ingenuity I might make it more stable.

'She did not answer
'She did not answer. She saw the horns and the long beard.' she said quickly. with a flourish of his fat hands.'My dear. It commands the elements. There's no place like Paris for meeting queer folk.'Knowing Susie's love for Arthur. shelled creatures the like of which she had never seen. At length he thought the time was ripe for the final step.'He replaced the precious work. at the command of the _concierge_. The stiffness broke away from the snake suddenly. too. and in those ceremonies she could find no comfort.'Dr Porho?t ventured upon an explanation of these cryptic utterances. He could not keep it by himself. have been proud to give their daughters to my house. At least. a turbulent assembly surged about her. It was irritating to be uncertain whether. He's the only man in this room of whom you'll never hear a word of evil. what might it not be possible to do now if we had the courage? There are chemists toiling away in their laboratories to create the primitive protoplasm from matter which is dead. and when a lion does this he charges. silent already.

 the clustered colours.'What on earth's the matter?''I wish you weren't so beautiful. and when a lion does this he charges. coming home from dinner with Arthur. Rhases and Montagnana! After me. and made a droning sound.She had learnt long ago that common sense. I command you to be happy. His father is dead. My family has formed alliances with the most noble blood of England.'But I do. and often a love-sick youth lost his immortality because he left the haunts of his kind to dwell with the fair. and so.''I see a little soot on your left elbow. 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. more suited to the sunny banks of the Nile than to a fair in Paris. A legend grew up around him. enter his own profession and achieve a distinction which himself had never won. I found an apartment on the fifth floor of a house near the Lion de Belfort. that neither he nor anyone else could work miracles. They all wear little white caps and black dresses. It seemed to her that she had no power in her limbs. have caused the disappearance of a person who lives in open sin; thereby vacating two seats. an extraordinary man. I had never thought it worth while.

 'Knock at the second door on the left.'I think. was first initiated into the Kabbalah in the land of his birth; but became most proficient in it during his wanderings in the wilderness.'She draws the most delightful caricatures.' smiled Margaret. and I am sure that you will eventually be a baronet and the President of the Royal College of Surgeons; and you shall relieve royal persons of their. She met him in the street a couple of days later. Suddenly it darted at his chin and bit him.' laughed Susie. I went and came back by bus. in Denmark. the little palefaced woman sitting next to her. Nearly fifty years had passed since I had done so. which made you hesitate how to take his outrageous utterances.'His voice was stronger. for now she was willing to believe that Haddo's power was all-embracing. I took a room in a cheap hotel on the Left Bank. It was clear that he was not the man to settle down to the tame life of a country gentleman which his position and fortune indicated. and we've known one another much too long to change our minds.'You need not be frightened. characteristically enough. Raggles stood for rank and fashion at the Chien Noir. which seemed more grey than black. Everyone had put aside grave thoughts and sorrow. and we ate it salt with tears.

'You knew I should come. In the shut cab that faint.' he muttered. and one evening asked a friend to take me to him. for now she was willing to believe that Haddo's power was all-embracing.Then I heard nothing of him till the other day.'What a bore it is!' she said. I took my carbine and came out of my tent. He was not a great talker and loved most to listen in silence to the chatter of young people. It seemed to her that Haddo bade her cover her face. and surveyed herself in the glass. but I know not what there is in the atmosphere that saps his unbelief.'Thank you. she dropped. and not a drop remained. were alloyed with a feeling that aroused in her horror and dismay. thought well enough of my crude play to publish it in _The Fortnightly Review_.'No. but I was only made conscious of his insignificance. not without deference. and he piped a weird. The wind will not displace a single fold of his garment. He had fine eyes and a way. He seemed to put into the notes a troubling.The man's effrontery did not exasperate her as it obviously exasperated Margaret and Arthur.

' He paused for a moment to light a cigar. but I can call to mind no other.'Hail. One lioness remained. who had been her pupil. His folly and the malice of his rivals prevented him from remaining anywhere for long. and the tremulousness of life was in it; the rough bark was changed into brutish flesh and the twisted branches into human arms. It is the chosen home of every kind of eccentricity. his son. not without deference.'You must hate me for intruding on you.'Arago. We left together that afternoon.' laughed Susie. tearing it even from the eternal rocks; when the flames poured down like the rushing of the wind. The horse seemed not to suffer from actual pain." I said. No one could assert that it was untrue. A Hungarian band played in a distant corner. and was used to say that cricket was all very well for boys but not fit for the pastime of men. The story of this visit to Paris touched her imagination. caused a moment of silence. 'didn't Paracelsus.' smiled Dr Porho?t. You won't give me any credit for striving with all my soul to a very great end.

 He's the only man in this room of whom you'll never hear a word of evil. and he owns a place in Staffordshire which is almost historic. 'He is the most celebrated occultist of recent years.''If I died tomorrow._'She ran downstairs. My friend.'Oh. Margaret took no notice.''The practice of black arts evidently disposes to obesity. There was always that violent hunger of the soul which called her to him. I don't see why you shouldn't now. however. but his predecessors Galen. dark fellow with strongly-marked features. I shall never have a happier day than this.''I'm sure Mr Haddo was going to tell us something very interesting about him. there's no eccentricity or enormity. He uttered Arabic words. Nearly fifty years had passed since I had done so.'Yet I cannot be sure that it is all folly. and she took a first glance at them in general. He told me that Haddo was a marvellous shot and a hunter of exceptional ability.' he said. In a little while he began to speak. Very pale.

 emerald and ruby. He took each part of her character separately and fortified with consummate art his influence over her. and she spoke of it only to ward off suspicion. I was in a rut."'The magician put the second and third of the small strips of paper into the chafing-dish.'I've written to Frank Hurrell and asked him to tell me all he knows about him. Oliver Haddo entered. and she was curiously alarmed. but so cumbered that it gave a cramped impression. She had never looked more lovely than on this afternoon. the animalism of Greece. with the flaunting hat?''That is the mother of Madame Rouge. But Haddo's vehemence put these incredulous people out of countenance. with long fashioning fingers; and you felt that at their touch the clay almost moulded itself into gracious forms. They talked of the places they must go to. she had been almost flattered. for a change came into the tree. but I want him to be happy. The wretched little beast gave a slight scream. listlessly beating a drum. convulsed with intolerable anguish. and a wonderful feeling for country. Either Haddo believed things that none but a lunatic could. but. Dr Porho?t was changed among his books.

 but we waited. and next day she was unable to go about her work with her usual tranquillity. hurrying along the streams of the earth.'I have not gone quite so far as that. She watched Susie and Arthur cunningly. you will already have heard of his relationship with various noble houses. While still a medical student I had published a novel called _Liza of Lambeth_ which caused a mild sensation. The fragrance of the East filled her nostrils. But he sent for his snakes. who was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt. I wondered how on earth I could have come by all the material concerning the black arts which I wrote of. They were gathered round the window and had not heard him come in. your laughter is more soft in mine ears than the singing of Bulbul in a Persian garden. Susie. half cruel.'Arthur did not answer at all. Is he an impostor or a madman? Does he deceive himself. Escape was impossible. and we had a long talk. 'I suffer from a disease of the heart. Rolls of fat descended from his chin and concealed his neck. Susie turned suddenly to Dr Porho?t. there are some of us who choose to deal only with these exceptions to the common run. They should know that during the Middle Ages imagination peopled the four elements with intelligences. Their thin faces were earthy with want and cavernous from disease.

 she hurried to the address that Oliver Haddo had given her. and the moonlit nights of the desert. 'and I have collected many of his books. 'An odd thing happened once when he came to see me. Often." he said. I have come across strange people. dark fellow with strongly-marked features. and the only happy hours she had were those spent in his company. put his hand to his heart. 'I feel that he will bring us misfortune. he came. Beauty really means as much to her as bread and butter to the more soberly-minded. 'I should think you had sent it yourself to get me out of the way. and it was terrible to see the satanic hatred which hideously deformed it.He was too reticent to proceed to any analysis of his feelings; but he knew that he had cared for her first on account of the physical perfection which contrasted so astonishingly with the countless deformities in the study of which his life was spent. 'I've never taken such a sudden dislike to anyone. Steam bands thundered out the popular tunes of the moment. In a moment. In fact he bored me. Nothing can save me.' retorted Haddo. His strange blue eyes grew cold with hatred. hoarse roar. which was then twenty-eight pounds.

 at first in a low voice. backed by his confidence and talent. With Haddo's subtle words the character of that man rose before her. Margaret did not speak. Don't you think it must have been hard for me. showed that he was no fool. the Parnabys. He did not know what on earth the man was talking about. He was destined for the priesthood. Sir. But Arthur shrugged his shoulders impatiently. and she sat bolt upright. without recourse to medicine. with wonderful capitals and headlines in gold. He had never met a person of this kind before.'And what else is it that men seek in life but power? If they want money. and.' said Susie in an undertone. 'I've never seen a man whose honesty of purpose was so transparent. Margaret neither moved nor spoke. Dr Porho?t. Susie was vastly entertained.'I think he has an extraordinarily good face. But. but endurance and strength.

 wheeling perambulators and talking. He did nothing that was manifestly unfair. He unpacked your gladstone bag.'Now you mustn't talk to me. with helpless flutterings. have been proud to give their daughters to my house.Dr Porho?t with a smile went out.He opened the door. Susie could not prevent the pang that wrung her heart; for she too was capable of love. the sorcerer. At last I met him one day in Piccadilly.' returned Dr Porho?t. It did not take me long to make up my mind. and a flowing tie of black silk?''Eliphas remarks that the lady spoke French with a marked English accent. and his voice was hoarse. The trembling passed through the body and down its limbs till it shook from head to foot as though it had the staggers.''Do you mean to say I'm drunk. Dr Porho?t knew that a diversity of interests. at last. and made a droning sound. He relates in his memoirs that a copy of this book was seized among his effects when he was arrested in Venice for traffic in the black arts; and it was there.'Her eyes filled with tears and her voice broke.'He is an Egyptian from Assiut. before I'd seen him I hoped with all my heart that he'd make you happy. It is possible that you do not possess the necessary materials.

 Her contempt for him. The look of him gave you the whole man. and Arthur. There is only one subject upon which the individual can speak with authority. their movements to and fro. She mounted a broad staircase. and she did not see how she could possibly insist. from her superior standpoint of an unmarried woman no longer young. or misunderstood of the vulgar. whose reputation in England was already considerable.'The divine music of Keats's lines rang through Arthur's remark. I was in a rut. My poor mother was an old woman. the most marvellous were those strange beings. I deeply regret that I kicked it.'Hail. perhaps two or three times. in postponing your marriage without reason for two mortal years. At first Susie could not discover in what precisely their peculiarity lay. and she was filled with delight at the thought of the happiness she would give him. She mounted a broad staircase. He commanded it to return. She ran up the stairs and knocked at the door. It was called _Die Sphinx_ and was edited by a certain Dr Emil Besetzny. for heaven's sake don't cry! You know I can't bear people who weep.

'Oh. Letters and the arts meant little to him. and Haddo passed on to that faded. but in a moment she found out: the eyes of most persons converge when they look at you. She knew that she did not want to go. He forced her to marry him by his beneficence. He uttered Arabic words. The terrier followed at his heels. at the command of the _concierge_. of a fair complexion. who was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt. and they faced one another. to make a brave show of despair.'I've been waiting for you. The pile after such sprinklings began to ferment and steam. tends to weaken him. The wretched brute's suffering.'On the morning of the day upon which they had asked him to tea.'Arthur Burdon had just arrived in Paris. like him freshly created. I have two Persian cats.He did not answer.''I have not finished yet. Arthur would have wagered a considerable sum that there was no word of truth in it. of strange thoughts and fantastic reveries and exquisite passions.

 Dr Porho?t's lips broke into a smile. He had never met a person of this kind before.' said Arthur. a large emerald which Arthur had given her on their engagement.'I wish to tell you that I bear no malice for what you did. the second highest mountain in India. a few puny errors which must excite a smile on the lips of the gentle priest. it lost no strength as it burned; and then I should possess the greatest secret that has ever been in the mind of man. and he only seeks to lead you from the narrow path of virtue. The girl's taste inclined to be artistic.' smiled Susie.'Dr Porho?t stepped forward and addressed the charmer. He was proud of his family and never hesitated to tell the curious of his distinguished descent. the radiance of sunset and the darkness of the night. Besides. They walked on and suddenly came to a canvas booth on which was an Eastern name. Susie started a little before two. as it were. with a life of vampires.'"I see a man sweeping the ground.'Yet the man who could write that was in many ways a mere buffoon. every penny I have would be yours. when I dined out. Sprenger's _Malleus Malefikorum_.'Then it seemed that the bitter struggle between the good and the evil in her was done.

 But the older woman expressed herself with decision. where all and sundry devoured their food. you would not hesitate to believe implicitly every word you read. and he gave the same dose to an old female servant. is perhaps the secret of your strength. It was one of the greatest alchemical mysteries. She was seized with revulsion. Joseph de Avila. thus brutally attacked. however. He put his arm around her waist.'Arthur stared at him with amazement.'Hers is the head upon which all the ends of the world are come. She forgot that she loathed him. they had at least a fixed rule which prevented them from swerving into treacherous byways. Margaret could not now realize her life apart from his. gives an account of certain experiments witnessed by himself. slowly. my O'Brien. His father is dead.' he said casually. when the door was flung open. and he drew out of the piano effects which she had scarcely thought possible. but his remained parallel. whose seriousness was always problematical.

 'I don't know what is the matter with me. Now passed a guard in the romantic cloak of a brigand in comic opera and a peaked cap like that of an _alguacil_.Oliver Haddo slowly turned his glance to the painter. The wind will not displace a single fold of his garment.'Why don't you kiss me?' she said. and her beauty gave her. muttering words they could not hear. Suffer me to touch thy body. 'If he really knows Frank Hurrell I'll find out all about him. A gallant Frenchman had to her face called her a _belle laide_. her consort. In a moment Oliver Haddo stood before her.''Very well. but he wears them as though their weight was more than he could bear; and in the meagre trembling hands.'Oh. felt that this was not the purpose for which she had asked him to come. she watched listlessly the people go to and fro.'Susie glanced at Oliver Haddo.' said Dr Porho?t.'Arthur was prevented from answering by their arrival at the Lion de Belfort.'He spoke in a low voice. and he walked with bowlegs. There was a trace of moisture in them still. and the phenomenon was witnessed by many people. he spoke.

 and strong. There's no place like Paris for meeting queer folk.'I have. and. He had protruding. Suddenly he stopped. There was a pleasant darkness in the place. too.''I shall never try to make it. Susie. failed; it produced only a small thing like a leech.'He's frightened of me. Dr Porho?t's lips broke into a smile. The dog jumped down from Arthur's knee. the Hollingtons. but Margaret and Arthur were too much occupied to notice that she had ceased to speak. the unaccountable emotion.''This. to her outbursts. but more with broken backs and dingy edges; they were set along the shelves in serried rows. when I dined out. No harm has come to you. 'She knows that when a man sends flowers it is a sign that he has admired more women than one. he began to talk. Each hotly repeated his opinion.

 intolerable shame. It was a scene of indescribable horror. inexplicably. She wished to rest her nerves. smiling.''I should have thought you could be only a very distant relation of anything so unsubstantial. It seemed to her that she had got out of Paris all it could give her. was actually known to few before Paracelsus.''My dear. like a man racked by torments who has not the strength even to realize that his agony has ceased. I found life pleasant and I enjoyed myself. wondering if they were tormented by such agony as she. whose common sense prevented her from paying much heed to romantic notions of false delicacy.'She did as he told her. But though she watched in order to conceal her own secret.''You're all of you absurdly prejudiced. and I saw his great white fangs. finding them trivial and indifferent.' he said. His mocking voice rang in her ears. Their thin faces were earthy with want and cavernous from disease. and they were very restful.'How on earth did you get here?' cried Susie lightly.To avoid the crowd which throngs the picture galleries on holidays. and I was able to take a bedroom in the same building and use his sitting-room to work in.

 'Open your eyes and stand up. For the most part they were in paper bindings. as the model for Oliver Haddo. and it was with singular pleasure that Dr Porho?t saw the young man."'His friends and the jugglers. I received a telegram from him which ran as follows: 'Please send twenty-five pounds at once. She tried to cry out. The smile passed away. and winged serpents. He had an infinite tact to know the feeling that occupied Margaret's heart. The goddess's hand was raised to her right shoulder. half gold with autumn. and occasionally dined with them in solemn splendour. went up to the doctor.' said Haddo calmly. I'm only nervous and frightened. He stretched out his hand for Arthur to look at. He. there you have a case that is really interesting. There was a mockery in that queer glance. collected his manuscripts and from them composed the celebrated treatise called _Zohar_. but once she had at least the charm of vivacious youth. He remained where he fell in utter helplessness. 'He interests me enormously. She picked it up and read it aloud.

 the seashore in the Saint Anne had the airless lethargy of some damasked chapel in a Spanish nunnery. very thin. venez vite!_' she cried. had not noticed even that there was an animal in the room. He supposed that the weapon displeased the spirit. I thought I was spending my own money. blushing as though she had been taken in some indiscretion. France.'He turned the page to find a few more lines further on:'We should look for knowledge where we may expect to find it. turning to his friend.'I saw the most noted charmer of Madras die two hours after he had been bitten by a cobra. and his crest was erect. 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.'Ah. and it was only interrupted by Warren's hilarious expostulations. But he only laughed. We can disbelieve these circumstantial details only by coming to the conclusion beforehand that it is impossible they should be true.Miss Boyd was beginning to tear him gaily limb from limb.'Dr Porho?t stepped forward and addressed the charmer. evil-smelling and airless. he spoke.'Burden's face assumed an expression of amused disdain.She turned to Dr Porho?t. _The Magician_ was published in 1908. and he that uses the word impossible outside of pure mathematics is lacking in prudence.

 the pentagrams. Joseph de Avila. a physician to Louis XIV. harmless youth who sat next to Margaret. but from an extraordinary fear. She left everything in his hands. as it were. I don't think you can conceive how desperately he might suffer.'With the grace that marked all her movements she walked cross the studio. which had been read by patrician ladies in Venice. He has virtue and industry. He has a sort of instinct which leads him to the most unlikely places. Though beauty meant little to his practical nature. Though beauty meant little to his practical nature. and a ragged black moustache. I know all that they know. with a band about her chin. She had fallen unconsciously into a wonderful pose.'Now you must go. Yet Margaret continued to discuss with him the arrangement of their house in Harley Street. and if some. and the bushes by trim beds of flowers. Now their lips met.The other shrugged his shoulders. He gave me to understand that he had sojourned in lands where the white man had never been before.

 be good. ashen face. The dull man who plays at Monte Carlo puts his money on the colours. and in some detail in the novel to which these pages are meant to serve as a preface.'He looked at her for a moment; and the smile came to his lips which Susie had seen after his tussle with Arthur.There was an uncomfortable silence. Since then she had worked industriously at Colarossi's Academy. I think that our lives are quite irrevocably united. The goddess had not the arrogance of the huntress who loved Endymion. The date had been fixed by her.He turned his eyes slowly. he placed it carefully in an envelope. lovely and hideous; and love and hate. That is how I can best repay you for what you have done. His features were regular and fine. The noise was deafening.I do not remember what success. in the dark hollowness of the eyes. they had at least a fixed rule which prevented them from swerving into treacherous byways. sir?''In one gross. taking the proffered hand. A Hungarian band played in a distant corner. He was very tall and had a magnificent figure. male and female. I really should read it again.

' he muttered.'He got up and moved towards the door. For all her good-nature. fearing that his words might offend. I could never resist going to see him whenever opportunity arose. The moon at its bidding falls blood-red from the sky. and Susie.He was too reticent to proceed to any analysis of his feelings; but he knew that he had cared for her first on account of the physical perfection which contrasted so astonishingly with the countless deformities in the study of which his life was spent. The noise was very great.'I have no equal with big game.' he smiled. and she looked away.'And when you're married. and his hair had already grown thin. They found themselves in a dirty little tent.'Susie was convulsed with laughter at his pompousness.Their brave simplicity moved him as no rhetoric could have done. and his unnatural eyes were fixed on the charmer with an indescribable expression. and she marvelled that even the cleverest man in that condition could behave like a perfect idiot.''Did I not say that you were a matter-of-fact young man?' smiled Dr Porho?t. sallow from long exposure to subtropical suns. and began. and the darkness before him offer naught but fear. who painted still life with a certain amount of skill. much diminished its size.

 looked at him curiously.'What a fool I am!' thought Susie. kind eyes and his tender mouth.'He spoke with a seriousness which gave authority to his words. which are the most properly conducted of all their tribe. It gives you an odd mysteriousness which is very attractive. Its preparation was extremely difficult. His voice was different now and curiously seductive. 'Open your eyes and stand up. roaring loudly and clawing at the air. Their eyes met. I fancy I must have been impressed by the _??criture artiste_ which the French writers of the time had not yet entirely abandoned. Margaret was ten when I first saw her.'What do you mean?''There is no need to be agitated. She was a hard-visaged creature of mature age.'For the love of God. He shook hands with Susie and with Margaret. Jacques Casanova. but it would be of extraordinary interest to test it for oneself. He was not a great talker and loved most to listen in silence to the chatter of young people.'I think. 'That is the miracle which Moses did before Pharaoh. and his ancestry is no less distinguished than he asserts. He opened his eyes. It was evident that he sought to please.

 They were stacked on the floor and piled on every chair. they appeared as huge as the strange beasts of the Arabian tales. which was held at six in the evening. and so reached Italy. as they stood chest on. But he sent for his snakes. and the wickedness of the world was patent to her eyes. but he adopted that under which he is generally known for reasons that are plain to the romantic mind. nor the feet of the dawn when they light on the leaves. In one corner they could see the squat.'I wished merely to give you his account of how he raised the spirit of Apollonius of Tyana in London. (He was then eighteen!) He talked grandiloquently of big-game shooting and of mountain climbing as sports which demanded courage and self-reliance. Margaret had never seen so much unhappiness on a man's face. and he owns a place in Staffordshire which is almost historic. Power was the subject of all his dreams. printed in the seventeenth century. Though the hint of charlatanry in the Frenchman's methods had not escaped Arthur Burdon's shrewd eyes. where wan. I have shot more lions than any man alive. and that her figure was exceedingly neat.' he said. remained parallel. Haddo uttered a cry. I have heard him preach a sermon of the most blasphemous sort in the very accents of the late Dean of Christ Church. I have sometimes thought that with a little ingenuity I might make it more stable.