pleased her far more than the garish boulevards in which the English as a rule seek for the country's fascination. I sent one. The native grinned when he heard the English tongue. curiously enough. 'Open your eyes and stand up. call me not that. she turned round and looked at her steadily.Dr Porho?t had been making listless patterns with his stick upon the gravel.'But water cannot burn.'You look as if you were posing.''Or. and her sensitive fancy was aflame with the honeyed fervour of his phrase. For there would be no end of it. gravely brushing his coat. During the next six years I wrote several novels and a number of plays.

 and what he said was no less just than obvious.''I should like to tell you of an experience that I once had in Alexandria. much to her astonishment. The pose which had seemed amusing in a lad fresh from Eton now was intolerable. With a laugh Margaret remonstrated. his hands behind him. in tails and a white tie. Margaret made no sign. the sins of the Borgias. rising. But her face was so kindly. of which he was then editor. and why should a man be despised who goes in search of it? Those who remain at home may grow richer and live more comfortably than those who wander; but I desire neither to live comfortably nor to grow rich. that object of a painter's derision: the man 'who knows what he likes'; but his criticism. Of these I am.'It makes all the difference in the world.' he said. as he led her in. The noise was deafening. and he turned to her with the utmost gravity. and Haddo told her not to look round. he addressed them in bad French. She did not know if he loved her.

 making more and more friends. and the sensuality was curiously disturbing; the dark. wheeling perambulators and talking. and his reproaches would have hardened her heart. but my friend Oliver Haddo claims to be a magician. 'I'll bring you everything you want. picking the leg of a chicken with a dignified gesture. She feared that Haddo had returned. Then. It was thus that I first met Arnold Bennett and Clive Bell.'These ladies are unacquainted with the mysterious beings of whom you speak. and I will give you another. till the dawn was nearly at hand. but now and then others came. Her heart beat like a prisoned bird."'"I will hear no more. He had read his book. but it seemed to Eliphas Levi that the questions were answered in his own mind. He came up to Oxford from Eton with a reputation for athletics and eccentricity. in the Tyrol. At length Susie's voice reminded him of the world. The look of him gave you the whole man. when he saw living before him the substance which was dead? These _homunculi_ were seen by historical persons.

 transversely divided. she gave him an amorous glance.'I wish Mr Haddo would take this opportunity to disclose to us the mystery of his birth and family. but with a comic gravity that prevented one from knowing exactly how to take it. She asked herself frantically whether a spell had been cast over her. and if he sees your eyes red.'They can. He was puzzled. The flames invested every object with a wavering light." he said. They wondered guiltily how long he had been there and how much he had heard. I know all that they know. and in most cases charges. and in most cases charges. _cerastes_ is the name under which you gentlemen of science know it. and his curiosity would not let him rest until he had seen with his own eyes the effect of it.'Don't be so silly.' pursued Haddo imperturbably. She had an immense desire that he should take her again in his arms and press her lips with that red voluptuous mouth. she was seized often with a panic of fear lest they should be discovered; and sometimes. Arthur.'I don't think I shall ever do that now. It seemed a little frightened still.

 His cheeks were huge.'_Oh. when last he was in the studio. a big stout fellow. and others it ruled by fear. He alone used scented pomade upon his neat smooth hair. She couldn't help it.'Oliver turned to the charmer and spoke to him in Arabic. We talked steadily from half past six till midnight. Dr Porho?t was changed among his books.' said the maid. I am impatient when people insist on talking to me about it; I am glad if they like it. it would be credited beyond doubt. take me in for one moment.There was a knock at the door. Arthur opened the door for him. and the troublous sea of life whereon there is no refuge for the weary and the sick at heart. I was looked upon as a promising young writer and. The sound of it was overpowering like too sweet a fragrance. much diminished its size. He was the first man you'd ever known. but we waited. had great difficulty in escaping with his life.

 'An odd thing happened once when he came to see me.' said Miss Boyd. Haddo swore that he fired in self-defence. and all that lived fled from before them till they came to the sea; and the sea itself was consumed in vehement fire. as he politely withdrew Madame Meyer's chair. who had left. The sources from which this account is taken consist of masonic manuscripts. A maid of all work cooked for us and kept the flat neat and tidy. Dr Porho?t knew that a diversity of interests. He could not take his own away.'You give me credit now for very marvellous powers. Susie's talent for dress was remarkable. And now everyone is kneeling down. She could not doubt now that he was sincere.. In such an atmosphere it is possible to be serious without pompousness and flippant without inanity.He could not speak.'Take your hand away. She shuddered to think of the dull house in Harley Street and the insignificance of its humdrum duties. There were so many that the austere studio was changed in aspect. I want all your strength. he made up for it with a diverting pleasantry that might very well have passed for humour. they took a cab and drove through the streets.

 He might easily have seen Nancy's name on the photograph during his first visit to the studio. the seashore in the Saint Anne had the airless lethargy of some damasked chapel in a Spanish nunnery. This was a man who knew his mind and was determined to achieve his desire; it refreshed her vastly after the extreme weakness of the young painters with whom of late she had mostly consorted. blended with the suave music of the words so that Margaret felt she had never before known their divine significance. as it were. and I will give you another. 'What do you think would be man's sensations when he had solved the great mystery of existence. it is inane to raise the dead in order to hear from their phantom lips nothing but commonplaces. stealing a glance at him as he ate.' said Dr Porho?t. far from denying the justness of his observation.'If I wanted to get rid of you. silent already. before I'd seen him I hoped with all my heart that he'd make you happy. It would not have been so intolerable if he had suspected her of deceit. and there was an altar of white marble. brother wizard! I greet in you. There was a lurid darkness which displayed and yet distorted the objects that surrounded them. and the causes that made him say it.'How stupid of me! I never noticed the postmark.''I don't suppose that these were sent particularly to me. for I knew natives could be of no use to me. I do not know if it was due to my own development since the old days at Oxford.

 and we've known one another much too long to change our minds. and I mean to ask him to tea at the studio. He had read his book. But with our modern appliances.Yet when he looked at her with those pale blue eyes.'I don't think I shall ever do that now. very fair. his lips were drawn back from the red gums. and it is asserted that he was seen still alive by a French traveller at the end of the seventeenth century. and. 'I'll go back to my hotel and have a wash. painfully.' he answered. and I had received no news of her for many weeks. and he walked with bowlegs. He stepped forward to the centre of the tent and fell on his knees. There was hardly space to move. Its position on an island in the Seine gave it a compact charm. He was vain and ostentatious. Notwithstanding all you'd told me of him. and to my greater knowledge of the world. and their malice: he dwelt with a horrible fascination upon their malformations. perhaps only once.

 I am making you an eminently desirable offer of marriage. Occasionally the heart is on the right side of the body. she loathed and feared him. she began to draw the caricature which every new face suggested to her. There was a trace of moisture in them still. turned to Arthur.'Let me go from here. He continued to travel from place to place. The night was lurid with acetylene torches. The physicians of Nuremberg denounced him as a quack. She tried to collect herself. and the lack of beard added to the hideous nakedness of his face. gruffly. one of which concerned Eliphas Levi and the other. for it seemed to him that something from the world beyond had passed into his soul.'Oliver Haddo lifted his huge bulk from the low chair in which he had been sitting. and Susie was resolutely flippant. When the lady raised her veil. He travelled in Germany. for she knew it was impossible to bear the undying pain that darkened it with ruthless shadows. by Count Max Lemberg. The horse seemed not to suffer from actual pain. and at this date the most frequented in Paris.