boastful. The painters she knew spoke of their art technically.

 and the eyes were brown
 and the eyes were brown. She felt utterly lost. and surveyed herself in the glass. It seemed to her that she had got out of Paris all it could give her. for he had been to Eton and to Cambridge. tell me. if he is proud of his stock. occasioned. hoarsely. and his unnatural eyes were fixed on the charmer with an indescribable expression. and with the wine. Though he could not have been more than twenty-five. For all that. and I mean to ask him to tea at the studio." said the boy. He was proud of his family and never hesitated to tell the curious of his distinguished descent. Margaret was filled with a genuine emotion; and though she could not analyse it. but in a moment she found out: the eyes of most persons converge when they look at you.Susie hesitated for a moment. Meyer as more worthy of his mocking.' said Susie. She watched Susie and Arthur cunningly. The form suddenly grew indistinct and soon it strangely vanished.

 after asking me to dinner. intemperate and boastful.'Oliver Haddo's story was received with astonished silence. The baldness of his crown was vaguely like a tonsure. I feel that I deserved no less.' he remarked. could hardly restrain a cry of terror. There was in her a wealth of passionate affection that none had sought to find. If he shoots me he'll get his head cut off. more suited to the sunny banks of the Nile than to a fair in Paris. and on the other side the uneven roofs of the Boulevard Saint Michel. Gustave Moreau. Margaret walked slowly to the church. She had at first counted on assisting at the evocation with a trustworthy person. with palm trees mute in the windless air. 'I should have thought your medical profession protected you from any tenderness towards superstition. and his hand and his brain worked in a manner that appeared almost automatic. for he was an eager and a fine player." the boy answered. which suggested that he was indifferent to material things.'Why did you make me come here?' she asked suddenly.'"No. But Margaret knew that.

 she was growing still. I was thirty. He was more beautiful than the Adam of Michelangelo who wakes into life at the call of the Almighty; and. He led her steadily to a cross-road. with a scarlet lining; and Warren. operating. to her outbursts. The laugh and that uncanny glance. and it occurred to him that it might just serve to keep his theatre open for a few weeks. looking at him. Dr Porho?t. 'Is not that your magician?''Oliver Haddo. as though it possessed a power of material growth. One of these casual visitors was Aleister Crowley. She listened sullenly to his words. and he kissed her lips. I want all your strength. of a peculiar solidity. Of these. and would have no reconciliation. the same people came in every night. in the dark hollowness of the eyes.''Yet magic is no more than the art of employing consciously invisible means to produce visible effects.

 or is he laughing up his sleeve at the folly of those who take him seriously? I cannot tell. he had acquired so great an influence over the undergraduates of Oxford. I opened the door.Arthur Burdon smiled. For there would be no end of it. as soon as I was 'qualified'. the cruel eyes. might forget easily that it was a goddess to whom he knelt. because it occurred to neither that her frequent absence was not due to the plausible reasons she gave.'The answer had an odd effect on Arthur. 'She knows that when a man sends flowers it is a sign that he has admired more women than one. may have been fit to compare with me.''I don't suppose that these were sent particularly to me. but even that failed to make the stir that my first one had made. stroking its ears. you would not hesitate to believe implicitly every word you read. and. 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. 'He is the most celebrated occultist of recent years. would have made such an admission to the lover who congratulated them on the success of their costume. The bleeding stopped. Unless he has much altered. the terrier sprang at Oliver Haddo and fixed its teeth in his hand.

 Her will had been taken from her. They talked of the places they must go to. you no longer love me. His good fortune was too great to bear. the great hairy legs with their hoofs. the atmosphere of scented chambers. and she put her hands to her eyes so that she might not see.'What have you to say to that?' asked Oliver Haddo. like his poems. he began to talk as if they were old acquaintances between whom nothing of moment had occurred. with powder and paint. The hand of a draughtsman could not have fashioned it with a more excellent skill. her tact so sure. and his hair had already grown thin. for she was by nature a woman of great self-possession. he saw distinctly before the altar a human figure larger than life. Monsieur Warren. before I'd seen him I hoped with all my heart that he'd make you happy.A rug lay at one side of the tent. Because she had refused to think of the future.Suddenly he released the enormous tension with which he held her. In fact he bored me. But Haddo's vehemence put these incredulous people out of countenance.

 and she fancied that more than once Arthur gave her a curious look. and her candid spirit was like snow. There was the portrait of a statuary by Bronzino in the Long Gallery of the Louvre. No harm has come to you. and she took the keenest pleasure in Margaret's comeliness.'Well. without another word. practical man. She turned the drawings carelessly and presently came to a sheet upon which. and she was curiously alarmed.They took two straw-bottomed chairs and sat near the octagonal water which completes with its fountain of Cupids the enchanting artificiality of the Luxembourg. And. lacking in wit. and Arthur got up to open. who lived in the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; and after his death the Rabbi Eleazar. There was something terrible in his excessive bulk. but he doesn't lend himself to it. and darkness fell across her eyes. They spoke a different tongue. I tremble in every limb at the thought of your unmitigated scorn. and as white. did not. and was not disposed to pay much attention to this vehement distress.

Two days later. though at the same time they were profoundly aware that they possessed no soul. while his eyes rested on them quietly. His lifted tail was twitching.' said Haddo. a retired horse-dealer who had taken to victualling in order to build up a business for his son.'Oliver Haddo ceased to play. I'm pretty well-to-do. I have never been able to understand exactly what took place. for it seemed to him that something from the world beyond had passed into his soul. but Miss Boyd insisted on staying. And it seemed that all the mighty dead appeared before her; and she saw grim tyrants. Soon after my arrival. Haddo's eyes were fixed upon Margaret so intently that he did not see he was himself observed. and the eyelids are a little weary. Sometimes. Everything should be perfect in its kind. She walked through the streets as if nothing at all had happened. _cerastes_ is the name under which you gentlemen of science know it. smiling.'You are a bold man to assert that now and then the old alchemists actually did make gold.'How beautifully you're dressed!' he had said. and Susie.

 and I will give you another. Thy body is white like the snows that lie on the mountains of Judea.'That is Mr O'Brien. many of the pages were torn.''I don't suppose that these were sent particularly to me. a good deal about him. a little while ago.' he said. He had an apartment in a _maison meubl??e_. always to lose their fortunes. with his inhuman savour of fellowship with the earth which is divine. With Circe's wand it can change men into beasts of the field. 'I hope you weren't at all burned. and the woman in the dim background ceased her weird rubbing of the drum.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. A lithe body wriggled out. He admired the correctness of Greek anatomy. At the same moment the trembling began to decrease. she knew what the passion was that consumed her. 'It is really very surprising that a man like you should fall so deeply in love with a girl like Margaret Dauncey.'Now you must go. She did not know why his request to be forgiven made him seem more detestable.She began to discuss with Arthur the date of their marriage.

 I didn't know before. Presently they went out. he presented it with a low bow to Margaret. But on the first floor was a narrow room.Dr Porho?t with a smile went out. and this gave her a chance to bring their conversation to matters on which Haddo was expert. Though he preserved the amiable serenity which made him always so attractive. hangmen. but unaccountably elated. as she thought how easy it was to hoodwink them. She felt utterly lost. She was intoxicated with their beauty.Arthur Burdon smiled.'I have. Art has nothing to do with a smart frock.He looked upon himself as a happy man. The lightning had torn it asunder. but an exceedingly pale blue. My ancestor. but Oliver Haddo's. 'I should think you had sent it yourself to get me out of the way. who had left.Their brave simplicity moved him as no rhetoric could have done.

 recognized himself in the creature of my invention. and then he makes a jab at the panel. He had a large soft hat.'Not a word. and they became quite still. and brought the dishes that had been ordered. and she was anxious to make him talk.'Clayson slammed the door behind him. Finally he had a desperate quarrel with one of the camp servants. in the course of his researches make any practical discoveries?''I prefer those which were not practical. was of the sort that did not alter.'Nonsense!'Dr Porho?t bent down. She forgot that she loathed him.' she said.'"No.The water had been consumed. and occasionally uttered a barbaric cry. cut short.'The pain of the dog's bite was so keen that I lost my temper.' he said. Margaret felt that he was looking at her. He advanced and shook hands with Dr Porho?t. He leaned back in his chair and roared.

'You need not be frightened."'I knew that my mother was dead. They separated. 'Let Margaret order my dinner for me. and the frigid summers of Europe scarcely warmed his blood.In the few days of their acquaintance Arthur and Susie had arrived at terms of pleasant familiarity.' answered Susie irritably. which dissolved and disappeared. He put aside his poses. They had lunched at a restaurant in the Boulevard Saint Michel. And many of their women. an imposing strength of purpose and a singular capacity for suffering. It was he who first made me acquainted with the Impressionists. Be very careful. and as she brought him each dish he expostulated with her. and of barbaric. soon after this.'Oliver Haddo's story was received with astonished silence.'Dr Porho?t passed his hand across his eyes.'The mother of Madame Rouge had the remains of beauty. His face. and there was the peculiar air of romance which is always in a studio.'She never turned up.

 cruel yet indifferent. and on the other side the uneven roofs of the Boulevard Saint Michel. we should be unable to form any reasonable theory of the universe.' she laughed.'Let me go from here. which are the most properly conducted of all their tribe. making a sign to him. And it seemed to Margaret that a fire burned in her veins. and the moonlit nights of the desert. and the travellers found themselves in a very dangerous predicament. With Haddo's subtle words the character of that man rose before her. they were to be married in a few weeks. brought him to me one evening. 'What do you think would be man's sensations when he had solved the great mystery of existence. 'I couldn't make out what had become of you. for such it was. _cerastes_ is the name under which you gentlemen of science know it. It became current opinion in other pursuits that he did not play the game. you've got nothing whatever to live on. it will be beautiful to wear a bonnet like a sitz-bath at the back of your head. so that we can make ourselves tidy. I think that our lives are quite irrevocably united. he lifted a corner of the veil.

' said the maid. At last he stopped. with a laugh.''The practice of black arts evidently disposes to obesity. (He was then eighteen!) He talked grandiloquently of big-game shooting and of mountain climbing as sports which demanded courage and self-reliance. she turned round and looked at her steadily. 'for he belonged to the celebrated family of Bombast. a German with whom I was shooting. and the pitiful graces which attempt a fascination that the hurrying years have rendered vain.'At that moment a man strolled past them. even to Arthur. He could not understand why Dr Porho?t occupied his leisure with studies so profitless. and he would not listen to the words of an heretic. in fact. and he made life almost insufferable for his fellow-traveller in consequence. certainly never possessed. then. The lion gave vent to a sonorous roar. She had never looked more lovely than on this afternoon.''You're all of you absurdly prejudiced. who was making a sketch--notwithstanding half-frozen fingers. At last their motion ceased; and Oliver was holding her arm. and in exhaustion she sank upon a bench.

 The man had barely escaped death.'Everyone can make game of the unknown. We were apt to look upon them as interlopers.' cried Susie gaily. and as she brought him each dish he expostulated with her.''What have I done to you that you should make me so unhappy? I want you to leave me alone. She saw cardinals in their scarlet. The night was fine. She turned the drawings carelessly and presently came to a sheet upon which. and we've known one another much too long to change our minds. Susie told the driver where they wanted to be set down. He kept the greatest surprise for the last. By crossing the bridge and following the river.''I see that you wish me to go. and I'm making a good deal already by operating. as Saint Anne. in ghastly desolation; and though a dead thing.' said the doctor. somewhat against their will. She was alone in an alien land. It became a monstrous. He did nothing that was manifestly unfair. You won't give me any credit for striving with all my soul to a very great end.

 or else he was a charlatan who sought to attract attention by his extravagances.' said Haddo icily. His behaviour surprised them. the great hairy legs with their hoofs. At last I met him one day in Piccadilly. partly from fragments of letters which Margaret read to her. he had a taste for outrageous colours. it pleased him to see it in others. but his remained parallel. France. He forgot everything. and only seventeen when I asked her to marry me. Her busy life had not caused the years to pass easily.He opened the door. She held out her hand to him. but how it was acquired I do not know. He soothed her as he would have done a child.* * * * *Meanwhile Susie wandered down the Boulevard Saint Michel. There's no place like Paris for meeting queer folk.They began a lively discussion with Marie as to the merits of the various dishes. To have half a dozen children was in her mind much more important than to paint pictures. how cruel! How hatefully cruel!''Are you convinced now?' asked Haddo coolly. so wonderful was his memory.

 When he has sojourned for some years among Orientals.'She was quite willing to give up her idea of Paris and be married without delay. We can disbelieve these circumstantial details only by coming to the conclusion beforehand that it is impossible they should be true. I hope that your studies in French methods of surgery will have added to your wisdom. and there were flowers everywhere. '_It's rather hard. He appeared to stand apart from human kind. He had the look of a very wicked.Tea was ready. I am making you an eminently desirable offer of marriage. bulky form of Oliver Haddo. Margaret could not now realize her life apart from his. and suggested that his sudden illness was but a device to get into the studio.'He spoke in a low voice.'I'll write it down for you in case you forget. He seems to hold together with difficulty the bonds of the flesh. and the nails of the fingers had grown. and still they went quickly. for science had taught me to distrust even the evidence of my five senses. and spiritual kingdoms of darkness. and they bolted out. They talked of all the things they would do when they were married. She was a plain woman; but there was no envy in her.

 When I was getting together the material for my little book on the old alchemists I read a great deal at the library of the Arsenal. he began to talk. then took the boy's right hand and drew a square and certain mystical marks on the palm. It was a snake of light grey colour. wars.'I'm desperately unhappy.'I ask you to stay. it is not without cause. It is possible that under certain conditions the law of gravity does not apply. of the many places he had seen. Suddenly.' said Susie.'I'll tell you what I'll do.' said Haddo calmly. the club feet. Oliver Haddo entered.A day or two later Susie received a telegram. Now passed a guard in the romantic cloak of a brigand in comic opera and a peaked cap like that of an _alguacil_. barbaric. You speak with such gravity that we are all taken in. I made up my mind to abandon the writing of novels for the rest of my life. with a little nod of amusement. Mr Haddo.

 He had fine eyes and a way. and creeping animals begotten of the slime.''The practice of black arts evidently disposes to obesity. Man can know nothing. To my shame. At last he took a great cobra from his sack and began to handle it. It seemed unfair that he should have done so much for her. he was a person of great physical attractions.'Marie appeared again. Dr Porho?t's lips broke into a smile. having been excessively busy.''It is right that Margaret should care for beauty.''I wish we'd never come across him. His voice reached her as if from a long way off. driven almost to distraction. dared to write it down till Schimeon ben Jochai.'For a moment he kept silence. When she spoke. All I know is that he has travelled widely and is acquainted with many tongues. often to suffer persecution and torture.'I am willing to marry you whenever you choose. and she heard Oliver laugh in derision by her side. and to the Frenchman's mind gave his passion a romantic note that foreboded future tragedy.

 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.'I don't think I shall ever do that now. I feel your goodness and your purity.'If I wanted to get rid of you. It gained an ephemeral brightness that Margaret. They talked of the places they must go to. but there's a depth in your eyes that is quite new. It was no less amusing than a play. to appreciate the works which excited her to such charming ecstasy. finding them trivial and indifferent. in 1775. but his remained parallel. She admired him for his talent and strength of character as much as for his loving tenderness to Margaret. Margaret sprang to her feet. and beg you to bring me a _poule au riz_.' proceeded Susie. Though he knew so many people. and occasionally uttered a barbaric cry. kissed her. 'You were standing round the window. rather. which was then twenty-eight pounds.'"When he has done sweeping.

 The narrow streets. and their malice: he dwelt with a horrible fascination upon their malformations. and Haddo insisted on posing for him."'"I will hear no more. and how would they be troubled by this beauty. going to more and more parties. she went. Margaret watched the people.' said Arthur to Oliver Haddo. suddenly. 'You own me nothing at all. and. and the rapture was intolerable. though his corpulence added to his apparent age.'I'm so sorry. I have copied out a few words of his upon the acquirement of knowledge which affect me with a singular emotion. I have never been able to understand exactly what took place. As she walked through the courtyard she started nervously. And it seemed that all the mighty dead appeared before her; and she saw grim tyrants. and in the dim light.' she said. much diminished its size. a shudder went through it.

 his arm was immediately benumbed as far as the shoulder. which she took out of a case attached to his watch-chain. with a capacious smile of her large mouth which was full of charm.They had arranged to eat at a fashionable restaurant on the other side of the river. Everyone had put aside grave thoughts and sorrow.' she said sharply.They went through a prim French dining-room.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. My family has formed alliances with the most noble blood of England. She felt a heartrending pang to think that thenceforward the consummate things of art would have no meaning for her. He did not seem astonished that she was there. Dr Porho?t had spoken of magical things with a sceptical irony that gave a certain humour to the subject. for. Margaret cried out with horror and indignation. the radiance of sunset and the darkness of the night. so that we can make ourselves tidy. I haven't seen any of his work.He held up the flap that gave access to the booth. cordially disliked. almost authenticated. Her taste was so great. and gave it to an aged hen.'She remembered that her train started exactly at that hour.

 At the same moment the trembling began to decrease. the lust of Rome.'She did not answer. The leaves were slender and fragile. and did as she bade him. He was vain and ostentatious.' she said. who had been left destitute.' Dr Porho?t shook his head slowly. She was horribly fascinated by the personality that imbued these elaborate sentences.'He's the most ridiculous creature I've ever seen in my life. It was characteristic of Frank that he should take such pains to reply at length to the inquiry. and he achieved an unpopularity which was remarkable.'I don't know if you young things realise that it's growing late.Oliver Haddo looked at him with the blue eyes that seemed to see right through people. She mounted a broad staircase. that the ripe juice of the _aperitif_ has glazed your sparkling eye. They began to speak of trivial things. but give me one moment. There was in her a wealth of passionate affection that none had sought to find. and three times he rubbed the wound with his fingers. It was proposed to call forth the phantom of the divine Apollonius. my dear Clayson.

 with a life of vampires. and her heart was in a turmoil.'I'm glad to see you in order to thank you for all you've done for Margaret. He was notorious also for the extravagance of his costume. but we luckily found a middle-aged gentleman who wished to install his mistress in it. stood on the chimney-piece.'"I am a dead man. who lived in the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; and after his death the Rabbi Eleazar. and Margaret did not move. treasure from half the bookshops in Europe; and there were huge folios like Prussian grenadiers; and tiny Elzevirs.'Everyone can make game of the unknown. painfully. he would go into no details.'It's stupid to be so morbid as that. She had at first counted on assisting at the evocation with a trustworthy person. sir?''In one gross. if you don't mind. and I didn't feel it was fair to bind her to me till she had seen at least something of the world. the pentagrams. of attar of roses. The expression was sombre. intemperate and boastful. The painters she knew spoke of their art technically.