She knew that she did not want to go.. He had big teeth.

She began to discuss with Arthur the date of their marriage
She began to discuss with Arthur the date of their marriage. and she was merciless. her mind all aflame with those strange histories wherein fact and fancy were so wonderfully mingled. Burkhardt thought that Haddo was clearly to blame and refused to have anything more to do with him. that the ripe juice of the _aperitif_ has glazed your sparkling eye. and so I had the day (and the flat) to myself and my work. and fell heavily to the ground. and she took the keenest pleasure in Margaret's comeliness. It was music the like of which she had never heard.He spoke again to the Egyptian. with the air of mystery he affects.' he laughed.' answered Dr Porho?t. She wept ungovernably. Margaret took no notice. and her heart seemed pressed in an iron vice. 'Yet he is the most interesting of all the alchemists. but even here he is surrounded with darkness. He did not know what on earth the man was talking about. As a mountaineer. Then he advanced a few steps. All about me was the immensity of Africa and the silence. I did. He admired the correctness of Greek anatomy. My poor mother was an old woman.

 They wondered guiltily how long he had been there and how much he had heard. but we have no illusions about the value of our neighbour's work. as usual on Sundays.'Yet it reigned in Persia with the magi. was the mother of Helen of Troy. the greatest of the Mameluke Sultans. Next day. contemned. weird rumours reached me. But though she watched in order to conceal her own secret. others with the satin streamers of the _nounou_. though generous. He collected information from physicians. and the moonlit nights of the desert. but in French and German.Margaret had a class that afternoon and set out two or three minutes later. O Avicenna. found myself earning several hundred pounds a week. kissed her. he addressed them in bad French. and of the crowded streets at noon. Immediately a bright flame sprang up. Her soul yearned for a beauty that the commonalty of men did not know. as though it consisted of molten metal. was transfigured.

 and the man's rapacious hands. 'you will be to blame. While Margaret busied herself with the preparations for tea. He did not seem astonished that she was there. The _Primum Ens Melissae_ at least offers a less puerile benefit than most magical secrets. She felt excessively weak. Paris is full of queer people. and we ate it salt with tears. the terrier sprang at Oliver Haddo and fixed its teeth in his hand. power over the very elements. She felt like an adventurous princess who rode on her palfrey into a forest of great bare trees and mystic silences. The young man who settles in the East sneers at the ideas of magic which surround him. It had been her wish to furnish the drawing-room in the style of Louis XV; and together they made long excursions to buy chairs or old pieces of silk with which to cover them. 'I'm sorry. and their fur stood right on end. as though afraid that someone would see her.' he said. and they went down steadily. it was because she completely approved of him. who clings to a rock; and the waves dash against him. One.She was pleased that the approach did not clash with her fantasies. how I came to think of writing that particular novel at all. He never hesitated.'But water cannot burn.

 in the wall. It crossed his mind that at this moment he would willingly die. and he that uses the word impossible outside of pure mathematics is lacking in prudence. She knew quite well that few of her friends. such as are used to preserve fruit. She forgot that she loathed him.'Go home. dark fellow with strongly-marked features.' said Arthur. and her dark eyes were sleepless; the jewels of her girdle gleamed with sombre fires; and her dress was of colours that have long been lost.''You can't be more sure than I am. and the bitterness has warped his soul. that she turned away to enter Dr Porho?t's house. evil-smelling and airless. his lips were drawn back from the red gums. You have heard of the Kabbalah. Mona Lisa and Saint John the Baptist. when he looked at you. what do you think?' she asked. The most interesting part of his life is that which the absence of documents makes it impossible accurately to describe. They had lunched at a restaurant in the Boulevard Saint Michel.' laughed Susie. The silence was so great that each one heard the beating of his heart. the filled cup in one hand and the plate of cakes in the other. The wretched brute's suffering.

 wondered with a little pang why no man like that had even cared for her. my friend. as though he were scrutinising the inmost thought of the person with whom he talked. but once she had at least the charm of vivacious youth. His eyes rested on a print of _La Gioconda_ which hung on the wall. stood on the chimney-piece.' said Arthur dryly.'I think you've grown more pleasing to look upon than you ever were.' she repeated. with palm trees mute in the windless air.'I wish Mr Haddo would take this opportunity to disclose to us the mystery of his birth and family. 'You know that it is almost impossible for an infidel to acquire the holy book. She admired him for his talent and strength of character as much as for his loving tenderness to Margaret. Suddenly he jerked up his tail.'I grieve to see. nearly connected with persons of importance. the friendly little beast slunk along the wall to the furthermost corner. suffering agonies of remorse. I should be able to do nothing but submit. but her tongue cleaved to her throat. Her laughter was like a rippling brook. He drew out a long. There was a pleasant darkness in the place.Their brave simplicity moved him as no rhetoric could have done. and see only an earthly maid fresh with youth and chastity and loveliness.

 Though his gaze preserved its fixity.'I have made all the necessary arrangements. His stillness got on her nerves. they claim to have created forms in which life became manifest. Shame seized her. of the man's extraordinary qualities. To have half a dozen children was in her mind much more important than to paint pictures. near the Gare Montparnasse. 'I hope you weren't at all burned. writhing snake. and had come ostensibly to study the methods of the French operators; but his real object was certainly to see Margaret Dauncey. He spoke of the dawn upon sleeping desolate cities. It certainly added authority to what he said. and fortune-tellers; from high and low. 'I don't know what there is about him that frightens me. He had thrown himself into the arrogant attitude of Velasquez's portrait of Del Borro in the Museum of Berlin; and his countenance bore of set purpose the same contemptuous smile. with every imaginable putrescence.''Do you love me very much?' she asked.'Come here."'His friends and the jugglers.'Arago.''If I died tomorrow. Some were quite young. I haven't. His sunken eyes glittered with a kindly but ironic good-humour.

 were always beautiful.'Meanwhile her life proceeded with all outward regularity. mademoiselle. He began to play. to make a brave show of despair. He travelled in Germany. and told him what she knew. accompanied by some friends. with a smile.They came down to the busy. She had at first counted on assisting at the evocation with a trustworthy person. with long fashioning fingers; and you felt that at their touch the clay almost moulded itself into gracious forms. by no means under the delusion that she had talent.' he said. the more delicate and beautiful is his painting. Susie was too much annoyed to observe this agitation. she thought that Dr Porho?t might do something for her. and her beauty gave her. and her physical attraction was allied with physical abhorrence. I know I shall outrage the feelings of my friend Arthur. and the sensuality was curiously disturbing; the dark. with a plaintive weirdness that brought to her fancy the moonlit nights of desert places. Then I thought she might have hit upon that time by chance and was not coming from England. the Arab thrust his hand into the sack and rummaged as a man would rummage in a sack of corn. They must return eventually to the abyss of unending night.

 and there was an altar of white marble.'I've written to Frank Hurrell and asked him to tell me all he knows about him. abundantly loquacious. Margaret lifted it up and set it on a table. Margaret wished to take the opportunity of leaving him. causing him any pain. so that I need not here say more about it. We talked steadily from half past six till midnight. and to surround your body with bands of grey flannel will certainly not increase your talent. "It is enough. and three times he rubbed the wound with his fingers. that Arthur in many ways was narrow. except that beauty could never be quite vicious; it was a cruel face. and she fancied that more than once Arthur gave her a curious look. 'You were standing round the window. He seemed no longer to see Margaret. I tried to find out what he had been up to.'Hers is the head upon which all the ends of the world are come. and kept on losing them till it was naked as a newborn babe; but before two weeks had passed other feathers grew. marched sedately two by two. that he narrated the event exactly as it occurred. whose uncouth sarcasms were no match for Haddo's bitter gibes. She was alone in an alien land. but I know not what there is in the atmosphere that saps his unbelief.'She sank helplessly into her chair.

 and would not allow that there was anything strange in the cessation of the flowing blood. They were not large. The evidence is ten times stronger than any upon which men believe the articles of their religion. and drowsy odours of the Syrian gardens. 'She was a governess in Poland. Margaret.The web in which Oliver Haddo enmeshed her was woven with skilful intricacy. The lies which at first seemed intolerable now tripped glibly off her tongue. in the Tyrol.' said the maid. and stood lazily at the threshold. Haddo's eyes were fixed upon Margaret so intently that he did not see he was himself observed. he'll never forgive me. The names of the streets recalled the monarchy that passed away in bloodshed. The date of their marriage was fixed. When Arthur recovered himself. notwithstanding pieces of silk hung here and there on the walls. and her sense of colour was apt to run away with her discretion. And if she lay there in her black dress. He held himself with a dashing erectness. something having touched the hand which held the sword. but she knew that something horrible was about to happen. and fresh frankincense was added. he found a note in his room. much diminished its size.

 going to the appointed spot. Hastily I slipped another cartridge in my rifle. and she was at pains to warn Arthur. Margaret with down-turned face walked to the door.'Oh. actresses of renown. by force of will and by imagination.' she said sharply. used him with the good-natured banter which she affected. I would have brought a dog into my room if it seemed hurt. An abject apology was the last thing she expected. and their manner had such a matrimonial respectability. but his sarcastic smile would betray him. were open still. brother wizard! I greet in you. and she looked away. Margaret was filled with a genuine emotion; and though she could not analyse it. We'll meet at half-past seven. judged it would be vulgar to turn up her nose. because I shall be too busy. and the causes that made him say it. and they were very restful.'And the Eastern palaces in which your youth was spent. and it is certainly very fine. that hasn't its votaries.

 low laugh and stretched out her hand on the table. They talked of the places they must go to. and I'm quite sure that she will make you the most admirable of wives. to get a first. rising. he left me in a lordly way to pay the bill. I was very anxious and very unhappy. low tones mysteriously wrung her heartstrings. and fell back dead. I have no doubt that they were actually generated.' he said. But she was one of those plain women whose plainness does not matter. The telegram that Susie had received pointed to a definite scheme on Haddo's part. who was sufficiently conscious of his limitations not to talk of what he did not understand.'Let me go from here. and the evil had conquered. a life of infinite vivacity.''You have spoken to me of your mother. For years Susie had led the monotonous life of a mistress in a school for young ladies. he received the philosopher's stone from Solomon Trismosinus. and she fancied that more than once Arthur gave her a curious look. freshly bedded.' he said. his eyes fixed steadily on the speaker. George Haddo.

 She admired his capacity in dealing with matters that were in his province. It was irritating to be uncertain whether.Arthur did not answer.She began to discuss with Arthur the date of their marriage.'But what is to become of me?''You will marry the excellent Mr Burdon. with a little laugh that was half hysterical. and they were very restful. At last Margaret sought by an effort to regain her self-control. caught up by a curious excitement. His name was Gerald Kelly. Oliver looked at her quickly and motioned her to remain still. and they bolted out.' she said sharply. untidy hair. The features were rather large. in baggy corduroys. Thereupon. however. nor the majesty of the cold mistress of the skies. to whom he would pay a handsome dowry. and when the flame started up once more.' he answered. She gave a bitter laugh. Though she knew not why.' he answered.

 We sold the furniture for what it could fetch. as hotly. At the entrance. a man stood before him. and now it was Mona Lisa and now the subtle daughter of Herodias.She was pleased that the approach did not clash with her fantasies. and huge limping scarabs. She had awakened more than once from a nightmare in which he assumed fantastic and ghastly shapes. The only difference was that my father actually spoke. and a native friend of mine had often begged me to see him. he is proof against the fangs of the most venomous serpents.'I'm glad to see you in order to thank you for all you've done for Margaret. Impelled by a great curiosity. and she was ceasing to resist. He did nothing that was manifestly unfair.Susie could not persuade herself that Haddo's regret was sincere.''I promise you that nothing will happen. and so. You have heard of the Kabbalah. He analysed Oliver Haddo's character with the patience of a scientific man studying a new species in which he is passionately concerned. In her exhaustion. as she helped herself.'Let me go from here. I had never thought it worth while. Something stronger than herself seemed to impel her.

 She ran her eyes along the names. and it was plain that he sought with all his might to tell me something. and began. of an ancient Koran which I was given in Alexandria by a learned man whom I operated upon for cataract. I should have no hesitation in saying so.' pursued Haddo imperturbably. prevented her. indistinctly. and for a time there was silence. 2:40. Her skin was colourless and much disfigured by freckles. he addressed them in bad French. His love cast a glamour upon his work.' he said. dissecting. with wonderful capitals and headlines in gold. good-nature. It had been her wish to furnish the drawing-room in the style of Louis XV; and together they made long excursions to buy chairs or old pieces of silk with which to cover them. and Arthur got up to open. He sank painfully into a chair. and Raymond Lulli. She watched Susie and Arthur cunningly. 'Let us go in and see what the fellow has to show. he immersed himself in the study of the supreme Kabbalah. the return of the Pagan world.

' returned Dr Porho?t. Margaret seemed not withstanding to hear Susie's passionate sobbing. 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. I must admit that I could not make head or tail of them.To avoid the crowd which throngs the picture galleries on holidays. He accepted her excuse that she had to visit a sick friend. who is a waiter at Lavenue's. with the scornful tone he used when referring to those whose walk in life was not so practical as his own._ one chicken. and with desperate courage I fired my remaining barrel. ruined tree that stood in that waste place. and he was able to give me information about works which I had never even heard of. At the entrance. and she seemed still to see that vast bulk and the savage.'What a fool I am!' thought Susie. The tavern to which they went was on the Boulevard des Italiens. Many were tonsured already. and she was an automaton. so that you were reminded of those sweet domestic saints who lighten here and there the passionate records of the Golden Book. and in the dim light. in Denmark.Though these efforts of mine brought me very little money. He had thrown himself down in the chair.' she said. the alchemist.

 curled over the head with an infinite grace. at the same time respected and mistrusted; he had the reputation of a liar and a rogue. He gave Haddo a rapid glance. more suited to the sunny banks of the Nile than to a fair in Paris. He was a great talker and he talked uncommonly well. She struggled. His memory flashed for an instant upon those multi-coloured streets of Alexandria; and then. and Susie went in.'Her eyes filled with tears and her voice broke.''Don't be so spiteful. 'But it's too foolish. you will already have heard of his relationship with various noble houses. He did not seem astonished that she was there. She was like a person drowning. for science had taught me to distrust even the evidence of my five senses. and forthwith showed us marvels which this man has never heard of. but more with broken backs and dingy edges; they were set along the shelves in serried rows. It is the _Clavicula Salomonis_; and I have much reason to believe that it is the identical copy which belonged to the greatest adventurer of the eighteenth century. it endowed India with wonderful traditions. That is how I can best repay you for what you have done. 'I suffer from a disease of the heart. bringing him to her friend. Susie seized once more upon Arthur Burdon's attention.''That was the least you could do. 'We suffer one another personally.

 I command you to be happy. and Arthur came in. convulsed with intolerable anguish. for heaven's sake ask me to stay with you four times a year. The child had so little to confess.'She remembered that her train started exactly at that hour. The flames invested every object with a wavering light. The fumes of the incense filled the room with smoke. but Oliver Haddo's.''You're all of you absurdly prejudiced. The manager of the Court Theatre. He spoke of unhallowed things.''But why should you serve them in that order rather than in the order I gave you?'Marie and the two Frenchwomen who were still in the room broke into exclamations at this extravagance. and all besought her not to show too hard a heart to the bald and rubicund painter. the animal part of that ghoulish creature seemed to fall away. and to the end he remained a stranger in our midst.'Haddo spoke in a low voice that was hardly steady.She did not know why his soft. She had seen Arthur the evening before. Dr Porho?t had lent her his entertaining work on the old alchemists. and you're equally unfitted to be a governess or a typewriter. and she needed time to get her clothes. Warren reeled out with O'Brien. having read this letter twice.In the few days of their acquaintance Arthur and Susie had arrived at terms of pleasant familiarity.

 engaged for ever in a mystic rite. I walked back to my camp and ate a capital breakfast. I tremble in every limb at the thought of your unmitigated scorn.'They got up. The noise was very great. with the wings and the bow and arrow of the God of Love.' laughed Susie. His courage failed him at this point. I can tell you. and at intervals the deep voice of the priest. there are some of us who choose to deal only with these exceptions to the common run. and she took care by good-natured banter to temper the praises which extravagant admirers at the drawing-class lavished upon the handsome girl both for her looks and for her talent. little cell by cell. She trembled with the intensity of her desire. as I have a tiring day before me tomorrow.'I'm very sorry to cause you this trouble. I have no doubt. And there are women crying. a warp as it were in the woof of Oliver's speech. You turn your eyes away from me as though I were unclean.'O viper. I am a plain. Susie. It appears that he is not what is called a good sportsman. who was interpreter to the French Consulate.

 and huge limping scarabs.'Oliver Haddo looked at him before answering.' said Arthur. which was held in place by a queer ornament of brass in the middle of the forehead. sallow from long exposure to subtropical suns. for that is the serpent which was brought in a basket of figs to the paramour of Caesar in order that she might not endure the triumph of Augustus. Her heart beat horribly. with the good things they ate.Yours ever.'What do you mean?''There is no need to be agitated. but curiously had no longer the physical repulsion which hitherto had mastered all other feelings. if you forgive my saying so. He took one more particle of that atrocious powder and put it in the bowl. as did the prophets of old. Sweden. bowed again. at the top of his voice. They should know that during the Middle Ages imagination peopled the four elements with intelligences.Dr Porho?t had asked Arthur to bring Margaret and Miss Boyd to see him on Sunday at his apartment in the ?le Saint Louis; and the lovers arranged to spend an hour on their way at the Louvre. which had been read by patrician ladies in Venice. or else he was a charlatan who sought to attract attention by his extravagances. are _you_ a lion-hunter?' asked Susie flippantly. but I'm going to tea at the studio this afternoon. In early youth. whether natural or acquired I do not know.

 but so cumbered that it gave a cramped impression. He was a surgeon on the staff of St Luke's. With a quick movement. Some were quite young. Oliver Haddo left at Margaret's door vast masses of chrysanthemums. however. were narrow and obtuse.Margaret had never been in better spirits. Everything tended to take him out of his usual reserve.'You must hate me for intruding on you. I have not been ashamed to learn that which seemed useful to me even from vagabonds.' she answered. on the more famous of the alchemists; and. I did not avail myself of them. the circuses. and he towered over the puny multitude. and the Count was anxious that they should grow.Susie remarked that he looked upon her with friendliness. a foolish youth. but was obliged soon to confess that he boasted of nothing unjustly. and did not look upon their relation with less seriousness because they had not muttered a few words before _Monsieur le Maire_. and the mobile mouth had a nervous intensity which suggested that he might easily suffer the very agonies of woe. But your characters are more different than chalk and cheese. or if. and see only an earthly maid fresh with youth and chastity and loveliness.

 In one corner they could see the squat. as was then the custom. But she could not bear to look at him. There was in her a wealth of passionate affection that none had sought to find. and laughed heartily at her burlesque account of their fellow-students at Colarossi's. 'I should have thought your medical profession protected you from any tenderness towards superstition.'Let us drink to the happiness of our life. She looked around her with frightened eyes. barbers. And all these things were transformed by the power of his words till life itself seemed offered to her.'Now. As if he guessed her thought.'A man is only a snake-charmer because. His face was large and fleshy. of which the wise made mirrors wherein they were able to see not only the events of the past and of the present. Power was the subject of all his dreams. Susie.''But why should you serve them in that order rather than in the order I gave you?'Marie and the two Frenchwomen who were still in the room broke into exclamations at this extravagance. and one evening asked a friend to take me to him.'Had Nancy anything particular to say to you?' she asked.''Well. The animal invariably sees the sportsman before he sees it. tearing it even from the eternal rocks; when the flames poured down like the rushing of the wind. dear doctor. The sound of it was overpowering like too sweet a fragrance.

'I could show you strange things if you cared to see them.''Because I think the aims of mystical persons invariably gross or trivial? To my plain mind. and it was reported that he had secret vices which could only be whispered with bated breath. but merely to amuse herself. The goddess had not the arrogance of the huntress who loved Endymion. I didn't mean to hurt you. had omitted to do so.'If I wanted to get rid of you. I suppose he offered the charm of the unexpected to that mass of undergraduates who. 'There was a time when you did not look so coldly upon me when I ordered a bottle of white wine. if you don't mind.' said Arthur.' pursued the Frenchman reflectively. large and sombre. He missed being ungainly only through the serenity of his self-reliance. transversely divided. and I don't think we made them particularly welcome. One of these casual visitors was Aleister Crowley. I feel your goodness and your purity. It is possible that you do not possess the necessary materials. She held that it was prudish to insist upon the conventions of Notting Hill in the Boulevard de Montparnasse. and I had completely forgotten it. Then her heart stood still; for she realized that he was raising himself to his feet. though sprinkled with white. and the long halls had the singular restfulness of places where works of art are gathered together.

'Then the Arab took a reed instrument. He took each part of her character separately and fortified with consummate art his influence over her. she saw that he was gone. but there was no sign of her. France. (He was then eighteen!) He talked grandiloquently of big-game shooting and of mountain climbing as sports which demanded courage and self-reliance.'Dr Porho?t ventured upon an explanation of these cryptic utterances. Arthur stood as if his senses had left him. She answered with freezing indifference. but not a paltry. without moving from his chair. Joseph de Avila. The long toil in which so many had engaged. two by two. She wanted to beg Oliver to stop.''I see no harm in your saying insular. had laboured studiously to discover it. His voice reached her as if from a long way off. however. white sheepskin which was stretched beneath. With a little laugh. I wish I could drive the fact into this head of yours that rudeness is not synonymous with wit. They could not easily hasten matters. As every one knows. They talked of all the things they would do when they were married.

'And what else is it that men seek in life but power? If they want money. it will be beautiful to wear a bonnet like a sitz-bath at the back of your head. for I felt it as much as anyone. lean face. He is too polite to accuse me of foolishness. The bottles were closed with a magic seal. Seen through his eyes. Count von K??ffstein. Everyone was speaking at once. almost against your will. who sat in silence. and Susie went in.'The old alchemists believed in the possibility of spontaneous generation. I surmised that the librarian had told him of my difficulty.Margaret was ashamed. are seized with fascination of the unknown; and they desire a greatness that is inaccessible to mankind. which she took out of a case attached to his watch-chain. Suddenly he stopped.'She went to the chimneypiece. and we dined together. carried wine; and when they spilt it there were stains like the stains of blood. She would have given much to confess her two falsehoods. She saw that they were veiled with tears.''Would you mind telling me at what college you were?' said Arthur. He reminded one of those colossal statues of Apollo in which the god is represented with a feminine roundness and delicacy.

He opened the door.'And it's not as if there had been any doubt about our knowing our minds. Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombast von Hohenheim.'Let us wait here for a moment.'I saw the place was crowded. 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. Margaret heard the flight of monstrous birds. please stay as long as you like. Susie watched to see what the dog would do and was by this time not surprised to see a change come over it. because while the _homunculi_ were exposed to the air they closed their eyes and seemed to grow weak and unconscious.My dear Burdon:It is singular that you should write just now to ask what I know of Oliver Haddo. and three times he rubbed the wound with his fingers.'You know as well as I do that I think her a very charming young person.''Go by all means if you choose. She reproached herself bitterly for those scornful words. of plays which.Presently the diners began to go in little groups. he came. she knew that her effort was only a pretence: she did not want anything to prevent her. Obey my call and come. and I don't think we made them particularly welcome. Just as Arthur was a different man in the operating theatre. She knew that she did not want to go.. He had big teeth.