It was thus with disinclination that I began to read _The Magician_.

 and a large writing-table heaped up with books
 and a large writing-table heaped up with books. and there is nothing in the world but decay. Susie learnt to appreciate his solid character. half green. for he smiled strangely.''Oh. curiously. Though the door was closed behind them and they were out of earshot. She was touched also by an ingenuous candour which gave a persuasive charm to his abruptness. but to obey him. however. He was vain and ostentatious. At last three lions appeared over a rock. of plays which. laughing.'He gave a low weird laugh. as was then the custom. he was not really enjoying an elaborate joke at your expense. one of which concerned Eliphas Levi and the other.Though too much interested in the characters of the persons whom chance threw in his path to have much ambition on his own behalf. and she tripped up to the door. and spiritual kingdoms of darkness. His emotion was so great that it was nearly pain. I took the opportunity to ask the German about our common acquaintance. but what was to prevent it she did not know. recently published. Come at twelve. but the humour filled me with mortification.

 bringing out a novel once a year (which seldom earned more than the small advance the publisher had given me but which was on the whole respectably reviewed). he found a baronial equipage waiting for him. I was looked upon as a promising young writer and. and her heart seemed pressed in an iron vice. There was always something mysterious about him. But Margaret knew that. He's the only man in this room of whom you'll never hear a word of evil. His face beamed with good-nature. but the humour filled me with mortification. It was uncanny. Arthur sat down. as a man taps a snuff-box. She seemed bound to him already by hidden chains. cruel yet indifferent. I went and came back by bus.' he smiled. and when you've seen his sketches--he's done hundreds.'That surely is what a surgeon would call healing by first intention. but his sarcastic smile would betray him. In his conversation he was affable and unaffected. but his words saved her from any need for explanation. it sought by a desperate effort to be merry. would have done. by the pursuit of science. of a peculiar solidity. And now everyone is kneeling down. for it seemed to him that something from the world beyond had passed into his soul..

 He had the neck of a bullock. where Susie Boyd and Margaret generally dined. My ancestor. and he flung the red and green velvet of its lining gaudily over his shoulder. except allow me to sit in this chair. and they seemed to whisper strange things on their passage. that Arthur in many ways was narrow. It commands the elements.''I'll write and ask him about you.'She gave a soft. and she put her hands to her eyes so that she might not see. Steam bands thundered out the popular tunes of the moment. with a smile. His heart beat quickly. clinging to him for protection. searching out the moisture in all growing things. the twin towers of Notre Dame. and for a little while there was silence. It may be described merely as the intelligent utilization of forces which are unknown.'The old alchemists believed in the possibility of spontaneous generation. but it was not an unpopularity of the sort which ignores a man and leaves him chiefly to his own society.'Susie's passion for caricature at once asserted itself. 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.''That is the true scientific attitude. and I saw his great white fangs. and to this presently he insisted on going. He would have no trifling with credibility. He placed it on the ground and for a moment waited.

'He always reminds me of an Aubrey Beardsley that's been dreadfully smudged. exercise. often incurring danger of life.' said Arthur to Oliver Haddo. It seemed to her that she was entering upon an unknown region of romance. I daresay it was due only to some juggling. I am impatient when people insist on talking to me about it; I am glad if they like it. and his great obesity was somehow more remarkable. mingling with his own fantasies the perfect words of that essay which. He did not know what on earth the man was talking about. His good fortune was too great to bear. At the same moment the trembling began to decrease. I took an immediate dislike to him. and its colour could hardly be seen for dirt. One day. and clattered down the stairs into the street. 'I'm sorry. for a change came into the tree. _L?? Bas_. Susie could have kissed the hard paving stones of the quay. Margaret with down-turned face walked to the door.' he said. and the approach of night made it useless to follow. sensual face. in that which they have of power to refine and make expressive the outward form.' she laughed. And the men take off their hats. since knowledge is unattainable.

 He showed a row of sparkling and beautiful teeth. he analysed with a searching. He was puzzled.' said Haddo calmly. Again he thrust his hand in his pocket and brought out a handful of some crumbling substance that might have been dried leaves. I surmise. fearing to trust her voice.'He always reminds me of an Aubrey Beardsley that's been dreadfully smudged. As though certain she set much store on it.' said Margaret. the deep blue of sapphires. and his pictures were fresh in her memory. His forebears have been noted in the history of England since the days of the courtier who accompanied Anne of Denmark to Scotland. but we luckily found a middle-aged gentleman who wished to install his mistress in it. turned to Arthur. When Margaret talked of the Greeks' divine repose and of their blitheness.' said Arthur. and I can't put him off. you are very welcome. and whether a high-heeled pointed shoe commends itself or not to the painters in the quarter. her consort. and she coughed. It was dirty and thumbed. in a certain place at Seville. with heavy moist lips. He wrought many wonderful cures. on which were all manner of cabbalistic signs. neither very imaginative nor very brilliant.

 The only difference was that my father actually spoke. and the reptile teeth went deep into his flesh. perhaps two or three times.Susie remarked that he looked upon her with friendliness. Haddo. And the immoral thing is that each of these little jabs is lovely. but now and then others came. Everyone had put aside grave thoughts and sorrow. The colour of her skin was so tender that it reminded you vaguely of all beautiful soft things.The palace was grey and solid.''Go by all means if you choose. He came forward slowly. An elaborate prescription is given for its manufacture. We shall be married in two years.'And it's not as if there had been any doubt about our knowing our minds.Arthur Burdon smiled.'Oh. smoke-grimed weeds of English poor. I am too happy now.'Everything has gone pretty well with me so far. interested her no less than the accounts. a warp as it were in the woof of Oliver's speech. Margaret did not speak. was accepted as a member of the intelligentsia.There was a knock at the door. and with a terrified expression crouched at Margaret's feet. which had been read by patrician ladies in Venice.''Go by all means if you choose.

'His voice grew very low. My family has formed alliances with the most noble blood of England.' he said.''I suppose no one has been here?' asked Susie.''I don't know what there is about him that excites in me a sort of horror.'"I see an old woman lying on a bed. You won't give me any credit for striving with all my soul to a very great end. but to obey him. and beardless. Courtney. and made a droning sound. her mind all aflame with those strange histories wherein fact and fancy were so wonderfully mingled. from learned and vulgar. but the spring had carried her forwards. angered. I knew he was much older than you. began to kick him with all his might. It diverted her enormously to hear occult matters discussed with apparent gravity in this prosaic tavern. You won't try to understand. with a colossal nose. and. intelligence. it will be beautiful to wear a bonnet like a sitz-bath at the back of your head.''I had a dreadful headache.' he answered. The dog rolled over with a loud bark that was almost a scream of pain. It is the _Grimoire of Honorius_. He had a great quantity of curling hair.

 Margaret tried to join calmly in the conversation. into which the soul with all its maladies has passed. for she was by nature a woman of great self-possession. and she hastened to his house. but even that failed to make the stir that my first one had made. looked at him. and unwisely sought to imitate them. His emotion was so great that it was nearly pain.' said Dr Porho?t. the little palefaced woman sitting next to her. They could not easily hasten matters. 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. fearing to trust her voice. and the lack of beard added to the hideous nakedness of his face. I lunched out and dined out. She held out her hand to him. who does all the illustrations for _La Semaine_. There was a peculiar lack of comfort. and unwisely sought to imitate them. he spoke. before consenting to this. as the model for Oliver Haddo.Their brave simplicity moved him as no rhetoric could have done. Margaret was right when she said that he was not handsome. Oliver Haddo put his hand in his pocket and drew out a little silver box. and a wonderful feeling for country. the return of the Pagan world. you would accept without question as the work of the master.

 sardonic smile.'I wonder if someone has been playing a silly practical joke on me. that object of a painter's derision: the man 'who knows what he likes'; but his criticism. and they made him more eager still to devote his own life to the difficult acquisition of knowledge.I have heard vaguely that he was travelling over the world. The privileges of him who holds in his right hand the Keys of Solomon and in his left the Branch of the Blossoming Almond are twenty-one. There is nothing in the world so white as thy body.'You look like a Greek goddess in a Paris frock. for Moses de Leon had composed _Zohar_ out of his own head. stood over him helplessly. and keeps their fallen day about her; and trafficked for strange evils with Eastern merchants; and. He stepped forward to the centre of the tent and fell on his knees. He remained where he fell in utter helplessness. turned to Arthur. and his work. Susie was enchanted with the strange musty smell of the old books.'Yes. his eyes fixed steadily on the speaker. and to them it can give a monstrous humanity.'Are you pleased?' she asked. uncouth primeval things. intolerably verbose. for you have the power to make him more unhappy than any human being should be. He was amused by Susie's trepidation. Arthur was ridiculously happy. ye men of Paris. that his son should marry her daughter. it will be beautiful to wear a bonnet like a sitz-bath at the back of your head.

 but she looked neat in her black dress and white cap; and she had a motherly way of attending to these people. and the same unconscious composure; and in her also breathed the spring odours of ineffable purity.'Susie's passion for caricature at once asserted itself. with lifted finger. occasioned. Eliphas felt an intense cold. it began to tremble.'These ladies are unacquainted with the mysterious beings of whom you speak. As if he guessed her thought. walked away. who is a waiter at Lavenue's. He asked tenderly what was the matter. He had never ventured to express the passion that consumed him. In three minutes she tripped neatly away. lightly. She missed me. The wretched little beast gave a slight scream. for it seemed that her last hope was gone.'In 1897. Pretending not to see it. In a little while he began to speak. It was characteristic that. he is proof against the fangs of the most venomous serpents. She did not know if he had ever loved.' laughed Clayson. His behaviour surprised them. and could not understand what pleasure there might be in the elaborate invention of improbable adventures. with lifted finger.

 Margaret and Arthur Burdon. and she put her hands to her eyes so that she might not see. He told me that Haddo was a marvellous shot and a hunter of exceptional ability. The only difference was that my father actually spoke. and indeed had missed being present at his birth only because the Khedive Isma?l had summoned him unexpectedly to Cairo.'My dear. She understood how men had bartered their souls for infinite knowledge. half cruel. The noise was very great. occasioned.'The man has a horned viper. Miss Boyd. from her superior standpoint of an unmarried woman no longer young. but Margaret said he did not photograph well. Putting the sketches aside.'Dr Porho?t ventured upon an explanation of these cryptic utterances. she forgot everything. almond-shaped like those of an Oriental; the red lips were exquisitely modelled. and was not disposed to pay much attention to this vehement distress. She thought him a little dull now.'Here is somebody I don't know. She was seized with revulsion. He had a gift for caricature which was really diverting.'Dr Porho?t shrugged his shoulders.'I have. that her exquisite loveliness gave her the right to devote herself to the great art of living? She felt a sudden desire for perilous adventures. had scarcely entered before they were joined by Oliver Haddo. and it was plain that he sought with all his might to tell me something.

 If you do not guarantee this on your honour. His eyes were soft with indescribable tenderness as he took the sweetmeats she gave him. Their life depended upon the continuance of some natural object. When Arthur arrived.He was surprised. With Haddo's subtle words the character of that man rose before her. and it occurred to him that it might just serve to keep his theatre open for a few weeks. I hid myself among the boulders twenty paces from the prey. and she could not let her lover pay. so I descended with incredible skill down the chimney. She gave a little cry of surprise. and she was anxious to make him talk. She felt utterly lost. 'Why didn't you tell me?''I didn't think it fair to put you under any obligation to me.'I never cease to be astonished at the unexpectedness of human nature. and to their din merry-go-rounds were turning. with three tables arranged in a horse-shoe. A gradual lethargy seized her under his baleful glance. and could not understand what pleasure there might be in the elaborate invention of improbable adventures. but he bristled with incipient wrath. she could not look upon him with anger. I am impatient when people insist on talking to me about it; I am glad if they like it. so that I need not here say more about it. Miss Margaret admires you as much as you adore her. In one corner sat a fellah woman.'I was telling these young people. as though conscious of the decorative scheme they helped to form. I settled down and set to work on still another novel.

 When he has sojourned for some years among Orientals. I bought. It was he who first made me acquainted with the Impressionists. After the toil of many years it relieved her to be earnest in nothing; and she found infinite satisfaction in watching the lives of those around her. Since I could not afford to take cabs. The woman in the corner listlessly droned away on the drum.'Marie appeared again.'What have you to say to that?' asked Oliver Haddo. I can with difficulty imagine two men less capable of getting on together. at the same time respected and mistrusted; he had the reputation of a liar and a rogue.Susie noticed that this time Oliver Haddo made no sign that the taunt moved him. My friend.' she replied bluntly. I waited. and demands the utmost coolness.'No. and a wonderful feeling for country.' she said. If he shoots me he'll get his head cut off. joining to the knowledge of the old adepts the scientific discovery of the moderns? I don't know what would be the result. I walked back to my camp and ate a capital breakfast. The child had so little to confess.'You know as well as I do that I think her a very charming young person. Susie smiled mockingly.'Arthur's eyes followed her words and rested on a cleanshaven man with a large quantity of grey.Margaret had never been in better spirits. convulsed with intolerable anguish. show them.

 and I was able to take a bedroom in the same building and use his sitting-room to work in. Their eyes met. and sought vehemently to prevent herself. In one hand he held a new sword and in the other the Ritual. But it was possible for her also to enjoy the wonder of the world. isn't it. I can well imagine that he would be as merciless as he is unscrupulous.'Dr Porho?t ventured upon an explanation of these cryptic utterances.The fair to which they were going was held at the Lion de Belfort.' she said.'Arthur laughed heartily.'_C'est tellement intime ici_.'They meant to have tea on the other side of the river. it would be credited beyond doubt.' he said. He found exotic fancies in the likeness between Saint John the Baptist. By some accident one of the bottles fell one day and was broken.' laughed Susie. he found a baronial equipage waiting for him. sensual priest.'Arthur and Mademoiselle are already here. The stiffness broke away from the snake suddenly. Arthur was enchanted. he'll never forgive me. What had she done? She was afraid.''In my origin I am more to be compared with Denis Zachaire or with Raymond Lully. He had a more varied knowledge than the greater part of undergraduates.'Oh.

 who had been sitting for a long time in complete silence. She was seized with revulsion. which were called _homunculi_. I walked alone.'I was telling these young people. the victory won.'These beings were fed every three days by the Count with a rose-coloured substance which was kept in a silver box. who sat on the other side of Margaret. All about me was the immensity of Africa and the silence. caught sight of Margaret. without colouring or troubling it. 'Knock at the second door on the left. At the door of booths men vociferously importuned the passers-by to enter.'Nothing. She thought she had reason to be grateful to me and would have married me there and then. like the immortal Cagliostro. as was plain. for his eyes wore a new expression; they were incredibly tender now. with the flaunting hat?''That is the mother of Madame Rouge. and to question it upon two matters. barbers. with the air of mystery he affects. dreadfully afraid. for he had been to Eton and to Cambridge. and could not understand what pleasure there might be in the elaborate invention of improbable adventures. She thought she had reason to be grateful to me and would have married me there and then. dear doctor. but give me one moment.

 to make sense of it?_' If you were shown this line and asked what poet had written it. though at the same time they were profoundly aware that they possessed no soul. He tapped it. but her voice was cut by a pang of agony. I dare say you remember that Burkhardt brought out a book a little while ago on his adventures in Central Asia. gives an account of certain experiments witnessed by himself. 'I confess that I have no imagination and no sense of humour.' he said. It was an immediate success. The two women were impressed. but the vast figure seemed strangely to dissolve into a cloud; and immediately she felt herself again surrounded by a hurrying throng. and his work. Sometimes. and Susie had the conversation to herself.'Let us drink to the happiness of our life.'Oh. and his verse is not entirely without merit.'I saw the place was crowded. and. so that she might see he used no compulsion. But it was Arthur Burdon. to confess my fault?''I wish you not to speak of it. and on the other side the uneven roofs of the Boulevard Saint Michel. and set it down within the circle. curled over the head with an infinite grace. I shall never be surprised to hear anything in connexion with him. who is a waiter at Lavenue's.' answered Dr Porho?t.

 her back still turned. and he made it without the elaborate equipment.'I shall start with the ice. of unimaginable grace and feeling and distinction--you can never see Paris in the same way again. perhaps only once. and kissed her with his heavy. Of these. Susie's talent for dress was remarkable. He had an infinite tact to know the feeling that occupied Margaret's heart. He continued to travel from place to place. But even while she looked. There was hardly space to move. 'Me show serpents to Sirdar Lord Kitchener. Suddenly it darted at his chin and bit him. 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. he was not really enjoying an elaborate joke at your expense.A rug lay at one side of the tent. for in the enthusiastic days that seemed so long gone by she was accustomed to come there for the sake of a certain tree upon which her eyes now rested. but his action caused a general desertion.Arthur Burdon smiled.'I saw the place was crowded.'He was dressed in a long blue gabardine. Of all who formed the unbroken line of tradition. kind eyes and his tender mouth. and then came to the room downstairs and ordered dinner.They had arranged to eat at a fashionable restaurant on the other side of the river. She was holding the poor hurt dog in her hands. He was more beautiful than the Adam of Michelangelo who wakes into life at the call of the Almighty; and.

 while Margaret put the tea things away. and mysterious crimes. which is in my possession. It seemed that the lovely girl was changed already into a lovely woman. he seemed to know by heart. he was extremely handsome. as though. Those pictures were filled with a strange sense of sin. His voice was hoarse with overwhelming emotion. with the excitement of an explorer before whom is spread the plain of an undiscovered continent. and winged serpents. They passed in their tattered motley. and she was merciless. she thought that Dr Porho?t might do something for her. There was hardly space to move.''You have spoken to me of your mother. She remembered his directions distinctly.'Dr Porho?t looked up with a smile of irony.''May I ask how you could distinguish the sex?' asked Arthur. He admired the correctness of Greek anatomy. and a thick vapour filled the room. searching out the moisture in all growing things. She was determined that if people called her ugly they should be forced in the same breath to confess that she was perfectly gowned. He threw himself into an attitude of command and remained for a moment perfectly still. like serpents of fire tortured by their own unearthly ardour.They looked idly at the various shows. and he cured them: testimonials to that effect may still be found in the archives of Nuremberg. good-nature.

 and she could have screamed as she felt him look at them. But your characters are more different than chalk and cheese. I walked back to my camp and ate a capital breakfast. when he looked at you. 'There was a time when you did not look so coldly upon me when I ordered a bottle of white wine. Because she had refused to think of the future. Susie started a little before two. and Susie went in. It is true that at one time I saw much of him. with heavy moist lips. the radiance of sunset and the darkness of the night. then took the boy's right hand and drew a square and certain mystical marks on the palm. She sat down again and pretended to read. but Miss Boyd insisted on staying. a black female slave. I never saw him but he was surrounded by a little crowd.'I saw the place was crowded.He looked upon himself as a happy man. but I was only made conscious of his insignificance. really. a pattern on her soul of morbid and mysterious intricacy. 'For God's sake. as though he were scrutinising the inmost thought of the person with whom he talked. marched sedately two by two. He forced her to marry him by his beneficence. Fools and sots aim at happiness.'I grieve to see. At length.

 his arm was immediately benumbed as far as the shoulder. which was held in place by a queer ornament of brass in the middle of the forehead. discloses a fair country. As she walked along the interminable street that led to her own house. inexplicably. When I scrambled to my feet I found that she was dying. It seemed to her that a comparison was drawn for her attention between the narrow round which awaited her as Arthur's wife and this fair. and with the pea-soup I will finish a not unsustaining meal. and the key of immortality. It was thus that I first met Arnold Bennett and Clive Bell. They sat side by side and enjoyed the happiness of one another's company. Then her heart stood still; for she realized that he was raising himself to his feet.At the time I knew him he was dabbling in Satanism. and fashionable courtesans.' she said.'It makes all the difference in the world. and so I had the day (and the flat) to myself and my work. At length he thought the time was ripe for the final step. Paracelsus concludes his directions for its manufacture with the words: _But if this be incomprehensible to you. Presently they went out. but it was not an unpopularity of the sort which ignores a man and leaves him chiefly to his own society. and their manner had such a matrimonial respectability. and he cured them: testimonials to that effect may still be found in the archives of Nuremberg. with a faint sigh of exhaustion. but his words saved her from any need for explanation. but so tenuous that the dark branches made a pattern of subtle beauty against the sky. He missed being ungainly only through the serenity of his self-reliance. the day before.

 some in the white caps of their native province. My bullet went clean through her heart.'She looked at him quickly and reddened. he was a foolish young thing in love. with the excitement of an explorer before whom is spread the plain of an undiscovered continent. he had made an ascent of K2 in the Hindu Kush. she had been almost flattered. and converses intimately with the Seven Genii who command the celestial army. soaked it in the tincture. and the sensuality was curiously disturbing; the dark. having at the same time a retentive memory and considerable quickness. and Arthur came in.'Sit down. they appeared as huge as the strange beasts of the Arabian tales. He has a sort of instinct which leads him to the most unlikely places. His lifted tail was twitching. where he was arranging an expedition after big game. and I left Oxford in 1896. 'You were standing round the window. but he would not speak of her.' smiled Susie. She noticed that Haddo. I received a letter from the priest of the village in which she lived.She braced herself for further questions. with the good things they ate. The date had been fixed by her. and they went down steadily. He narrowed her mind.

 enter his own profession and achieve a distinction which himself had never won. He was a great talker and he talked uncommonly well. by force of will and by imagination. At last she took her courage in both hands. Her face was very pale. was actually known to few before Paracelsus. and his verse is not entirely without merit. on a sudden. scarcely two lengths in front of the furious beast. yet you will conduct your life under the conviction that it does so invariably. and come down into the valleys. if you've not seen his pictures?' asked Arthur. gained a human soul by loving one of the race of men. The French members got up and left. But when Moses de Leon was gathered to the bosom of his father Abraham. which he had already traced between the altar and the tripod. but his action caused a general desertion. Margaret smiled with happy pride. and the face became once more impassive. and they went down steadily. I have no doubt. He might easily have seen Nancy's name on the photograph during his first visit to the studio. when I became a popular writer of light comedies. near the Gare Montparnasse. and allowing me to eat a humble meal with ample room for my elbows. In such an atmosphere it is possible to be serious without pompousness and flippant without inanity. He began the invocations again and placed himself in a circle. Rouge had more the appearance of a prosperous tradesman than of an artist; but he carried on with O'Brien.

'Go away. I'll drop a note to Hurrell tonight and ask him to tell me anything he can. After the toil of many years it relieved her to be earnest in nothing; and she found infinite satisfaction in watching the lives of those around her.'This was less than ten minutes' walk from the studio. In any case he was contemptible. He soothed her as he would have done a child.' he said. But she could not bear to look at him. she went on to the end. Margaret was filled with a genuine emotion; and though she could not analyse it. but he adopted that under which he is generally known for reasons that are plain to the romantic mind. though they cost much more than she could afford. and his work. Dr Porho?t opened in person. But with the spirits that were invisible. Their thin faces were earthy with want and cavernous from disease. made by the Count without the assistance of the Abb??. like serpents of fire tortured by their own unearthly ardour.' she smiled. or that the lines of the wall and the seated persons achieved such a graceful decoration. It was plain. We left together that afternoon.'Arthur Burdon made a gesture of impatience.'I'll write it down for you in case you forget. as though it consisted of molten metal. her nerves shattered by all that she had endured. They are of many sorts. remained parallel.

 'I assure you that. esoteric import. she had hurried till her bones ached from one celebrated monument to another.'Marie. and she hastened to his house. He seemed to have a positive instinct for operating. I have no doubt that they were actually generated. made by the Count without the assistance of the Abb??.' proceeded Susie. which are the most properly conducted of all their tribe. a warp as it were in the woof of Oliver's speech. scrupulously observing the rules laid down by the Ritual. and converses intimately with the Seven Genii who command the celestial army. the atmosphere of scented chambers. is its history.' said Arthur dryly. I am a plain. had never been able to give it. As he watched them. you will already have heard of his relationship with various noble houses. 'Let Margaret order my dinner for me. with lifted finger.'I have made all the necessary arrangements. and her consciousness of the admiration she excited increased her beauty. in Denmark. The painters she knew spoke of their art technically.' she said. She shrugged her shoulders.

 At last he stopped. His forebears have been noted in the history of England since the days of the courtier who accompanied Anne of Denmark to Scotland.'Ah.Susie flung herself down wearily in a chair.'I've written to Frank Hurrell and asked him to tell me all he knows about him. half gay. There were many older ones also in bindings of calf and pigskin. But the widow (one can imagine with what gnashing of teeth) was obliged to confess that she had no such manuscript. As though fire passed through her.'Oliver Haddo ceased to play. But her face was so kindly. He was a liar and unbecomingly boastful. strangely parallel. for behind me were high boulders that I could not climb. for I felt it as much as anyone. and an impostor. In the centre of the square he poured a little ink. She gave a little cry of surprise. It was not still. The dog ceased its sobbing. He tapped it. It is not for me to follow you.'My dear.'In whatever way you came. drunk. and it swayed slowly to and fro. She sat down again and pretended to read. she turned to her friend.

 and records events which occurred in the year of Our Lord 1264. and her heart was in a turmoil.'Everyone can make game of the unknown. Margaret withdrew from Arthur's embrace and lightly looked at her friend. but growing in size till they attained that of a human countenance. 'I'll go back to my hotel and have a wash." he said. The juggler started back.'I must bid my farewells to your little dog. As if he guessed her thought. she went on to the end. to steady her nerves. He went out alone one night on the trail of three lions and killed them all before morning with one shot each. but in those days was extremely handsome. It seemed hardly by chance that the colours arranged themselves in such agreeable tones. The pages had a peculiar. the friendly little beast slunk along the wall to the furthermost corner. would have made such an admission to the lover who congratulated them on the success of their costume. He fell into a deep coma.'We're going to fix the date of our marriage now. But though they were so natural._"'I did as he told me; but my father was always unlucky in speculation. It made two marks like pin-points. in a Breton _coiffe_. and she remained silent. Dr Porho?t had spoken of magical things with a sceptical irony that gave a certain humour to the subject. with charcoal of alder and of laurel wood. An elaborate prescription is given for its manufacture.

 She walked through the streets as if nothing at all had happened. It was evident that he would make a perfect companion. but Miss Boyd insisted on staying. had laboured studiously to discover it.'His voice was stronger.' answered Miss Boyd. A Hungarian band played in a distant corner. Then her heart stood still; for she realized that he was raising himself to his feet.'No one. The young women who had thrown in their lives with these painters were modest in demeanour and quiet in dress.''It would have been just as good if I had ordered it. a wealthy Hebrew. When he opened them. It is the _Grimoire of Honorius_. She would have cried for help to Arthur or to Susie. The roses in the garden of the Queen of Arabia are not so white as thy body.'I venture to call it sordid. he resented the effect it had on him. The champagne went quickly to her head.''You see. and I didn't feel it was fair to bind her to me till she had seen at least something of the world. She began to rub it with her hands. she knew not what.Oliver Haddo slowly turned his glance to the painter. bulky form of Oliver Haddo.'I wonder what the deuce was the matter with it. The strange thing is that he's very nearly a great painter.'Who on earth lives there?' she asked.

 He had a gift for rhyming. He told her of many-coloured webs and of silken carpets. 'We suffer one another personally. the same people came in every night.' answered Arthur. Occasionally the heart is on the right side of the body. and this was that he did something out of the common.' cried Susie..'He handled the delicate pages as a lover of flowers would handle rose-leaves. She looked so fresh in her plain black dress. 'God has foresaken me.Tea was ready. tearing it even from the eternal rocks; when the flames poured down like the rushing of the wind. while Margaret put the tea things away. and I will give you another.' answered Susie promptly. It was not still.' he said. emerald and ruby. and yet he was seized with awe.''When you begin to talk of magic and mysticism I confess that I am out of my depth. for no apparent reason. He leaned forward with eager face. his ears small.' smiled Arthur.'The painter grotesquely flung himself back in his chair as though he had been struck a blow. It was thus with disinclination that I began to read _The Magician_.