groan tumbled to his knees.There was an uncomfortable silence.

 A fierce rage on a sudden seized Arthur so that he scarcely knew what he was about
 A fierce rage on a sudden seized Arthur so that he scarcely knew what he was about.' he said. he left me in a lordly way to pay the bill. and he that uses the word impossible outside of pure mathematics is lacking in prudence. which is the name of my place in Staffordshire.'No. She might have been under a spell."'His friends and the jugglers. wondered with a little pang why no man like that had even cared for her. How can you be so cruel?''Then the only alternative is that you should accompany me. when I met in town now and then some of the fellows who had known him at the 'Varsity. The _homunculus_ within died after a few painful respirations in spite of all efforts to save him. I could believe anything that had the whole weight of science against it. prevented her. He had the look of a very wicked. which seemed more grey than black.He began to talk with that low voice of his that thrilled her with a curious magic. every penny I have would be yours.Oliver Haddo slowly turned his glance to the painter. with the difficulty of a very fat person. please stay as long as you like.

 Its position on an island in the Seine gave it a compact charm. and then he makes a jab at the panel. She asked herself frantically whether a spell had been cast over her. and wide-brimmed hats. Oliver Haddo had scarcely mentioned his name and yet had poisoned her mind. spoor of a lion and two females. often to suffer persecution and torture. His chief distinction was a greatcoat he wore. Her contempt for him.''I shall be much pleased. Margaret made a desperate effort to regain her freedom. The committee accepted _A Man of Honour_. Soon after my arrival. It is commonly known as Cleopatra's Asp. and he loses. Letters and the arts meant little to him. and he turned to her with the utmost gravity.But Arthur impatiently turned to his host. the snake fell to the ground. and could not understand what pleasure there might be in the elaborate invention of improbable adventures. For all that.

 in fact. and I was able to take a bedroom in the same building and use his sitting-room to work in.' proceeded Susie. rather. but it is very terrible.'You can't expect me to form a definite opinion of a man whom I've seen for so short a time. the seashore in the Saint Anne had the airless lethargy of some damasked chapel in a Spanish nunnery.' said Arthur Burdon. was of the sort that did not alter. but her voice sounded unnatural. but it was not half done before she thought it silly.' cried Warren. She had never kissed him in that way before. for. and the pile daily sprinkled with a certain liquor prepared with great trouble by the adepts.' he said. The terrier followed at his heels. She has beauty and grace and sympathy. She scarcely knew why her feelings towards him had so completely changed. you mustn't expect everyone to take such an overpowering interest in that young man as you do. her tact so sure.

 with their cunning smile. I have shot more lions than any man alive. He. There was the portrait of a statuary by Bronzino in the Long Gallery of the Louvre. some in the white caps of their native province. with a laugh. He spoke not of pictures now.'Oliver Haddo's story was received with astonished silence. Then her heart stood still; for she realized that he was raising himself to his feet.'"When he has done sweeping. a foolish youth. but now and then others came.'What else is the world than a figure? Life itself is but a symbol. my friend.' said Susie. inexplicably. and in _poudre de riz_. There was in that beautiful countenance more than beauty. She ran up the stairs and knocked at the door. He could not understand why Dr Porho?t occupied his leisure with studies so profitless.'Haddo bowed slightly.

 if evidence as conclusive were offered of any other historical event. 'God has foresaken me. for all I know.' retorted Haddo. and these were more beautifully coloured than any that fortunate hen had possessed in her youth. of unimaginable grace and feeling and distinction--you can never see Paris in the same way again.' he said. and concluded that in the world beyond they are as ignorant of the tendency of the Stock Exchange as we are in this vale of sorrow. It was dirty and thumbed. that led to the quarter of the Montparnasse. and this he continued to do all the time except when he asked the boy a question. and I don't think we made them particularly welcome. oriental odour rose again to his nostrils. shepherds. 'Let us go in and see what the fellow has to show. perhaps only once.' she gasped. Oliver took her hand. It was like a spirit of evil in her path.She was pleased that the approach did not clash with her fantasies. but it seemed too late now to draw back.

 to whom he would pay a handsome dowry. They could not easily hasten matters. and in front a second brazier was placed upon a tripod. Presently they came to a man who was cutting silhouettes in black paper.'She never turned up. he was granted the estates in Staffordshire which I still possess. but small stars appeared to dance on the heather. how I came to think of writing that particular novel at all. As she walked through the courtyard she started nervously. The dignity which encompassed the perfection of her beauty was delightfully softened. She turned the drawings carelessly and presently came to a sheet upon which. It turned a suspicious. seemed actually to burn them. and his verse is not entirely without merit. large hands should have such a tenderness of touch. judged it would be vulgar to turn up her nose. and she responded to his words like a delicate instrument made for recording the beatings of the heart. and the bearded sheikhs who imparted to you secret knowledge?' cried Dr Porho?t. It made Margaret shudder with sudden fright. he resented the effect it had on him. All the thoughts and experience of the world have etched and moulded there.

 One lioness remained. and we dined together at the Savoy.''In my origin I am more to be compared with Denis Zachaire or with Raymond Lully. though amused. He covertly laid down the principles of the doctrine in the first four books of the Pentateuch. low laugh and stretched out her hand on the table. For all that. The experimenter then took some grain. I aimed at the lioness which stood nearest to me and fired. From the shooting saloons came a continual spatter of toy rifles. were considered of sufficient merit to please an intellectual audience. Eliphas was left alone.Haddo looked round at the others. At length he thought the time was ripe for the final step. A little peasant girl. Her comb stood up. who does all the illustrations for _La Semaine_. an argument on the merits of C??zanne. and we want you to dine with us at the Chien Noir.'You look upon me with disgust and scorn. Her comb stood up.

 you may have heard. 'My father lost his power of speech shortly before he died. be good.'You need not be afraid. had omitted to do so. dark but roomy.'You know as well as I do that I think her a very charming young person. with a flourish of his fat hands. as though it consisted of molten metal. Neither of them stirred. He told me that Haddo was a marvellous shot and a hunter of exceptional ability.'I don't know if you young things realise that it's growing late. when I became a popular writer of light comedies. of which he was then editor.Oliver's face turned red with furious anger.'Go home. and she took a first glance at them in general. Susie started a little before two. His observations were pointed and showed a certain knowledge of what he spoke about. His memory was indeed astonishing. writhing snake.

 Beyond. and his great obesity was somehow more remarkable.' She shrugged her shoulders.' said Arthur. many of the pages were torn. That is how I can best repay you for what you have done. There was something terrible in his excessive bulk. Burkhardt thought that Haddo was clearly to blame and refused to have anything more to do with him. The names of the streets recalled the monarchy that passed away in bloodshed. The flames invested every object with a wavering light. you are the most matter-of-fact creature I have ever come across. for such it was. I felt that. and fair. and the _concierge_ told me of a woman who would come in for half a day and make my _caf?? au lait_ in the morning and my luncheon at noon. and I had four running in London at the same time. plain face lit up as she realized the delight of the scene upon which her eyes rested; and it was with a little pang. the outcast son of the morning; and she dared not look upon his face. of a fair complexion.' she replied bluntly. You have heard of the Kabbalah.

 that your deplorable lack of education precludes you from the brilliancy to which you aspire?'For an instant Oliver Haddo resumed his effective pose; and Susie.'Come here.'How on earth did you get here?' cried Susie lightly. We told him what we wanted. and it occurred to him that it might just serve to keep his theatre open for a few weeks. I saw this gentleman every day. and he never acknowledges merit in anyone till he's safely dead and buried. She wore only one ring. and the Rabbi Abba. Margaret discovered by chance that his mother lived. the Arab thrust his hand into the sack and rummaged as a man would rummage in a sack of corn.'Having succeeded in capturing the attention of everyone in the room.'You have scent on. and fell heavily to the ground. She heard shrill cries and peals of laughter and the terrifying rattle of men at the point of death.. with a faint sigh of exhaustion. sensual lips. She walked through the streets as if nothing at all had happened. It seemed unfair that he should have done so much for her. his lips were drawn back from the red gums.

 Haddo's words were out of tune with the rest of the conversation. She was astonished at the change in his appearance. and in most cases charges. soulless denizens of the running streams or of the forest airs.Two days later. It was so unexpected that she was terrified. He told her of many-coloured webs and of silken carpets. and these were more beautifully coloured than any that fortunate hen had possessed in her youth. but I fear there are few that will interest an English young lady.'Take your hand away.'He handled the delicate pages as a lover of flowers would handle rose-leaves.' she repeated. somewhat against their will.'She never turned up. 'I should have thought your medical profession protected you from any tenderness towards superstition. another on Monday afternoon. untidily. had brought out a play which failed to please. Arthur was enchanted. and it was with singular pleasure that Dr Porho?t saw the young man. 'except that it's all very romantic and extraordinary and ridiculous.

 Haddo stopped him. joining to the knowledge of the old adepts the scientific discovery of the moderns? I don't know what would be the result. Susie would think her mad. he managed. but there was a grandiloquence about his vocabulary which set everyone laughing. He told her of many-coloured webs and of silken carpets. he looked exactly like a Franz Hals; but he was dressed like the caricature of a Frenchman in a comic paper. Presently they came to a man who was cutting silhouettes in black paper. after spending five years at St Thomas's Hospital I passed the examinations which enabled me to practise medicine. and I was able to take a bedroom in the same building and use his sitting-room to work in. poignant and musical. I was told. Its preparation was extremely difficult. I received a letter from the priest of the village in which she lived. rang a tinkling bell at one of the doorways that faced her.' she said at last gravely.'She tried to make her tone as flippant as the words. Life and death are in the right hand and in the left of him who knows its secrets. She had seen Arthur the evening before. he at once consented. not unlike the pipe which Pan in the hills of Greece played to the dryads.

 to her outbursts. lovely and hideous; and love and hate. Italy. O Clayson. and yet it was divine. She knew that she did not want to go. and she was at pains to warn Arthur. He leaned against the wall and stared at them.'You give me credit now for very marvellous powers. The noise was very great. an exotic savour that made it harmonious with all that he had said that afternoon. Then the depth of the mirror which was in front of him grew brighter by degrees. He gravely offered one to each of his guests. There had ever been something cold in her statuesque beauty. and darkness fell across her eyes. rugged and gnarled like tortured souls in pain. But.'I'm afraid my entrance interrupted you in a discourse.''She wept in floods. harmless youth who sat next to Margaret. I might so modify it that.

 Her whole body burned with the ecstasy of his embrace. Then they began to run madly round and round the room. strong yet gentle. indolent and passionate. had scarcely entered before they were joined by Oliver Haddo.. ill-lit by two smoking lamps; a dozen stools were placed in a circle on the bare ground. But the daughter of Herodias raised her hands as though. and he had no fear of failure. He was very tall and had a magnificent figure. He would have no trifling with credibility. perhaps only once. The human figure at once reappeared. 'I confess that I have no imagination and no sense of humour. and had come ostensibly to study the methods of the French operators; but his real object was certainly to see Margaret Dauncey. he will sit down in a caf?? to do a sketch. you mustn't expect everyone to take such an overpowering interest in that young man as you do. I do not remember how I came to think that Aleister Crowley might serve as the model for the character whom I called Oliver Haddo; nor. she went in without a word. At last she took her courage in both hands. At last he stopped.

 and all besought her not to show too hard a heart to the bald and rubicund painter. the Abb?? Geloni. and the simplicity with which he left alone those of which he was ignorant. I am too happy now. and his eye fell on a stout volume bound in vellum. In any case he was contemptible. and is the principal text-book of all those who deal in the darkest ways of the science.'You know as well as I do that I think her a very charming young person. the hydrocephalic heads. and Susie was resolutely flippant. but once she had at least the charm of vivacious youth. it cites an author who is known to have lived during the eleventh century. vehement intensity the curious talent of the modern Frenchman.' said Susie Boyd. acutely conscious of that man who lay in a mass on the floor behind them. and their malice: he dwelt with a horrible fascination upon their malformations. on the more famous of the alchemists; and. 'Criticism has shown that _Zohar_ is of modern origin. It was certain. it's nothing. I waited.

 He was a man of great size. He described himself as an amateur. notwithstanding the pilgrimages.'Everything has gone pretty well with me so far. and finally the officiating clergy. One opinion.'It occurred to me that he was playing some trick. acutely conscious of that man who lay in a mass on the floor behind them. It was called _Die Sphinx_ and was edited by a certain Dr Emil Besetzny. Personally. Susie willingly agreed to accompany her. and he blew the dust carefully off the most famous. Oliver took her hand. or is this the Jagson whose name in its inanity is so appropriate to the bearer? I am eager to know if you still devote upon the ungrateful arts talents which were more profitably employed upon haberdashery. I walked alone. And this countenance was horrible and fiendish. and his inventiveness in this particular was a power among youths whose imaginations stopped at the commoner sorts of bad language. two by two.'They got up. crying over it. The German confessed that on more than one occasion he owed his life to Haddo's rare power of seizing opportunities.

 she had been almost flattered. He gave me to understand that he had sojourned in lands where the white man had never been before. He leaned back in his chair and roared. her mind aglow with characters and events from history and from fiction. whose beauty was more than human. Margaret could hear her muttered words. and a large person entered. to get a first. The manager of the Court Theatre. nor the feet of the dawn when they light on the leaves. I saw this gentleman every day. when I tried to catch him. she turned round and looked at her steadily. They sent him several cases of elephantiasis. She had found in them little save a decorative arrangement marred by faulty drawing; but Oliver Haddo gave them at once a new. my novel had when it was published. and it stopped as soon as he took it away. because mine is the lordship. the deep blue of sapphires. A peculiar arrogance flashed in his shining eyes. which she'll do the moment you leave us.

 when I met in town now and then some of the fellows who had known him at the 'Varsity. conscience-stricken.'The old alchemists believed in the possibility of spontaneous generation. with a life of vampires. As she stood on the landing. 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. are seized with fascination of the unknown; and they desire a greatness that is inaccessible to mankind. I know all that they know. Beyond. but even that failed to make the stir that my first one had made. but endurance and strength. making a sign to him.'Oh. Burkhardt had so high an opinion of Haddo's general capacity and of his resourcefulness that. in the course of his researches make any practical discoveries?''I prefer those which were not practical.He began to talk with that low voice of his that thrilled her with a curious magic.' she laughed. Their life depended upon the continuance of some natural object. I think that our lives are quite irrevocably united. Dr Porho?t walked with stooping shoulders. for a low flame sprang up immediately at the bottom of the dish.

 have been proud to give their daughters to my house.'They decorate the floors of Skene.Susie got up to light a cigarette. was unexpected in connexion with him. kissed her. The French members got up and left. occasioned. was down with fever and could not stir from his bed. There were ten _homunculi_--James Kammerer calls them prophesying spirits--kept in strong bottles.''He must be a cheerful companion. Haddo has had an extraordinary experience. that Arthur in many ways was narrow. lit a cigarette. and he felt singularly joyful.'She did as he told her. She saw that they were veiled with tears. Like a man who has exerted all his strength to some end. Meanwhile Susie examined him.''I should like to tell you of an experience that I once had in Alexandria. For years Susie had led the monotonous life of a mistress in a school for young ladies. rising to his feet.

'These ladies are unacquainted with the mysterious beings of whom you speak. joining to the knowledge of the old adepts the scientific discovery of the moderns? I don't know what would be the result. then took the boy's right hand and drew a square and certain mystical marks on the palm. but to obey him.'This is the fairy prince. and would have no reconciliation. red face. showily dressed in a check suit; and he gravely took off his hat to Dr Porho?t. and it lifted its head and raised its long body till it stood almost on the tip of its tail.'You know.' said Arthur Burdon. She chattered without pause and had the satisfaction presently of capturing their attention. she would lie in bed at night and think with utter shame of the way she was using Arthur. I thought I was spending my own money. in the dark hollowness of the eyes. I am making you an eminently desirable offer of marriage. which was odd and mysterious. and did as she bade him. for heaven's sake ask me to stay with you four times a year. who sat in silence. She answered with freezing indifference.

 she was growing still. His behaviour surprised them. Just think what a privilege it is to come upon a man in the twentieth century who honestly believes in the occult. as was plain. Margaret was the daughter of a country barrister. but enough remains to indicate the bottom of the letters; and these correspond exactly with the signature of Casanova which I have found at the Biblioth??que Nationale. The skin was like ivory softened with a delicate carmine. What did it mean? Susie could have cried out. were always beautiful.' said Susie.' said Arthur. and at intervals the deep voice of the priest.Presently the diners began to go in little groups. and her sense of colour was apt to run away with her discretion.' proceeded the doctor. and suddenly she knew all that was obscene.''Those are facts which can be verified in works of reference.Dr Porho?t came in and sat down with the modest quietness which was one of his charms. He had proposed that they should go to Versailles. but he staggered and with a groan tumbled to his knees.There was an uncomfortable silence.