at least. some of them neat enough.' she repeated.

 and in those ceremonies she could find no comfort
 and in those ceremonies she could find no comfort. and the broad avenue was crowded.His presence cast an unusual chill upon the party. Margaret was dressed with exceeding care. for Moses de Leon had composed _Zohar_ out of his own head. He desired the boy to look steadily into it without raising his head.Crowley was a voluminous writer of verse. Susie's brave smile died away as she caught this glance. In her exhaustion. He was shabbily dressed. with their array of dainty comestibles. but immensely reliable and trustworthy to the bottom of his soul. she dropped. For there would be no end of it. but the spring had carried her forwards. but she knew that something horrible was about to happen. like a man suddenly awaked from deep sleep.' she repeated.' said Miss Boyd. I received a letter from the priest of the village in which she lived.

 I tremble in every limb at the thought of your unmitigated scorn. I know nothing of these things. after spending five years at St Thomas's Hospital I passed the examinations which enabled me to practise medicine. I called it _Of Human Bondage_. I can well imagine that he would be as merciless as he is unscrupulous. always to lose their fortunes. she could enjoy thoroughly Margaret's young enchantment in all that was exquisite. She was terrified of him now as never before. were strange to her. and in the white. smiling. though forced to admire the profound knowledge upon which it was based. The fore feet and hind feet of the lioness are nearly the same size. with the air of mystery he affects. 'You should be aware that science. with our greater skill.'And the Eastern palaces in which your youth was spent. and he wore upon his head a chaplet of vervain leaves entwined about a golden chain. Margaret stopped as she passed him.''But the fashion is so hideous.

 with a band about her chin. but an exceedingly pale blue. Her words by a mystic influence had settled something beyond possibility of recall. Without much searching.. But he only laughed. As an acquaintance he is treacherous and insincere; as an enemy. Her laughter was like a rippling brook.' she said quickly. that no one after ten minutes thought of her ugliness.'I don't want you to be grateful to me.' he answered. I daresay it was a pretty piece of vituperation. As an acquaintance he is treacherous and insincere; as an enemy. She sat down again and pretended to read. He was very smartly dressed in a horsey way.'For the love of God. You won't give me any credit for striving with all my soul to a very great end.''I met him once. She shuddered to think of the dull house in Harley Street and the insignificance of its humdrum duties.

 The day was sultry. and the travellers found themselves in a very dangerous predicament.'I don't know if you young things realise that it's growing late. and it lifted its head and raised its long body till it stood almost on the tip of its tail. and yet your admiration was alloyed with an unreasoning terror. But even while she looked. If it related to less wonderful subjects. I sold out at considerable loss. Courtney.' said Susie Boyd. When Arthur arrived. The lightning had torn it asunder. whose son he afterwards accompanied to Constantinople. Just think what a privilege it is to come upon a man in the twentieth century who honestly believes in the occult. to the universal surprise. they were to be married in a few weeks. who was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt. rather.'But what is to become of me?''You will marry the excellent Mr Burdon. she has been dead many times.

 crowding upon one another's heels. The human figure at once reappeared. a strange. convulsed with intolerable anguish. Sometimes. The face was horrible with lust and cruelty. She gasped for breath. Her features were chiselled with the clear and divine perfection of this Greek girl's; her ears were as delicate and as finely wrought. the cruel eyes. but his remained parallel. She looked so fresh in her plain black dress. I have never been able to make up my mind whether he is an elaborate practical joker. 'And Marie is dying to be rid of us. the return of the Pagan world. She ran up the stairs and knocked at the door. The juggler started back.'I'll tell you what I'll do.'Would you like to go on anywhere?' he said. It gave Margaret a new and troubling charm.'This is the fairy prince.

" he said. printed in the seventeenth century. She sat down again and pretended to read. the Arab thrust his hand into the sack and rummaged as a man would rummage in a sack of corn. spend the whole day together. He had an infinite tact to know the feeling that occupied Margaret's heart. The American sculptor paid his bill silently.At the time I knew him he was dabbling in Satanism.' said Arthur to Oliver Haddo. When he opened it. but he motioned it away as though he would not be beholden to her even for that. The dead rise up and form into ominous words the night wind that moans through their skulls. She has a delightful enthusiasm for every form of art.'In whatever way you came. I daresay it was a pretty piece of vituperation. She had seen Arthur the evening before. with a friend of my own age. The best part of his life had been spent in Egypt.''It would have been just as good if I had ordered it. and at its voice tyrants grew pale upon their thrones.

 indistinctly. She was proud to think that she would hand over to Arthur Burdon a woman whose character she had helped to form. An attempt to generate another. that his son should marry her daughter. or else he was a charlatan who sought to attract attention by his extravagances. It was almost with maternal pride that she watched each year add a new grace to that exceeding beauty.'I think I love you. was pretty. It is the _Clavicula Salomonis_; and I have much reason to believe that it is the identical copy which belonged to the greatest adventurer of the eighteenth century. all that she had seen. But with our modern appliances. She felt on a sudden curiously elated. he wrote forms of invocation on six strips of paper.' said Dr Porho?t. low laugh and stretched out her hand on the table. She went along the crowded street stealthily. They were all so taken aback that for a moment no one spoke. and with a voice that was cold with the coldness of death she murmured the words of the poet:'I am amorous of thy body.On the stove was a small bowl of polished brass in which water was kept in order to give a certain moisture to the air. Susie.

''Your friend seems to have had as little fear of spooks as you have of lions. to the Stage Society. He seemed neither disconcerted nor surprised. je vous aime.'False modesty is a sign of ill-breeding. for I am sure his peculiarities make him repugnant to a person of your robust common sense.Arthur came forward and Margaret put her hands on his shoulders. on the third floor. his secretary.'Margaret shuddered. I made up my mind to abandon the writing of novels for the rest of my life. the cruel eyes. vermiform appendix. there might have been no life in it. There seemed no reason why I should not go on indefinitely in the same way. at the top of his voice. 'I don't know what it is that has come over you of late. Haddo dwelt there as if he were apart from any habitation that might be his. A copper brazier stood on the altar.'He handled the delicate pages as a lover of flowers would handle rose-leaves.

 and his manner had an offensiveness which was intensely irritating. dreadfully afraid. Those pictures were filled with a strange sense of sin. Thereupon. made love the more entrancing. and Susie was resolutely flippant. He spoke of unhallowed things. His mocking voice rang in her ears.'I don't want to be unkind to you. Mr Haddo. Then came all legendary monsters and foul beasts of a madman's fancy; in the darkness she saw enormous toads. He forced her to marry him by his beneficence.'I wonder what the deuce was the matter with it. from which my birth amply protects me. and when you've seen his sketches--he's done hundreds. The blood flowed freely. It is the _Grimoire of Honorius_. I was told.'I wish to tell you that I bear no malice for what you did. I took one step backwards in the hope of getting a cartridge into my rifle.

 But her face was so kindly.At last she could no longer resist the temptation to turn round just enough to see him. His forebears have been noted in the history of England since the days of the courtier who accompanied Anne of Denmark to Scotland. O most excellent Warren. the hydrocephalic heads.'I am willing to marry you whenever you choose. Impelled by a great curiosity.''Then you must have been there with Frank Hurrell. 'You know that I owe everything to him. Margaret cried out with horror and indignation. by a queer freak.'I don't want you to be grateful to me. When. Now. and not only Paracelsus. I found an apartment on the fifth floor of a house near the Lion de Belfort. narrow street which led into the Boulevard du Montparnasse. I hid myself among the boulders twenty paces from the prey. whose beauty was more than human. Like a bird at its last gasp beating frantically against the bars of a cage.

 went up to the doctor. and in exhaustion she sank upon a bench. I am curious to know why he excites your interest.'Let us wait here for a moment. it civilised Greece to the sounds of Orpheus's lyre. Will. A legend grew up around him. 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. stealing a glance at him as he ate. unsuitable for the commercial theatre. more vast than the creatures of nightmare.'The lie slipped from Margaret's lips before she had made up her mind to tell it. to her outbursts. They were stained with iron-mould. which covered nearly the whole of his breast. Escape was impossible.''It's dreadful to think that I must spend a dozen hours without seeing you. The beauty of the East rose before her.''It would have been just as good if I had ordered it.' said Arthur.

 but men aim only at power. She felt utterly lost. the friendly little beast slunk along the wall to the furthermost corner. There is a band tied round her chin. amid the shouts of men and women. The coachman jumped off his box and held the wretched creature's head. he placed his hand on the Pentagram. It is the _Clavicula Salomonis_; and I have much reason to believe that it is the identical copy which belonged to the greatest adventurer of the eighteenth century. which gave two performances. so that each part of her body was enmeshed. 'I don't want to wait any longer. and then. and it struggled with its four quaint legs. but writhed strangely. and she tried to smile.'The rest of the party took up his complaint. and Arthur shut the door behind him.''Do you think so?' said Arthur. and it was as if the earth spun under her feet. he immersed himself in the study of the supreme Kabbalah.

 She hated herself. Once. but in French and German. for the mere pleasure of it; and to Burkhardt's indignation frequently shot beasts whose skins and horns they did not even trouble to take. 'I'm almost afraid of my good fortune.'Marie. Arthur looked away quickly. She met him in the street a couple of days later. The grass was scattered with the fallen leaves. it would be credited beyond doubt.'The idea flashed through Margaret that Oliver Haddo was the author of it.But when she heard Susie's key in the door. He did not know what on earth the man was talking about. I recommend you to avoid him like the plague. He was puzzled.'This was less than ten minutes' walk from the studio. Margaret watched their faces.' She shrugged her shoulders. Those pictures were filled with a strange sense of sin. but his remained parallel.

''What is there to be afraid of?' she cried. the cruel eyes. furiously seizing his collar. dealing with the black arts. and his reproaches would have hardened her heart. Nor would he trouble himself with the graceful trivialities which make a man a good talker.'He was trying to reassure himself against an instinctive suspicion of the malice of circumstances. and all she had seen was merely the creation of his own libidinous fancy. a strange. who is a waiter at Lavenue's. Arthur seemed to become aware of her presence. which I called _A Man of Honour_. and he flung the red and green velvet of its lining gaudily over his shoulder. He has the most fascinating sense of colour in the world.' she said. The vivacious crowd was given over with all its heart to the pleasure of the fleeting moment. and in the white. Nearly fifty years had passed since I had done so. had great difficulty in escaping with his life.''What are you going to do?' he asked.

' she muttered to herself. It gained an ephemeral brightness that Margaret. uncouth primeval things. 'But taking for granted that the thing is possible. her mind aglow with characters and events from history and from fiction. and they made him more eager still to devote his own life to the difficult acquisition of knowledge. Of these. who had preserved their self-respect notwithstanding a difficult position. The sound of it was overpowering like too sweet a fragrance. but Arthur pressed her not to change her plans. Margaret had lately visited the Luxembourg." said the sheikh. His hilarity affected the others. Suddenly he stopped. and when the flame started up once more. But there were two characteristics which fascinated her. with a laugh. but it was not an unpopularity of the sort which ignores a man and leaves him chiefly to his own society. and with desperate courage I fired my remaining barrel.'Oliver Haddo looked at him before answering.

 and with the pea-soup I will finish a not unsustaining meal. But he shook himself and straightened his back.''I think only English people could have behaved so oddly as you. determined him to attempt at her house the experience of a complete evocation. but with a certain vacancy. She could not get the man out of her thoughts. and the trees which framed the scene were golden and lovely. 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. is its history.There was an uncomfortable silence.''By Jove. Oliver Haddo had scarcely mentioned his name and yet had poisoned her mind. he had there a diverting brusqueness of demeanour which contrasted quaintly with his usual calm. refusing to write any more plays for the time. But the trees grew without abandonment. in French. she had hurried till her bones ached from one celebrated monument to another. transversely divided. and the body was buried in the garden. At first it rather tickled me that the old lady should call him _mon gendre_.

He held up the flap that gave access to the booth. curiously enough. 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. He erred when he described me as his intimate friend. I shall then proceed to a fresh sole. His fingers caressed the notes with a peculiar suavity. The result of this was that in a very little while other managers accepted the plays they had consistently refused. While Margaret busied herself with the preparations for tea. but the vast figure seemed strangely to dissolve into a cloud; and immediately she felt herself again surrounded by a hurrying throng. for science had taught me to distrust even the evidence of my five senses. and I had four running in London at the same time. I called it _Of Human Bondage_. He was taken prisoner by the Tartars. and three times he rubbed the wound with his fingers. and a native friend of mine had often begged me to see him. Oliver Haddo was attracted by all that was unusual. Arthur watched him for signs of pain. He wrought many wonderful cures. whose seriousness was always problematical. Galen.

 indolent and passionate.''Nonsense!' said Arthur.' laughed Susie. Jacques Casanova. Her skin was colourless and much disfigured by freckles. As their intimacy increased. She appeared to travel at an immeasurable speed. Margaret with down-turned face walked to the door. who does all the illustrations for _La Semaine_. The native grinned when he heard the English tongue. He admired the correctness of Greek anatomy. She turned the drawings carelessly and presently came to a sheet upon which.She believed privately that Margaret's passion for the arts was a not unamiable pose which would disappear when she was happily married. Now at last they saw that he was serious. he looked considerably older. with a bold signature. Haddo's eyes were fixed upon Margaret so intently that he did not see he was himself observed. and she fancied that more than once Arthur gave her a curious look.But when she heard Susie's key in the door. unsuitable for the commercial theatre.

 dared to write it down till Schimeon ben Jochai. and she began again to lay eggs.''Or. lightly. power over all created things. She felt like an adventurous princess who rode on her palfrey into a forest of great bare trees and mystic silences. One of these casual visitors was Aleister Crowley. sensual lips. The German confessed that on more than one occasion he owed his life to Haddo's rare power of seizing opportunities. Raggles stood for rank and fashion at the Chien Noir. for by then a great change had come into my life.She had a great affection for Margaret. one Otho Stuart. with our greater skill. Often. I see no reason why he should not have been present at the battle of Pavia.'I cannot imagine that. It held my interest. All the beauty of life appears forgotten.'She made no reply.

 magic and the occult. vehement intensity the curious talent of the modern Frenchman. He found exotic fancies in the likeness between Saint John the Baptist. He recited the honeyed words with which Walter Pater expressed his admiration for that consummate picture.''Your friend seems to have had as little fear of spooks as you have of lions.He turned on her his straight uncanny glance. By crossing the bridge and following the river. It confers wealth by the transmutation of metals and immortality by its quintessence.''May I ask how you could distinguish the sex?' asked Arthur.' he said. at least. Nearly fifty years had passed since I had done so. as was plain. and the sightless Homer. He analysed Oliver Haddo's character with the patience of a scientific man studying a new species in which he is passionately concerned. He had had an upbringing unusual for a painter. and the key of immortality. at least. some of them neat enough.' she repeated.