and his eye fell on a stout volume bound in vellum.

 and that her figure was exceedingly neat
 and that her figure was exceedingly neat.Susie got up to light a cigarette. is singularly rich in all works dealing with the occult sciences. I simply could not get through. His observations were pointed and showed a certain knowledge of what he spoke about. and with a voice that was cold with the coldness of death she murmured the words of the poet:'I am amorous of thy body. His fingers caressed the notes with a peculiar suavity. so I suppose it was written during the first six months of 1907. as the model for Oliver Haddo.There was an uncomfortable silence. for she recognized Oliver Haddo's deep bantering tones; and she turned round quickly. I don't think he is. he was a person of great physical attractions. It is cause for congratulation that my gibes.''When you begin to talk of magic and mysticism I confess that I am out of my depth. 'but I'm not inclined to attribute to the supernatural everything that I can't immediately understand.'Margaret wished very much to spend this time in Paris.On the stove was a small bowl of polished brass in which water was kept in order to give a certain moisture to the air. and through the smoke I saw her spring to her feet and rush towards me. she was able to make her cut more pointed. She did not know whither she was borne. He is now grown fat. was of the sort that did not alter.'You are a bold man to assert that now and then the old alchemists actually did make gold.'Her blood ran cold.

 She knew that she did not want to go. She understood how men had bartered their souls for infinite knowledge. and it was with singular pleasure that Dr Porho?t saw the young man. and she coughed. and the eyelids are a little weary. Count von K??ffstein.'Look. and hang the expense. a strange. a fried sole. who sought. I don't think you can conceive how desperately he might suffer. I shall then proceed to a fresh sole. She listened sullenly to his words. They all wear little white caps and black dresses. who claimed to possess an autograph manuscript by the reputed author Schimeon ben Jochai. Her fancy suggested various dark means whereby Oliver Haddo might take vengeance on his enemy. The German confessed that on more than one occasion he owed his life to Haddo's rare power of seizing opportunities. seemed. To Susie it seemed that they flickered with the shadow of a smile. and at the bottom saw a blue fire.''I knew. and I don't think we made them particularly welcome. when he first came up. There was about it a staid.

 white sheepskin which was stretched beneath. She has a black dress. left her listless; and between her and all the actions of life stood the flamboyant. and how would they be troubled by this beauty. incredulously. gnomes.'Oh. She was determined that if people called her ugly they should be forced in the same breath to confess that she was perfectly gowned. but him. It was a horribly painful sight. I haven't seen any of his work.'If anything happens to me. A footman approached. Suddenly Margaret became aware that Susie was deeply in love with Arthur Burdon. In fact he bored me. They should know that during the Middle Ages imagination peopled the four elements with intelligences. He forgot everything.''Well?''You know. something of unsatisfied desire and of longing for unhuman passions. I went and came back by bus.FRANK HURRELLArthur.''I see that you wish me to go. to make sense of it?_' If you were shown this line and asked what poet had written it. curiously enough. His face.

 But it did not move her. You are but a snake. and at its voice tyrants grew pale upon their thrones. Though he could not have been more than twenty-five. The features were rather large. But it was Arthur Burdon.'The prints of a lion's fore feet are disproportionately larger than those of the hind feet. The boy began to speak. divining from the searching look that something was in her friend's mind.' returned Dr Porho?t. There was always that violent hunger of the soul which called her to him.She felt Oliver Haddo take her hands.'The answer had an odd effect on Arthur. by force of will and by imagination.Margaret had never been in better spirits. She saw cardinals in their scarlet. on returning to his hotel. Margaret stared at him with amazement. and Margaret. He described the picture by Valdes Leal. always to lose their fortunes. I was invited to literary parties and to parties given by women of rank and fashion who thought it behoved them to patronise the arts. by sight. His mocking voice rang in her ears. perhaps two or three times.

 but the humour filled me with mortification. for a change came into the tree. smiling. If he had given her that address. Everyone had put aside grave thoughts and sorrow. I took the opportunity to ask the German about our common acquaintance. He smiled quietly. They wondered guiltily how long he had been there and how much he had heard. is its history. He began to walk up and down the studio.' answered Susie gaily. Margaret remembered that her state had been the same on her first arrival in Paris.'You look like a Greek goddess in a Paris frock. with the excitement of an explorer before whom is spread the plain of an undiscovered continent. There is a band tied round her chin. crowding upon one another's heels.'Madam. the doom of all that existed would be sealed beyond repeal. however. for he offers the fascinating problem of an immensely complex character. and in _poudre de riz_. too.The other shrugged his shoulders. The best part of his life had been spent in Egypt. and with the pea-soup I will finish a not unsustaining meal.

' He paused for a moment to light a cigar. and his nose delicately shaped. tous. and this is a particularly rare copy.' smiled Arthur.Then. an extraordinary man. where a number of artists were in the habit of dining; and from then on I dined there every night. She had not heard him open the door or close it. He was very tall. and their fur stood right on end. As she walked through the courtyard she started nervously. and I mean to ask him to tea at the studio. But it changed. for he had been to Eton and to Cambridge.''By Jove. she sought to come nearer. I should be able to do nothing but submit. pliant.'You're simply wonderful tonight. who was waiting for them to start. which are the most properly conducted of all their tribe. with a smile. There was a lurid darkness which displayed and yet distorted the objects that surrounded them.' he said.

 and the wickedness of the world was patent to her eyes. Serpents very poisonous.He smiled.'Some day you shall see her. but I must require of you first the most inviolable silence. but the priest's faith and hers were not the same. He seemed. gipsies. They were made in five weeks. I shall not have lived in vain if I teach you in time to realize that the rapier of irony is more effective an instrument than the bludgeon of insolence. I will give the order for you to be driven home. Margaret took no notice. Sprenger's _Malleus Malefikorum_. I had hit her after all. I have finished with it for good and all. To Susie it seemed that they flickered with the shadow of a smile. but the journey to the station was so long that it would not be worth Susie's while to come back in the interval; and they arranged therefore to meet at the house to which they were invited. He covertly laid down the principles of the doctrine in the first four books of the Pentateuch. 'I suffer from a disease of the heart.''Eliphas Levi talked to me himself of this evocation. no one knew him. but an exceedingly pale blue.'Yet it reigned in Persia with the magi. As she stood on the landing. who have backed zero all the time.

 Evil was all about her. the invocations of the Ritual. and had learnt esoteric secrets which overthrew the foundations of modern science. with a smile. and perhaps she might be able to pray. His appearance was extraordinary. they went to that part of the museum where ancient sculpture is kept. struggled aimlessly to escape from the poison that the immortal gods poured in her veins. blended with the suave music of the words so that Margaret felt she had never before known their divine significance. Margaret did not speak. His face beamed with good-nature.'They can. In any case he was contemptible.' said Miss Boyd. the glittering steel of armour damascened. She regained at least one of the characteristics of youth. Margaret was hardly surprised that he played marvellously.''You are very superior. but I doubt if it is more than a name to you. He was very smartly dressed in a horsey way.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. made love the more entrancing. Once a week the bottles were emptied and filled again with pure rain-water. I expect she's all right.' said Susie.

 That vast empty space was suddenly filled by shadowy forms. I can tell you. she could enjoy thoroughly Margaret's young enchantment in all that was exquisite. It was a scene of indescribable horror. I made up my mind to abandon the writing of novels for the rest of my life. She held that it was prudish to insist upon the conventions of Notting Hill in the Boulevard de Montparnasse.' she repeated. I haven't. and this symbol was drawn on the new.What you would hardly believe is that. I bought. but he motioned it away as though he would not be beholden to her even for that. He desired the boy to look steadily into it without raising his head. and what he said was no less just than obvious. Oliver Haddo left at Margaret's door vast masses of chrysanthemums. like a man racked by torments who has not the strength even to realize that his agony has ceased. and it was so tender that his thin face.''I suppose no one has been here?' asked Susie. I don't see why things should go against me now.'He had been so quiet that they had forgotten his presence. partly from her conversation. The night was fine. undines. as though afraid that someone would see her.' she repeated.

But when she heard Susie's key in the door. Raggles put on his coat with the scarlet lining and went out with the tall Jagson. and then without hesitation I will devour the wing of a chicken in order to sustain myself against your smile.Then. He seemed to consider each time what sort of man this was to whom he spoke. with an entertaining flow of rather pompous language which made the amusing things he said particularly funny. It gave her a horrible delight. I wish I'd never seen you. 'Me show serpents to Sirdar Lord Kitchener. I can show you a complete magical cabinet. There was something satanic in his deliberation. as though the victims of uncontrollable terror. It was characteristic that.'Madam. as though conscious they stood in a Paris where progress was not. She mounted a broad staircase. But the delight of it was so great that he could scarcely withhold a cry of agony. collected his manuscripts and from them composed the celebrated treatise called _Zohar_. no one knew him. yet existed mysteriously.'Don't be so silly. Haddo put it in front of the horned viper. and the tremulousness of life was in it; the rough bark was changed into brutish flesh and the twisted branches into human arms. waiting for Arthur's arrival. as now.

 whose pictures had recently been accepted by the Luxembourg. You have heard of the Kabbalah. but I fear there are few that will interest an English young lady. and these were filled with water. the sins of the Borgias. These alone were visible. the outcast son of the morning; and she dared not look upon his face. on which were all manner of cabbalistic signs. his secretary. It was dirty and thumbed.He opened the door. and only something very definite to say could tempt him to join in the general conversation. are curiously alive to the romantic. but writhed strangely. A group of telegraph boys in blue stood round a painter. that she was able to make the most of herself.'That surely is what a surgeon would call healing by first intention. Yet it was almost incredible that those fat. By crossing the bridge and following the river. cut short. 'I'm dying for my tea. Here he not only devoted the leisure hours of forty years to this mysterious science. was down with fever and could not stir from his bed. normally unseen. where a number of artists were in the habit of dining; and from then on I dined there every night.

 left her listless; and between her and all the actions of life stood the flamboyant. Margaret and Susie got out. Burkhardt thought that Haddo was clearly to blame and refused to have anything more to do with him. when Margaret. but so cumbered that it gave a cramped impression. But it did not move her. a shudder went through it. for the mere pleasure of it; and to Burkhardt's indignation frequently shot beasts whose skins and horns they did not even trouble to take. In Arthur's eyes Margaret had all the exquisite grace of the statue. intolerable shame. Fortunately it is rather a long one.' he said. Of these I am.' She shrugged her shoulders.'Susie settled herself more comfortably in her chair and lit a cigarette. There were so many that the austere studio was changed in aspect. and was not disposed to pay much attention to this vehement distress. and fashionable courtesans. but at length it was clear that he used them in a manner which could not be defended.''Of course you didn't tell him that I insisted on buying every stitch you'd got on. had scarcely entered before they were joined by Oliver Haddo.''You have a marvellous collection of tall stories. brilliant eyes. while Margaret put the tea things away.'You must hate me for intruding on you.

 she turned to her friend. Have you ever hunted them on their native plains?''No. which suggested that he was indifferent to material things. All things about them appeared dumbly to suffer. Her comb stood up. An unattached and fairly presentable young man is always in demand.''I see that you wish me to go. I want to look at all your books.He had known Arthur Burdon ever since he was born.' cried Margaret vehemently. I tried to find out what he had been up to. Oliver Haddo left at Margaret's door vast masses of chrysanthemums. all these were driven before the silent throngs of the oppressed; and they were innumerable as the sands of the sea. and all besought her not to show too hard a heart to the bald and rubicund painter. The immobility of that vast bulk was peculiar. because I shall be too busy. But notwithstanding all this. A balustrade of stone gracefully enclosed the space. that she turned away to enter Dr Porho?t's house. little cell by cell.''You really needn't think it in the least necessary to show any interest in me. dissecting. I saw this gentleman every day. He spoke not of pictures now. and he that uses the word impossible outside of pure mathematics is lacking in prudence.

 The face was horrible with lust and cruelty. and Saint Augustine of Hippo added that in any case there could be no question of inhabited lands. He began the invocations again and placed himself in a circle. I tremble in every limb at the thought of your unmitigated scorn. Suddenly he stopped.* * * * *Wednesday happened to be Arthur's birthday.'But if the adept is active. drawing upon his memory. to come forth.' smiled Arthur. and was seized suddenly with uncontrollable laughter.''I am astonished that you should never have tried such an interesting experiment yourself. For all her good-nature. and it was due to her influence that Margaret was arrayed always in the latest mode.The music was beautiful. and could not understand what pleasure there might be in the elaborate invention of improbable adventures. He covertly laid down the principles of the doctrine in the first four books of the Pentateuch. according to a certain _aureum vellus_ printed at Rorschach in the sixteenth century. With singular effrontery.'I saw the place was crowded. She had seen Arthur the evening before. such furniture and household utensils as were essential. the alchemist. he was a foolish young thing in love. I have no doubt.

 and the Rabbi Abba. There were many older ones also in bindings of calf and pigskin.' laughed Arthur. and there was one statue of an athlete which attracted his prolonged attention. which seemed more grey than black. He was notorious also for the extravagance of his costume. We talked steadily from half past six till midnight. and Arthur came in. One of two had a wan ascetic look. and tawny distances.' said Arthur Burdon. But notwithstanding all this. it was found that the spirits had grown to about a span and a half each; the male _homunculi_ were come into possession of heavy beards. She seemed bound to him already by hidden chains. He took the bowl in his hands and brought it to her.She believed privately that Margaret's passion for the arts was a not unamiable pose which would disappear when she was happily married. The child had so little to confess. It struck Arthur that he should say something polite. They think by the science they study so patiently. It seemed to her that Haddo bade her cover her face. into which the soul with all its maladies has passed. He had had an upbringing unusual for a painter. but Margaret said he did not photograph well. A Hungarian band played in a distant corner. and the key of immortality.

' said Arthur. On the sixth day the bird began to lose its feathers. and he asked her to dine with him alone.'Again Arthur Burdon made no reply. and tawny distances.'But I do. as he led her in. and I had given up the search. and the only happy hours she had were those spent in his company. in ghastly desolation; and though a dead thing. and she hastened to his house. a physician to Louis XIV. to confess my fault?''I wish you not to speak of it. He desired the boy to look steadily into it without raising his head. It was plain now that his words intoxicated him. and W. Montpellier. who was a member of it. touching devotion. The colour of her skin was so tender that it reminded you vaguely of all beautiful soft things. the insane light of their eyes.'"I see an old woman lying on a bed. don't say that. the most marvellous were those strange beings. her eyes fell carelessly on the address that Haddo had left.

 Margaret tried to join calmly in the conversation. I see no reason why he should not have been present at the battle of Pavia. which is the name of my place in Staffordshire. coming home from dinner with Arthur. the exhibitions of eccentricity. He gave Haddo a rapid glance.'Next to me is Madame Meyer. who does all the illustrations for _La Semaine_.'I grieve to see. and occasionally uttered a barbaric cry. There's no form of religion. by a queer freak. but it was not an unpopularity of the sort which ignores a man and leaves him chiefly to his own society. in tails and a white tie. My friend was at the Bar. He kept the greatest surprise for the last. Some people. There is only one subject upon which the individual can speak with authority. She felt herself redden. a few puny errors which must excite a smile on the lips of the gentle priest. If he shoots me he'll get his head cut off. Very pale. without colouring or troubling it. It is possible that you do not possess the necessary materials. broken and powdery.

 large and sombre. These eyes were the most curious thing about him. but their wan decay little served to give a touch of nature to the artifice of all besides.'Well?' said the girl. which he had already traced between the altar and the tripod. religious rites. was common to all my informants. I'm pretty well-to-do.' he answered. strangely appearing where before was nothing.''Silly ass!' answered Arthur with emphasis. By crossing the bridge and following the river.'I'll tell you what I'll do. as though conscious they stood in a Paris where progress was not. painfully. and he felt that she was trembling. frightened eye upon Haddo and then hid its head. She was horribly fascinated by the personality that imbued these elaborate sentences.'The unlucky creature. But now Margaret could take no pleasure in its grace. it civilised Greece to the sounds of Orpheus's lyre. felt that this was not the purpose for which she had asked him to come. and they bolted out. _The Magician_ was published in 1908. breaking into French in the impossibility of expressing in English the exact feeling which that scene gave him.

 emerald and ruby.' he sobbed. He was notorious also for the extravagance of his costume. and the darkness of death afflicted them always. and only something very definite to say could tempt him to join in the general conversation. that Susie. because I was hoping--I might ask you to marry me some day. with his inhuman savour of fellowship with the earth which is divine.' he said. so that he might regain his strength.The fair to which they were going was held at the Lion de Belfort. and he said they were a boy not arrived at puberty. but the music was drowned by the loud talking of excited men and the boisterous laughter of women. though they cost much more than she could afford. and her consciousness of the admiration she excited increased her beauty.'Arthur was prevented from answering by their arrival at the Lion de Belfort. meditating on the problems of metaphysics.'Can it matter to you if I forgive or not?''You have not pity. and at its voice tyrants grew pale upon their thrones. It was as though fiends of hell were taking revenge upon her loveliness by inspiring in her a passion for this monstrous creature. Margaret stopped as she passed him. in that which they have of power to refine and make expressive the outward form.'Oliver Haddo began then to speak of Leonardo da Vinci. I was looking up some point upon which it seemed impossible to find authorities. Listen:'After me.

 They were gathered round the window and had not heard him come in. It is possible that you do not possess the necessary materials.A rug lay at one side of the tent. who was not revolted by the vanity which sought to attract notice. and his head reeled as it had before dinner. The door is open. I can tell you. the greatest of the Mameluke Sultans. He gave Haddo a rapid glance. They travelled from her smiling mouth to her deft hands. whose reputation in England was already considerable. The champagne went quickly to her head. Four concave mirrors were hung within it. meditating on the problems of metaphysics. Margaret took no notice. His mouth was tortured by a passionate distress. you may have heard. whose common sense prevented her from paying much heed to romantic notions of false delicacy. Unless he has much altered.'These beings were fed every three days by the Count with a rose-coloured substance which was kept in a silver box. and it was plain that soon his reputation with the public would equal that which he had already won with the profession. If he shoots me he'll get his head cut off. and the eyes were brown.''_Bien. beheld the wan head of the Saint.

 and in most cases charges. There was a pleasant darkness in the place.'Some day you shall see her. It contained the most extraordinary account I have ever read of certain spirits generated by Johann-Ferdinand. by contrast.'The little maid who looked busily after the varied wants of the customers stood in front of them to receive Arthur's order. as Frank Hurrell had said.''But look here. uncouth primeval things. for these are the great weapons of the magician. and our kindred studies gave us a common topic of conversation. He beheld the scene with the eyes of the many painters who have sought by means of the most charming garden in Paris to express their sense of beauty. So far as I can see. Warren reeled out with O'Brien. but rising by degrees." he said.'He's the most ridiculous creature I've ever seen in my life.'I have no equal with big game. They spoke a different tongue. The lion gave vent to a sonorous roar. I hardly like to tell you. The humility of it aroused her suspicion. He could not regain the conventional manner of polite society. The dignity which encompassed the perfection of her beauty was delightfully softened. I want all your strength.

'The idea flashed through Margaret that Oliver Haddo was the author of it. It was as though fiends of hell were taking revenge upon her loveliness by inspiring in her a passion for this monstrous creature.'Susie's passion for caricature at once asserted itself. mildly ironic. her hands behind her. Susie was too much annoyed to observe this agitation. and his curiosity would not let him rest until he had seen with his own eyes the effect of it. Oliver Haddo proceeded to eat these dishes in the order he had named. No one.'When?''Very soon. and he growled incessantly. and then he makes a jab at the panel. I thought no harm could come if I sent for the sorcerer. it can be explained by none of the principles known to science. He could have knelt down and worshipped as though a goddess of old Greece stood before him. 'Open your eyes and stand up.'Go away. Putting the sketches aside. It was thus that I first met Arnold Bennett and Clive Bell.' he gasped. With his twinkling eyes. and he wore a long grey beard. And it seemed that all the mighty dead appeared before her; and she saw grim tyrants. an extraordinary man. the only person at hand.

 a charlatan.She heard the sound of a trumpet.They came down to the busy.Their brave simplicity moved him as no rhetoric could have done. Burkhardt thought that Haddo was clearly to blame and refused to have anything more to do with him. but could not. his heavy face in shadow. and he drew out of the piano effects which she had scarcely thought possible. His forebears have been noted in the history of England since the days of the courtier who accompanied Anne of Denmark to Scotland. which had little vitality and soon died. and at intervals the deep voice of the priest. and she had a sensation of freedom which was as delightful as it was indescribable. She held out her hand to him. and this gave her a chance to bring their conversation to matters on which Haddo was expert. partly from her conversation. The kindly scholar looked round for Margaret's terrier.' laughed Susie. His face. It was Pan. in the wall.'I'll tell you what I'll do. so that she might see he used no compulsion. for he was always exceedingly vain. But though she sought to persuade herself that. for she knew it was impossible to bear the undying pain that darkened it with ruthless shadows.

They had arranged to eat at a fashionable restaurant on the other side of the river. when Margaret. and it was so tender that his thin face. 'And Marie is dying to be rid of us. There was romance and laughter in his conversation; and though. as though afraid that someone would see her. with the excitement of an explorer before whom is spread the plain of an undiscovered continent. They had lunched at a restaurant in the Boulevard Saint Michel.' he commanded. and the shuffle of their myriad feet. She took up a book and began to read. and. and his hand and his brain worked in a manner that appeared almost automatic.Susie stood up and went to her. since. 'Whenever I've really wanted anything. her utter loathing. thanks. seemed actually to burn them. began to kick him with all his might. and Arthur shut the door behind him. Arthur turned to Margaret.' she said quickly. Joseph de Avila. 'I don't know what it is that has come over you of late.

 when I became a popular writer of light comedies. He lowered his head. You won't try to understand. He stopped at the door to look at her. judged it would be vulgar to turn up her nose. In two hours he was dead. He gave a laugh. which was held at six in the evening. but probably.'Had Nancy anything particular to say to you?' she asked.' said Dr Porho?t. He opened his eyes. His features were good. And she takes a passionate interest in the variety of life. and he watched her in silence. perhaps a maid-servant lately come from her native village to the great capital. and trying to comfort it in its pain. The narrow streets. The room was large. for she did not know that she had been taking a medicine. smiling. and painted courtesans. Then. Is it nothing not only to know the future. and his eye fell on a stout volume bound in vellum.