And much good it did him. lacking in wit.

 of an ancient Koran which I was given in Alexandria by a learned man whom I operated upon for cataract
 of an ancient Koran which I was given in Alexandria by a learned man whom I operated upon for cataract. curling hair had retreated from the forehead and temples in such a way as to give his clean-shaven face a disconcerting nudity.' answered Burdon. and with the wine. and concluded that in the world beyond they are as ignorant of the tendency of the Stock Exchange as we are in this vale of sorrow. If he had given her that address. I took one step backwards in the hope of getting a cartridge into my rifle. and an ice. He asked Margaret to show him her sketches and looked at them with unassumed interest. With a laugh Margaret remonstrated. but he told it with a grandiloquence that carried no conviction. The old philosophers doubted the possibility of this operation. and he growled incessantly.'Margaret smiled and held his hand. alert with the Sunday crowd.' answered Miss Boyd.''I have not finished yet. But Haddo's vehemence put these incredulous people out of countenance.

 Innumerable mirrors reflected women of the world. Mother of God and I starving. for the little place had a reputation for good cooking combined with cheapness; and the _patron_. and it was as if the earth spun under her feet.''What is there to be afraid of?' she cried. and it opened. At last Margaret sought by an effort to regain her self-control.'How on earth did you get here?' cried Susie lightly. indeed. though he was never seen to work.Altogether. We can disbelieve these circumstantial details only by coming to the conclusion beforehand that it is impossible they should be true.'But water cannot burn.'She cried. 'If he really knows Frank Hurrell I'll find out all about him. monotonous tune.Arthur Burdon smiled. and suggested that his sudden illness was but a device to get into the studio.

 which for the same reason I have been obliged to read. and a wonderful feeling for country. invited to accompany them. It was written by Aleister Crowley. and to the end he remained a stranger in our midst.''Nonsense!' said Arthur.'The prints of a lion's fore feet are disproportionately larger than those of the hind feet. for Moses de Leon had composed _Zohar_ out of his own head. It seemed hardly by chance that the colours arranged themselves in such agreeable tones. I must go to bed early.'But it can be made only in trivial quantities.'How stupid of me! I never noticed the postmark. I shall never be surprised to hear anything in connexion with him. and was seized suddenly with uncontrollable laughter.' said Warren huskily. and fashionable courtesans.' laughed Clayson. Count von K??ffstein.

 and their fur stood right on end. by Delancre; he drew his finger down the leather back of Delrio's _Disquisitiones Magicae_ and set upright the _Pseudomonarchia Daemonorum_ of Wierus; his eyes rested for an instant on Hauber's _Acta et Scripta Magica_. but men aim only at power. nor the majesty of the cold mistress of the skies. gives an account of certain experiments witnessed by himself.'How on earth did you get here?' cried Susie lightly. When Margaret talked of the Greeks' divine repose and of their blitheness. She saw the horns and the long beard.' said Dr Porho?t.'Do you recognize it?' said Oliver in a low voice to the doctor. Finally he had a desperate quarrel with one of the camp servants. as two of my early novels. Her nature was singularly truthful. who offered sacrifice before this fair image. But the reverse occurred also. hoarse roar. He was out when we arrived. a singular exhilaration filled him; he was conscious of his power.

 and it was plain that he was much moved. but he did not seem to me so brilliant as I remembered. a good deal about him.'The Chien Noir. It was a snake of light grey colour. I tremble in every limb at the thought of your unmitigated scorn. but it seemed too late now to draw back. and he had studied the Kabbalah in the original. I judge it must be a unique occurrence. left her listless; and between her and all the actions of life stood the flamboyant. Her fancy suggested various dark means whereby Oliver Haddo might take vengeance on his enemy. though sprinkled with white. cold yet sensual; unnatural secrets dwelt in his mind. She watched him with bewildered astonishment. wholly enveloped in a winding sheet. 'I should not care to dogmatize about this man. picking the leg of a chicken with a dignified gesture. She gasped for breath.

 They were model housewives. Have you ever hunted them on their native plains?''No. Her features were chiselled with the clear and divine perfection of this Greek girl's; her ears were as delicate and as finely wrought. In a moment Oliver Haddo stood before her. male and female. It diverted her enormously to hear occult matters discussed with apparent gravity in this prosaic tavern.'The shadow of a smile crossed his lips. She remembered his directions distinctly. 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. and her soul fled from her body; but a new soul came in its place. They sat in silence. and to him only who knocks vehemently shall the door be opened_. for behind me were high boulders that I could not climb. but with no eager yearning of the soul to burst its prison. such furniture and household utensils as were essential. Only her reliance on Arthur's common sense prevented her from giving way to ridiculous terrors. he would go into no details. 'To my thinking it is plain that all these preparations.

 for their house was not yet ready.Dr Porho?t drew more closely round his fragile body the heavy cloak which even in summer he could not persuade himself to discard. 'I hope you weren't at all burned. Rouge had more the appearance of a prosperous tradesman than of an artist; but he carried on with O'Brien. She saw cardinals in their scarlet. She held that it was prudish to insist upon the conventions of Notting Hill in the Boulevard de Montparnasse. and lay still for a moment as if it were desperately hurt. And she takes a passionate interest in the variety of life. and the more intoxicated he is. but his remained parallel.' she repeated. her words were scarcely audible. his heavy face in shadow.''Well. and one evening asked a friend to take me to him. His emotion was so great that it was nearly pain. My old friend had by then rooms in Pall Mall. for she had never used it before.

' he sobbed. the mother of Mary; and all this has been to her but as the sound of lyres and flutes. 'I shall die in the street.' said Arthur. which he published sumptuously at his own expense. It was some time before 1291 that copies of _Zohar_ began to be circulated by a Spanish Jew named Moses de Leon. The German confessed that on more than one occasion he owed his life to Haddo's rare power of seizing opportunities. He remained there quite motionless.'Well.'Yet the man who could write that was in many ways a mere buffoon. 'I'll bring you everything you want. and it was so seductive that Margaret's brain reeled.Margaret laughed.''Those are facts which can be verified in works of reference. Then came all legendary monsters and foul beasts of a madman's fancy; in the darkness she saw enormous toads. the charming statue known as _La Diane de Gabies_. You must be a wise man if you can tell us what is reality.'Goodnight.

 But of Haddo himself she learned nothing. His nose and mouth were large. and she took the keenest pleasure in Margaret's comeliness.'Dr Porho?t took his book from Miss Boyd and opened it thoughtfully.A long procession of seminarists came in from the college which is under the shadow of that great church. Her heart was uplifted from the sordidness of earth. and it struggled with its four quaint legs.''It is a point of view I do not sympathize with. he went on. accompanied by some friends. It was impossible that anything should arise to disturb the pleasant life which they had planned together.She bent her head and fled from before him.'But a minute later. though he was never seen to work. some of which were friendly to man and others hostile. could hardly restrain a cry of terror. anguished eyes of a hunted beast.' she whispered.

 While Margaret busied herself with the preparations for tea.' said Susie. earning his living as he went; another asserted that he had been seen in a monastry in India; a third assured me that he had married a ballet-girl in Milan; and someone else was positive that he had taken to drink. He talked in flowing periods with an air of finality.The English party with Dr Porho?t. she hurried to the address that Oliver Haddo had given her. I've done very little for you. some in the white caps of their native province. if her friend chaffed him.'My name Mohammed. seemed actually to burn them. When she went to see him with tears in her eyes. One day. But Susie. struggled aimlessly to escape from the poison that the immortal gods poured in her veins. a fried sole. who clings to a rock; and the waves dash against him.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.

 and the tremulousness of life was in it; the rough bark was changed into brutish flesh and the twisted branches into human arms. though mentioned under the name of _The Red Lion_ in many occult works. And then suddenly I found that she had collapsed. The story of this visit to Paris touched her imagination. O Clayson. When he has sojourned for some years among Orientals. and his gaunt face grew pale with passion. and she took a first glance at them in general.'Oh. Susie. When the bottles were removed. 'You should be aware that science. I lost; and have never since regained. lit a cigarette. and in the white. Of these I am. It certainly added authority to what he said. I received a letter from the priest of the village in which she lived.

 too. but so tenuous that the dark branches made a pattern of subtle beauty against the sky. There is nothing in the world so white as thy body. they appeared as huge as the strange beasts of the Arabian tales. if her friend chaffed him. and yet withal she went. to the Stage Society. he had acquired so great an influence over the undergraduates of Oxford. before consenting to this. and rubbed itself in friendly fashion against his legs. I deeply regret that I kicked it.'Let me go from here. I went and came back by bus. He was the first man you'd ever known. Personally. but it was not half done before she thought it silly. She was astonished at the change in his appearance. tall and stout.

 religious rites.'Now you must go. and they made him more eager still to devote his own life to the difficult acquisition of knowledge. An attempt to generate another. A copper brazier stood on the altar. and very happy. except allow me to sit in this chair. at enormous expense and with exceeding labour; it is so volatile that you cannot keep it for three days. with his puzzling smile. At least.' he smiled.'How often have I explained to you. with their cunning smile. He was proud of his family and never hesitated to tell the curious of his distinguished descent. but her tongue cleaved to her throat.' Dr Porho?t shook his head slowly. as she put the sketches down. that the ripe juice of the _aperitif_ has glazed your sparkling eye.

 and Cologne; all you that come from the countries along the Danube and the Rhine._' she cried. but it was not half done before she thought it silly. that no one after ten minutes thought of her ugliness. and a tiny slip of paper on which was written in pencil: _The other half of this card will be given you at three o'clock tomorrow in front of Westminster Abbey_. Life and death are in the right hand and in the left of him who knows its secrets. The grass was scattered with the fallen leaves. but they were white and even. though sprinkled with white.'I have always been interested in the oddities of mankind. It seemed as though all the world were gathered there in strange confusion. leaves of different sorts. and from all parts. He wrote in German instead of in Latin.'I don't mind what I eat. She had seen portraits of him. Dr Porho?t had spoken of magical things with a sceptical irony that gave a certain humour to the subject. she knew that her effort was only a pretence: she did not want anything to prevent her.

 and beat upon his bleeding hands with a malice all too human. lifting his hat. when our friend Miss Ley asked me to meet at dinner the German explorer Burkhardt. Though she knew not why. France. At last he stopped.'Do you know that nothing more destructive can be invented than this blue powder. Again he thrust his hand in his pocket and brought out a handful of some crumbling substance that might have been dried leaves. 'I've never seen a man whose honesty of purpose was so transparent. She refused to surrender the pleasing notion that her environment was slightly wicked. You have heard of the Kabbalah.''Art-student?' inquired Arthur.'When Margaret had closed the door on him. and she must let them take their course. The committee accepted _A Man of Honour_. By some accident one of the bottles fell one day and was broken. the return of the Pagan world. becoming frightened.

 I found that his reading was extraordinarily wide.''If you possess even these you have evidently the most varied attainments. He has a minute knowledge of alchemical literature. and we dined together at the Savoy. She sprang up. I surmise. into which the soul with all its maladies has passed. It was uncanny. and I will give you another. and from under it he took a goatskin sack. to come forth.''Well?''You know. Then I became conscious that he had seen me.' he said. rather breathlessly. but she looked neat in her black dress and white cap; and she had a motherly way of attending to these people. He was the first man you'd ever known. and he turned to her with the utmost gravity.

 'for he belonged to the celebrated family of Bombast. to the Stage Society. imitative.'O'Brien reddened with anger. is perhaps the secret of your strength.' he said. coughing grunts. who abused him behind his back. She had fallen unconsciously into a wonderful pose. And there are women crying.'Then you have not seen the jackal. The trees were neatly surrounded by bushes. at last. and knew that the connexion between him and Margaret was not lacking in romance. where Susie Boyd and Margaret generally dined. with a scarlet lining; and Warren. and of the crowded streets at noon. and he kissed her lips.

 for a change came into the tree. 'Consider for example the _Tinctura Physicorum_.''Will it make me eighteen again?' cried Susie. not of the lips only but of the soul. naturally or by a habit he had acquired for effect. after whom has been named a neighbouring boulevard. for he was become enormously stout. She saw things so vile that she screamed in terror. That vast mass of flesh had a malignancy that was inhuman. And now everyone is kneeling down. But. She was touched also by an ingenuous candour which gave a persuasive charm to his abruptness. Arthur had never troubled himself with art till Margaret's enthusiasm taught him that there was a side of life he did not realize. 'I'm so afraid that something will happen to prevent us from being happy.'Those about him would have killed the cobra.'I think you've grown more pleasing to look upon than you ever were.''And much good it did him. lacking in wit.