which. her eyes fell carelessly on the address that Haddo had left. my O'Brien.

 he went out at Margaret's side
 he went out at Margaret's side. but he played it with a brutal savagery which the other persons concerned naturally resented. He looked at Burdon. His name was Gerald Kelly. Her laughter was like a rippling brook.' she said.''I shall be much pleased.A day or two later Susie received a telegram.'Come here.To avoid the crowd which throngs the picture galleries on holidays. His memory was indeed astonishing. and it is the most deadly of all Egyptian snakes. nearly connected with persons of importance.' said Dr Porho?t. He could not regain the conventional manner of polite society. While Margaret busied herself with the preparations for tea. Meyer as more worthy of his mocking. and when James I. Crowley.

 He spoke of unhallowed things. but he interested and amused me. The gibe at his obesity had caught him on the raw.'Arthur Burdon made a gesture of impatience.' he said. determined him to attempt at her house the experience of a complete evocation. untidily. vermiform appendix. and Roman emperors in their purple. Last year it was beautiful to wear a hat like a pork-pie tipped over your nose; and next year. A fate befell him which has been the lot of greater men than he. and to question it upon two matters. at that moment.''I wish we'd never come across him. actresses of renown. and it troubled her extraordinarily that she had lied to her greatest friend. his lips broke into a queer. The least wonderful of its many properties was its power to transmute all inferior metals into gold.' said Miss Boyd.

 Suddenly it was extinguished. It was no less amusing than a play. rising to her cheeks. It was said to be a red ethereal fluid. and with a little wave of the hand she disappeared. I prefer to set them all aside. the lust of Rome. Her laughter was like a rippling brook. Haggard women. if her friend chaffed him. At length everything was ready. and they in turn transmitted them from hand to hand. who painted still life with a certain amount of skill. left her listless; and between her and all the actions of life stood the flamboyant. and Susie. He was grossly.'Levi's real name was Alphonse-Louis Constant. with a smile. win many times our stake.

 and she had not even the strength to wish to free herself.'"He has done. Margaret looked through the portfolio once more. he managed. I was awakened one night by the uneasiness of my oxen. playing on his pipes. partly from fragments of letters which Margaret read to her.'Arthur looked at the man she pointed out. and clattered down the stairs into the street. 'Let us go in and see what the fellow has to show. 'I feel that. it was because he knew she would use it. clinging to him for protection. I took one step backwards in the hope of getting a cartridge into my rifle.' he said. perhaps two or three times.'This was less than ten minutes' walk from the studio. The splendour of the East blinded her eyes. A gradual lethargy seized her under his baleful glance.

 and above were certain words in Arabic. for these are the great weapons of the magician.'Fiddlesticks! The fashion is always beautiful. She looked so fresh in her plain black dress. but the priest's faith and hers were not the same.' said Arthur. engaged for ever in a mystic rite.Margaret was obliged to go. He asked tenderly what was the matter. we should be unable to form any reasonable theory of the universe. Eliphas Levi saw that she was of mature age; and beneath her grey eyebrows were bright black eyes of preternatural fixity. Of course. the most marvellous were those strange beings. The old philosophers doubted the possibility of this operation. 'but he's always in that condition. for heaven's sake ask me to stay with you four times a year. not more than a mile away.Clayson had a vinous nose and a tedious habit of saying brilliant things. A year after his death.

 on a sudden violently shuddered; he affected her with an uncontrollable dislike. dear doctor.'Oliver Haddo looked at him before answering. I could believe anything that had the whole weight of science against it. Oliver Haddo had scarcely mentioned his name and yet had poisoned her mind. but not unintelligently. and Arthur Burdon. But with our modern appliances. for science had taught me to distrust even the evidence of my five senses.' said Susie in an undertone. her mind aglow with characters and events from history and from fiction. The dog ceased its sobbing. At least. and lives only in the delicacy with which it has moulded the changing lineaments. sensual priest. and why should a man be despised who goes in search of it? Those who remain at home may grow richer and live more comfortably than those who wander; but I desire neither to live comfortably nor to grow rich. and was hurriedly introduced to a lanky youth. He wears a magnificent cope and a surplice of exquisite lace. but I doubt if it is more than a name to you.

 fearing that his words might offend.A rug lay at one side of the tent. and the flowers. but the spring had carried her forwards. I had been fortunate enough to make friends with a young painter who had a studio in the Rue Campagne Premi??re. very fair. Margaret. It was an index of his character. It contained half a card. Everything goes too well with me. and the travellers found themselves in a very dangerous predicament. I was in a rut. It is the chosen home of every kind of eccentricity. So far as I can see. He had letters of introduction to various persons of distinction who concerned themselves with the supernatural. I bought. in her eagerness to get a preliminary glimpse of its marvels. they took a cab and drove through the streets. with an entertaining flow of rather pompous language which made the amusing things he said particularly funny.

 It should be remembered that Lactantius proclaimed belief in the existence of antipodes inane. to like football. they claim to have created forms in which life became manifest. the humped backs. they had at least a fixed rule which prevented them from swerving into treacherous byways. Her will had been taken from her. and some excellent pea-soup. she could enjoy thoroughly Margaret's young enchantment in all that was exquisite. That vast empty space was suddenly filled by shadowy forms. with his portion of the card in his hand.'You've made me very happy. The child had so little to confess. There was a lurid darkness which displayed and yet distorted the objects that surrounded them. of strange thoughts and fantastic reveries and exquisite passions. Then he answered Arthur. I made my character more striking in appearance. when he thought that this priceless treasure was his. and he made it without the elaborate equipment. hangmen.

 I hardly recognized him.'A tremor went through the goatskin bag. a big stout fellow. conversation. but was obliged soon to confess that he boasted of nothing unjustly. But even while she looked. after asking me to dinner.'Don't be a pair of perfect idiots. with a smile. She had never kissed him in that way before. to occupy myself only with folly. His stillness got on her nerves.' said Susie Boyd. and the broad avenue was crowded.'Marie brought him the bill of fare. _monsieur_. The trees were neatly surrounded by bushes. Mr Haddo.''What is there to be afraid of?' she cried.

 She was proud to think that she would hand over to Arthur Burdon a woman whose character she had helped to form.'He went there in the spring of 1856 to escape from internal disquietude and to devote himself without distraction to his studies. as though it consisted of molten metal. gay gentlemen in periwigs. She greeted him with a passionate relief that was unusual. yet you will conduct your life under the conviction that it does so invariably. many years after his wife. Their eyes met.'Oliver Haddo looked at him before answering. when I dined out.''I don't think you need have any fear. the most marvellous were those strange beings. I have studied their experiments. straight eyes remained upon Arthur without expression. the snake darted forward. and Arthur. The flames invested every object with a wavering light. and wrote a full-page review of the novel in _Vanity Fair_. as though it consisted of molten metal.

 He was more beautiful than the Adam of Michelangelo who wakes into life at the call of the Almighty; and. And gradually she began to hate him because her debt of gratitude was so great. She heard shrill cries and peals of laughter and the terrifying rattle of men at the point of death. I never saw him but he was surrounded by a little crowd. He did nothing that was manifestly unfair. he wrote forms of invocation on six strips of paper. for I knew natives could be of no use to me. It seemed to her that she was entering upon an unknown region of romance.'Your laughter reminds me of the crackling of thorns under a pot. une sole. I set out for Spain and spent the best part of a year in Seville. I did not avail myself of them. His arm continued for several days to be numb and painful. They all wear little white caps and black dresses. such as the saints may have had when the terror of life was known to them only in the imaginings of the cloister. but of life. and in the white. I see no reason why he should not have been present at the battle of Pavia.''Do you love me very much?' she asked.

' answered Susie. You will see that the owner's name had been cut out. he went out at Margaret's side. And the men take off their hats. who lived in the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; and after his death the Rabbi Eleazar. which was odd and mysterious. These alone were visible.Yet there was one piece. and.He turned on her his straight uncanny glance.He opened the door. however. sad dignity; and it seemed to Margaret fit thus to adore God. They had buried her on the very day upon which the boy had seen this sight in the mirror of ink. when a legacy from a distant relation gave her sufficient income to live modestly upon her means.''If I died tomorrow. Only her reliance on Arthur's common sense prevented her from giving way to ridiculous terrors. and the phenomenon was witnessed by many people. and indeed had missed being present at his birth only because the Khedive Isma?l had summoned him unexpectedly to Cairo.

 They passed in their tattered motley. neither very imaginative nor very brilliant.'Yet the man who could write that was in many ways a mere buffoon. But she could not bear to look at him. The experimenter then took some grain. and his voice was hoarse. ascended the English throne.I tell you that for this art nothing is impossible. gained a human soul by loving one of the race of men.'Let us wait here for a moment. for heaven's sake don't cry! You know I can't bear people who weep. curiously enough. She had never looked more lovely than on this afternoon. perhaps only once. She would not let him drag them away. with the wings and the bow and arrow of the God of Love. Sprenger's _Malleus Malefikorum_. If you listen to him. The time will come when none of you shall remain in his dark corner who will not be an object of contempt to the world.

 but this touch somehow curiously emphasized her sex. Mother of God and I starving. others with the satin streamers of the _nounou_. Roughly painted on sail-cloth was a picture of an Arab charming snakes. and kept on losing them till it was naked as a newborn babe; but before two weeks had passed other feathers grew. And she was ashamed of his humiliation. and as there's not the least doubt that you'll marry. I knew he was much older than you.' said the doctor. lightly. and her mind was highly wrought. but could not. left her listless; and between her and all the actions of life stood the flamboyant. He was a liar and unbecomingly boastful. He's the only man in this room of whom you'll never hear a word of evil. He was very proud. He had also an ingenious talent for profanity. He threw himself into an attitude of command and remained for a moment perfectly still.' he said.

 when a legacy from a distant relation gave her sufficient income to live modestly upon her means.'If I wanted to get rid of you. You'll never keep your husband's affection if you trust to your own judgment. but have declined to gratify a frivolous curiosity. the deep blue of sapphires.'Hail. She left everything in his hands. and she. If it related to less wonderful subjects. to like football. and the key of immortality. with a smile. so might the sylphs.' said Arthur. His heart beat quickly. which was published concerning his profession. In a moment Oliver Haddo stood before her. and to question it upon two matters. since knowledge is unattainable.

 It ran as follows:Please meet me at the Gare du Nord. Life was very pleasing. I have shot more lions than any man alive. you mustn't expect everyone to take such an overpowering interest in that young man as you do. the _capa_. She knelt down and. Margaret made no sign. because I love him so much that all I do is pure delight. a native sat cross-legged. and we've known one another much too long to change our minds.'I don't mind what I eat. and yet withal she went. He had big teeth. I wish I could drive the fact into this head of yours that rudeness is not synonymous with wit.'To follow a wounded lion into thick cover is probably the most dangerous proceeding in the world.Then Oliver Haddo moved. it is by no means a portrait of him. of strange thoughts and fantastic reveries and exquisite passions. in that which they have of power to refine and make expressive the outward form.

 His mocking voice rang in her ears. and at the same time displayed the other part of the card he had received.'She remembered that her train started exactly at that hour. O well-beloved. and suddenly she knew all that was obscene.I have heard vaguely that he was travelling over the world. and for a little while there was silence. power over all created things. Once there. The lightning had torn it asunder. he thought it very clever because she said it; but in a man it would have aroused his impatience. She asked herself frantically whether a spell had been cast over her. She was horribly. and the simplicity with which he left alone those of which he was ignorant. he looked exactly like a Franz Hals; but he was dressed like the caricature of a Frenchman in a comic paper. Susie. and they looked at you in a way that was singularly embarrassing. but I know not what there is in the atmosphere that saps his unbelief. and Dr Porho?t.

 But though she watched in order to conceal her own secret. not unlike the pipe which Pan in the hills of Greece played to the dryads. uncouth primeval things. he looked considerably older.' cried Susie. and fresh frankincense was added. And many of their women. with faded finery.' said she. His eyes rested on a print of _La Gioconda_ which hung on the wall.''I see that you wish me to go. and sat down in the seats reserved in the transept for the needy. they must come eventually to Dr. Don't you think it must have been hard for me. 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. at enormous expense and with exceeding labour; it is so volatile that you cannot keep it for three days.'I'm glad to see you in order to thank you for all you've done for Margaret. She looked down at Oliver. And they surged onward like a riotous crowd in narrow streets flying in terror before the mounted troops.

' she said.'Arthur and Mademoiselle are already here. which.'Don't be afraid. It is possible that under certain conditions the law of gravity does not apply.'What should you know of that lust for great secrets which consumes me to the bottom of my soul!''Anyhow. but I am bound to confess it would not surprise me to learn that he possessed powers by which he was able to do things seemingly miraculous. as I have said. of the sunsets with their splendour. The door is open. and yet your admiration was alloyed with an unreasoning terror. It is commonly known as Cleopatra's Asp. an argument on the merits of C??zanne. and his great obesity was somehow more remarkable. coming home from dinner with Arthur. and they stood for an appreciable time gazing at one another silently. of plays which. her eyes fell carelessly on the address that Haddo had left. my O'Brien.