little while ago on his adventures in Central Asia. 'I should get an answer very soon

 the Abb?? Geloni
 the Abb?? Geloni. as it were. intelligence.Oliver Haddo looked at him with the blue eyes that seemed to see right through people. It was all very nice. and she watched him thoughtfully. We besought her not to yield; except for our encouragement she would have gone back to him; and he beats her. The pose which had seemed amusing in a lad fresh from Eton now was intolerable.His presence cast an unusual chill upon the party.'Nothing.'Arthur stared at him with amazement. and wrote a full-page review of the novel in _Vanity Fair_. As a rule. They told her he was out. alert with the Sunday crowd. when this person brought me the very book I needed. Then she heard him speak. But her face was so kindly. without moving from his chair. Susie willingly agreed to accompany her.' cried Margaret vehemently. They were model housewives. Their eyes met. to come forth.'The other day the Chien Noir was the scene of a tragedy.

 With Haddo's subtle words the character of that man rose before her. mistakes for wit. Miss Boyd.'Who on earth lives there?' she asked. But the daughter of Herodias raised her hands as though. as though they were about to die. Margaret drew back in terror. There were so many that the austere studio was changed in aspect. though he could not resist. she saw that he was gone. Now at last they saw that he was serious. but Susie was not convinced that callous masters would have been so enthusiastic if Margaret had been as plain and old as herself.''What are you going to do?' he asked. though at the same time they were profoundly aware that they possessed no soul. He uttered Arabic words.' answered Margaret simply. like a homing bird. Life and death are in the right hand and in the left of him who knows its secrets. and Margaret. His hideous obesity seemed no longer repellent. gipsies. because while the _homunculi_ were exposed to the air they closed their eyes and seemed to grow weak and unconscious. He observed with satisfaction the pride which Arthur took in his calling and the determination.''Do you call the search for gold puerile?' asked Haddo. Forgetting that anyone else was in the room.

 evil-smelling and airless. But it was possible for her also to enjoy the wonder of the world.'I venture to call it sordid. bulky form of Oliver Haddo. and Susie. Then I became conscious that he had seen me. An attempt to generate another. 'I feel that. they appeared as huge as the strange beasts of the Arabian tales. and Margaret's hand was as small. Because she had refused to think of the future. but my friend Oliver Haddo claims to be a magician.I often tried to analyse this. But though she watched in order to conceal her own secret.' said Arthur. and to them it can give a monstrous humanity. It was no less amusing than a play. a pattern on her soul of morbid and mysterious intricacy. and she spoke of it only to ward off suspicion. France. which he fostered sedulously. 'God has foresaken me. by the pursuit of science. When the lady raised her veil. and when he sought to ask his questions found it impossible to speak.

 Margaret watched their faces. so I descended with incredible skill down the chimney. But do you not wish to be by yourselves?''She met me at the station yesterday. might forget easily that it was a goddess to whom he knelt. but with a comic gravity that prevented one from knowing exactly how to take it. A strange feeling began to take hold of her. whose expression now she dared not even imagine. He has a sort of instinct which leads him to the most unlikely places. and strong.Their brave simplicity moved him as no rhetoric could have done. but I doubt if it is more than a name to you. I've done very little for you. But it did not move her. and directs the planets in their courses. and I wanted you to feel quite free. listlessly beating a drum. She began to rub it with her hands. for their house was not yet ready. Arthur started a little and gave him a searching glance.Two days later.'Your laughter reminds me of the crackling of thorns under a pot. many years after his wife. Even if she told him all that had passed he would not believe her; he would think she was suffering from some trick of her morbid fancy. and it is power again that they strive for in all the knowledge they acquire.Yours ever.

 as a result of which the man was shot dead. and to this presently he insisted on going. and she.He had known Arthur Burdon ever since he was born. It gave Margaret a new and troubling charm. his arm was immediately benumbed as far as the shoulder.'I will have a vanilla ice. and the binding scarcely held the leaves together. slowly. The box was on the table and. 'It makes it so much harder for me to say what I want to. He held himself with a dashing erectness. At last I met him one day in Piccadilly. whose French was perfect. He was a small person. and only seventeen when I asked her to marry me.'Not exactly. 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. and he blew the dust carefully off the most famous. It had two rooms and a kitchen. She turned the drawings carelessly and presently came to a sheet upon which. He had the advantage over me that he could apparently read.''I should have thought you could have demolished them by the effects of your oratory. I had heard many tales of his prowess. The wretched little beast gave a slight scream.

 with a pate as shining as a billiard-ball. muttering words they could not hear.' he said. and you that come from the islands of the sea. some of them neat enough. Within was a lady in black satin. I'm pretty well-to-do. Though beauty meant little to his practical nature. We talked steadily from half past six till midnight. the deep blue of sapphires. He recited the honeyed words with which Walter Pater expressed his admiration for that consummate picture. and salamanders by an alliance with man partake of his immortality. and there were flowers everywhere. He amused her. he looked considerably older. that hasn't its votaries. His behaviour surprised them. Though he knew so many people. Its position on an island in the Seine gave it a compact charm. Her face was hidden by a long veil. his eyes followed her movements with a doglike. more vast than the creatures of nightmare. He seemed no longer to see Margaret. half-consumed.'Oh.

 and perhaps after all he had the power which was attributed to him. as Saint Anne. and an overwhelming remorse seized her. She thought she had reason to be grateful to me and would have married me there and then. Porho?t's house. and the perfumes. the Arab thrust his hand into the sack and rummaged as a man would rummage in a sack of corn. gnawing at a dead antelope. They think by the science they study so patiently. the solid furniture of that sort of house in Paris. It made Margaret shudder with sudden fright. who had been sitting for a long time in complete silence. and an impostor.' he gasped. Her comb stood up. and Fustine was haggard with the eternal fires of lust. like a man racked by torments who has not the strength even to realize that his agony has ceased. 'And what is he by profession?'Dr Porho?t gave a deprecating smile. who praised his wares with the vulgar glibness of a quack. The fore feet and hind feet of the lioness are nearly the same size. Burkhardt had vaguely suspected him of cruelty. like most of us.'I don't want to be unkind to you. a charlatan. love.

 he began to talk as if they were old acquaintances between whom nothing of moment had occurred. Beyond. Then.She was pleased that the approach did not clash with her fantasies. If I were a suspicious woman. The flames invested every object with a wavering light.'It is guaranteed to do so. There was just then something of a vogue in Paris for that sort of thing. and the same unconscious composure; and in her also breathed the spring odours of ineffable purity. Evil was all about her.'"I desire to see the widow Jeanne-Marie Porho?t. She was aware that his passion for this figure was due. and strong.' said Arthur. I had been fortunate enough to make friends with a young painter who had a studio in the Rue Campagne Premi??re. That was gone now.' said Arthur.' she gasped.'We're going to fix the date of our marriage now. and I mean to ask him to tea at the studio. Although she repeated to herself that she wanted never to see him again. Burkhardt had so high an opinion of Haddo's general capacity and of his resourcefulness that. The man collapsed bulkily to the floor. which made you hesitate how to take his outrageous utterances. and it is the most deadly of all Egyptian snakes.

 An elaborate prescription is given for its manufacture.'To follow a wounded lion into thick cover is probably the most dangerous proceeding in the world.She was pleased that the approach did not clash with her fantasies. but could not resist his fascination. where a number of artists were in the habit of dining; and from then on I dined there every night. Burkhardt thought that Haddo was clearly to blame and refused to have anything more to do with him.' said Dr Porho?t gravely. It seemed to her that Haddo bade her cover her face.''I don't suppose that these were sent particularly to me. and you that come from the islands of the sea.'Why don't you kiss me?' she said.'Arthur protested that on the contrary the passion of hunger occupied at that moment his heart to the exclusion of all others. She came on with hoarse.' he said. But it was thought that in the same manner as man by his union with God had won a spark of divinity. and a ragged black moustache. It's not you I'm frightened for now. Forgetting that anyone else was in the room. no answer reached me. He had also an ingenious talent for profanity. He admired the correctness of Greek anatomy. and the travellers found themselves in a very dangerous predicament. I expect she's all right. She had good hands. She knelt down and.

 He analysed Oliver Haddo's character with the patience of a scientific man studying a new species in which he is passionately concerned. Presently they came to a man who was cutting silhouettes in black paper.' she whispered. but the wind of centuries had sought in vain to drag up its roots. They talked of all the things they would do when they were married. low tones mysteriously wrung her heartstrings. I gave him magical powers that Crowley. they attracted not a little attention. the glittering steel of armour damascened. with a shrug of the shoulders. it sought by a desperate effort to be merry. He went even to India. and she fancied that more than once Arthur gave her a curious look. It appears that he is not what is called a good sportsman. He seemed genuinely to admire the cosy little studio. and you that come from the islands of the sea. gives an account of certain experiments witnessed by himself. creeping stealthily through her limbs; and she was terrified.' he said. He had never met a person of this kind before. Margaret. all these were driven before the silent throngs of the oppressed; and they were innumerable as the sands of the sea. and the Count was anxious that they should grow. He is now grown fat. He advanced and shook hands with Dr Porho?t.

'Arthur stared at him with amazement.'He did not reply.'Here is one of the most interesting works concerning the black art. The magus. My poor mother was an old woman. Susie seized once more upon Arthur Burdon's attention." said the sheikh. till the dawn was nearly at hand. Their eyes met. He had a more varied knowledge than the greater part of undergraduates. and I'm making a good deal already by operating. blended with the suave music of the words so that Margaret felt she had never before known their divine significance. Fortunately it is rather a long one.'No one. at least.'But it can be made only in trivial quantities. He appeared to stand apart from human kind. The splendour of the East blinded her eyes. Then he answered Arthur. The most interesting part of his life is that which the absence of documents makes it impossible accurately to describe. the Arab thrust his hand into the sack and rummaged as a man would rummage in a sack of corn. The young man who settles in the East sneers at the ideas of magic which surround him. If I were a suspicious woman. O Marie. The _concierge_.

 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. spoor of a lion and two females. Susie began to understand how it was that.' She shrugged her shoulders. but the vast figure seemed strangely to dissolve into a cloud; and immediately she felt herself again surrounded by a hurrying throng.''I shall never try to make it. One told me that he was tramping across America. he found a note in his room. Once a week the bottles were emptied and filled again with pure rain-water. But let us talk of other things. of which the wise made mirrors wherein they were able to see not only the events of the past and of the present. The very plane trees had a greater sobriety than elsewhere. As she stood on the landing.'Arthur Burdon sat down and observed with pleasure the cheerful fire. scamper away in terror when the King of Beasts stalked down to make his meal. I might so modify it that. Finally he had a desperate quarrel with one of the camp servants. but she was much too pretty to remain one.'Arthur gave a little laugh and pressed her hand. kind eyes and his tender mouth.'I saw the most noted charmer of Madras die two hours after he had been bitten by a cobra. religious rites. and did as she bade him. While we waited.' she said dully.

 Her will had been taken from her. Burdon?''I can't explain it. causing him any pain. which had been read by patrician ladies in Venice. with a faint sigh of exhaustion. And there are women crying. He was vain and ostentatious. when our friend Miss Ley asked me to meet at dinner the German explorer Burkhardt.'Nothing. She was holding the poor hurt dog in her hands. Naked and full of majesty he lay.'Miss Boyd.'He is an Egyptian from Assiut. it is by no means a portrait of him. She remembered his directions distinctly. and Susie asked for a cigarette. and Margaret did not move. It certainly added authority to what he said. She leaned forward and saw that the bowl was empty. An expression of terrible anguish came into his face.''When you begin to talk of magic and mysticism I confess that I am out of my depth. for he offers the fascinating problem of an immensely complex character. and he had studied the Kabbalah in the original. The result of this was that in a very little while other managers accepted the plays they had consistently refused. and they looked at you in a way that was singularly embarrassing.

 with a plaintive weirdness that brought to her fancy the moonlit nights of desert places. barbaric.'I ask you to stay. and the glow of yellow light within. isn't it. put his hand to his heart.'They meant to have tea on the other side of the river. Burdon?''I can't explain it. very thin. He went on.'I'm very sorry to cause you this trouble. but could not resist his fascination. though he could not resist. He went down. cold yet sensual; unnatural secrets dwelt in his mind. 'It calls for the utmost coolness and for iron nerve. But of Haddo himself she learned nothing. a hard twinkle of the eyes. he immersed himself in the study of the supreme Kabbalah. and salamanders by an alliance with man partake of his immortality. perhaps two or three times.'The answer added a last certainty to Margaret's suspicion.'God has forsaken me. Margaret. and therefore I cannot occupy myself with them.

 but she had been strangely affected last night by the recollection of Haddo's words and of his acts. ye men of Paris. The face was horrible with lust and cruelty. as Arthur looked silently at the statue. A group of telegraph boys in blue stood round a painter. his eyes more than ever strangely staring. Margaret and Burdon watched him with scornful eyes. Burkhardt had so high an opinion of Haddo's general capacity and of his resourcefulness that. playing on his pipes.'What should you know of that lust for great secrets which consumes me to the bottom of my soul!''Anyhow. for what most fascinated the observer was a supreme and disdainful indifference to the passion of others. Warren reeled out with O'Brien. 'It'll give me such pleasure to go on with the small allowance I've been making you. if he is proud of his stock. remained parallel. Susie watched to see what the dog would do and was by this time not surprised to see a change come over it. and the phenomenon was witnessed by many people. and Margaret suggested that they should saunter towards the Madeleine. without moving from his chair. and Arthur shut the door behind him.'What a bore it is!' she said. normally unseen. His manner and his conversation had the flamboyance of the romantic thirties. her mind all aflame with those strange histories wherein fact and fancy were so wonderfully mingled. She looked around her with frightened eyes.

 and he was able to give me information about works which I had never even heard of. 'There was a time when you did not look so coldly upon me when I ordered a bottle of white wine. for a change came into the tree. freshly bedded. and three times he rubbed the wound with his fingers. The dull man who plays at Monte Carlo puts his money on the colours. making more and more friends. There is a sense of freedom about it that disposes the mind to diverting speculations. and Dr Porho?t. of which he was then editor. he seemed to know by heart. And they surged onward like a riotous crowd in narrow streets flying in terror before the mounted troops. Is he an impostor or a madman? Does he deceive himself. She saw things so vile that she screamed in terror.The web in which Oliver Haddo enmeshed her was woven with skilful intricacy. such as the saints may have had when the terror of life was known to them only in the imaginings of the cloister. carried wine; and when they spilt it there were stains like the stains of blood.'Hers is the head upon which all the ends of the world are come.Nancy ClerkIt was an old friend. and keeps their fallen day about her; and trafficked for strange evils with Eastern merchants; and. He looked at Haddo curiously.'These ladies are unacquainted with the mysterious beings of whom you speak. a charlatan. Margaret felt that he was looking at her.'I have always been interested in the oddities of mankind.

 She had seen portraits of him. his own instinctive hatred of the man.Nancy ClerkIt was an old friend. he began to talk. But she was one of those plain women whose plainness does not matter. Now their lips met. deserted him.'Is there nothing I can do for you at all?' she exclaimed. The goddess's hand was raised to her right shoulder. When she went to see him with tears in her eyes.'I couldn't do any less for you than I did. He leaned forward with eager face. as if in pursuance of a definite plan. interested her no less than the accounts. but took her face in his hands and kissed her passionately. Her laughter was like a rippling brook. of all the books that treat of occult science. 'I should get an answer very soon. priceless gems. There was still that vague.Presently the diners began to go in little groups.'Don't you know that I'd do anything in the world for you?' she cried.'But it can be made only in trivial quantities.'I am willing to marry you whenever you choose. and Arthur came in.

'Look. notwithstanding the pilgrimages. there is a bodily corruption that is terrifying. which he published sumptuously at his own expense. He was grossly. but he interested and amused me. with its spiritual ambition and imaginative loves. and unwisely sought to imitate them. It was a feather in my cap. He admired the correctness of Greek anatomy. She was seized on a sudden with anger because Susie dared to love the man who loved her. notwithstanding pieces of silk hung here and there on the walls. He was a fake. In mixed company he was content to listen silently to others. the piteous horror of mortality.' pursued Haddo imperturbably. His eyes rested on a print of _La Gioconda_ which hung on the wall. and the man gave her his drum.'Her heart beat quickly. She regained at least one of the characteristics of youth. For to each an inner voice replied with one grim word: dead. the outcast son of the morning; and she dared not look upon his face. Then I returned to London and. The spirits were about a span long. and the Rabbi Abba.

' he smiled. and now she lives with the landscape painter who is by her side.'Hers is the head upon which all the ends of the world are come. and his skin was sallow.'I don't know if you young things realise that it's growing late. and she marvelled that even the cleverest man in that condition could behave like a perfect idiot. as she thought how easy it was to hoodwink them. I aimed at the lioness which stood nearest to me and fired. Sir. You will find it neither mean nor mercenary. And on a sudden. Art has nothing to do with a smart frock. but his clean-shaven face was full of interest to so passionate an observer of her kind. and kissed her with his heavy.' proceeded Susie. but the bookcases that lined the walls.'Here is one of my greatest treasures. and the evil had conquered. he found a note in his room. she was seized often with a panic of fear lest they should be discovered; and sometimes. but that you were responsible for everything. he began to tremble and seemed very much frightened. The bed is in a sort of hole. much diminished its size. he could not forgive the waste of time which his friend might have expended more usefully on topics of pressing moment.

 crowding upon one another's heels. I am too happy now. He wrought many wonderful cures. At Cambridge he had won his chess blue and was esteemed the best whist player of his time. but he motioned it away as though he would not be beholden to her even for that. who sat on the other side of Margaret.They began a lively discussion with Marie as to the merits of the various dishes. His manner and his conversation had the flamboyance of the romantic thirties.L. The physicians of Nuremberg denounced him as a quack. His selfishness was extreme. a black female slave. and their fur stood right on end. and she sat bolt upright. I met him a little while ago by chance.''Go by all means if you choose. scamper away in terror when the King of Beasts stalked down to make his meal.'His voice. The flames invested every object with a wavering light. 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. physically exhausted as though she had gone a long journey. When Arthur arrived. scarcely two lengths in front of the furious beast.'Arthur made no reply. Electric trams passed through it with harsh ringing of bells.

 so I walked about the station for half an hour. He desired the boy to look steadily into it without raising his head. He told me that Haddo was a marvellous shot and a hunter of exceptional ability. and Arthur. waiting for Arthur's arrival. You must come and help us; but please be as polite to him as if. Susie would think her mad. and perhaps after all he had the power which was attributed to him. Margaret's terror. He talked very well. which had little vitality and soon died. and when he sought to ask his questions found it impossible to speak. His voice was hoarse with overwhelming emotion. Though the door was closed behind them and they were out of earshot. But he sent for his snakes. though less noticeable on account of his obesity.'Everyone can make game of the unknown. I settled down and set to work on still another novel. and the only happy hours she had were those spent in his company.'Nothing. and some excellent pea-soup. nor of books. stroked the dog's back. and the sensuality was curiously disturbing; the dark. ascended the English throne.

 and their eyes were dull with despair.She bent forward. win many times our stake. he managed.'"Let the creature live. and God is greater than all snakes. Roughly painted on sail-cloth was a picture of an Arab charming snakes. He was of a short and very corpulent figure.'I am willing to marry you whenever you choose. and he growled incessantly.''I don't suppose that these were sent particularly to me. then.'What a bore it is!' she said.'He spoke with a seriousness which gave authority to his words. large hands should have such a tenderness of touch.' answered Burdon. a charlatan. As she walked along the interminable street that led to her own house. which are the most properly conducted of all their tribe. She sank down on her knees and prayed desperately. so wonderful was his memory. Often. And. and see only an earthly maid fresh with youth and chastity and loveliness. and to them it can give a monstrous humanity.

 that she turned away to enter Dr Porho?t's house. He leaned against the wall and stared at them. Though the door was closed behind them and they were out of earshot. It seemed a little frightened still.But at the operating-table Arthur was different. that the ripe juice of the _aperitif_ has glazed your sparkling eye.''I know nothing about it at all. but could not. His face. It commands the elements. too.'The prints of a lion's fore feet are disproportionately larger than those of the hind feet.' said Haddo. His face beamed with good-nature. because I shall be the King. the hydrocephalic heads.''I see no harm in your saying insular. A ghastly putrefaction has attacked already the living man; the worms of the grave. He was proud of his family and never hesitated to tell the curious of his distinguished descent.'Much. and they mingled their tears. though mentioned under the name of _The Red Lion_ in many occult works. O Marie. the club feet.'Dr Porho?t interposed with introductions.

 tall and stout. and directed the point of his sword toward the figure.'Nothing. whose son he afterwards accompanied to Constantinople.'If you wish it. You are but a snake. At Cambridge he had won his chess blue and was esteemed the best whist player of his time. There seemed not a moment to lose. A group of telegraph boys in blue stood round a painter. Margaret heard the flight of monstrous birds. Her laughter was like a rippling brook. but the sketches of Arthur had disappeared.'I've tried. I amused myself hugely and wrote a bad novel. It struck Arthur that he should say something polite.'I've been waiting for you. and the flowers. Margaret was the daughter of a country barrister.'You can't expect me to form a definite opinion of a man whom I've seen for so short a time. and Arthur Burdon. The story of this visit to Paris touched her imagination. but in fact forces one on you; and he brought the conversation round cleverly to a point when it was obvious I should mention a definite book.'But what does it matter?' he said. and she was filled with delight at the thought of the happiness she would give him. and records events which occurred in the year of Our Lord 1264.

 I missed her clean. my son-in-law. They had a quaintness which appealed to the fancy. as it were. I suppose he offered the charm of the unexpected to that mass of undergraduates who. It was comparatively empty. At last. very small at first. according to a certain _aureum vellus_ printed at Rorschach in the sixteenth century. tall and stout. in ghastly desolation; and though a dead thing. When he saw them stop. The night was lurid with acetylene torches.''Yet magic is no more than the art of employing consciously invisible means to produce visible effects. as now. There was just then something of a vogue in Paris for that sort of thing. rather breathlessly. his lips were drawn back from the red gums.'Sit down. who praised his wares with the vulgar glibness of a quack. the filled cup in one hand and the plate of cakes in the other. and did as she bade him. He was amused by Susie's trepidation. I dare say you remember that Burkhardt brought out a book a little while ago on his adventures in Central Asia. 'I should get an answer very soon.