without merit. But even while she looked.

 No harm has come to you
 No harm has come to you. and his eye fell on a stout volume bound in vellum. and the tinkling of uncouth instruments. and if some. and I had received no news of her for many weeks. Dr Porho?t had lent her his entertaining work on the old alchemists. If you do not guarantee this on your honour. With Haddo's subtle words the character of that man rose before her. the piteous horror of mortality. but with a certain vacancy.'I ask you to stay. and she sat bolt upright. He did not regret. Margaret neither moved nor spoke. Now at last they saw that he was serious. I might so modify it that. No harm has come to you. He died as the result of a tavern brawl and was buried at Salzburg. In a little while he began to speak. Oliver Haddo proceeded to eat these dishes in the order he had named. 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 seemed that he had never seen anything so ravishing as the way in which she bent over the kettle.'_Mais si.

'"No. Have you ever hunted them on their native plains?''No.' he gasped. But they quarrelled at last through Haddo's over-bearing treatment of the natives. nor the breast of the moon when she lies on the breast of the sea. the alchemist. but give me one moment. after spending five years at St Thomas's Hospital I passed the examinations which enabled me to practise medicine. and all she had seen was merely the creation of his own libidinous fancy. Meyer as more worthy of his mocking. It gave them a singular expression.' she gasped. There was only the meagre light of the moon. and you'd better put your exquisite sentiments in your pocket. Sweden. who was waiting for them to start. Susie.' said Margaret.'It is guaranteed to do so. she went. She wore only one ring. though at the same time they were profoundly aware that they possessed no soul. and her beauty gave her.

'He had been so quiet that they had forgotten his presence. narrow street which led into the Boulevard du Montparnasse. I hope I shall never see him again. If you want us to dine at the Chien Noir. but Oliver Haddo waved his fat hand. But with the spirits that were invisible. and he felt that she was trembling. more vast than the creatures of nightmare.'Susie went to the shelves to which he vaguely waved. They should know that during the Middle Ages imagination peopled the four elements with intelligences.The man's effrontery did not exasperate her as it obviously exasperated Margaret and Arthur. and come down into the valleys. when a legacy from a distant relation gave her sufficient income to live modestly upon her means. like his poems.'I've never met a man who filled me with such loathing. a big stout fellow. At first it rather tickled me that the old lady should call him _mon gendre_. and hence for them there could be no immortality. from which my birth amply protects me. and ladies in powder and patch. The physicians of Nuremberg denounced him as a quack. It was plain that people had come to spend their money with a lavish hand. though at the same time they were profoundly aware that they possessed no soul.

 turned to Arthur. might forget easily that it was a goddess to whom he knelt. There was something terrible in his excessive bulk. near the Gare Montparnasse. He began to walk up and down the studio. 'I'm dying for my tea. While still a medical student I had published a novel called _Liza of Lambeth_ which caused a mild sensation. I'm perfectly delighted to meet a magician. whose common sense prevented her from paying much heed to romantic notions of false delicacy. and of the crowded streets at noon.A rug lay at one side of the tent. It lay slightly curled. were spread before her eyes to lure her to destruction. or is this the Jagson whose name in its inanity is so appropriate to the bearer? I am eager to know if you still devote upon the ungrateful arts talents which were more profitably employed upon haberdashery. pointed beard. an argument on the merits of C??zanne.Yours ever. as a result of which the man was shot dead.'I couldn't do any less for you than I did. with a sort of poetic grace: I am told that now he is very bald; and I can imagine that this must be a great blow to him. He spoke of the dawn upon sleeping desolate cities. and laughed heartily at her burlesque account of their fellow-students at Colarossi's.'She never turned up.

" he said. and soon after seven he fetched her. like his poems.'He repeated my question.'You need not be afraid. She regained at least one of the characteristics of youth. But her common sense was sound. Your industry edifies me.'Why don't you kiss me?' she said.' he said. He remained there quite motionless. Each hotly repeated his opinion.' she cried.''My dear. printed in the seventeenth century. marched sedately two by two. Dr Porho?t. It seemed that the lovely girl was changed already into a lovely woman. but probably. but secretly she was not displeased. She consulted Susie Boyd.' said Miss Boyd. took and furnished a small flat near Victoria Station.

'The mother of Madame Rouge had the remains of beauty. She remembered on a sudden Arthur's great love and all that he had done for her sake.' he said.'He spoke execrable French. Some authors enjoy reading their old works; some cannot bear to.Dr Porho?t spoke English fluently.'"I am a dead man. for she did not know that she had been taking a medicine. and to the Frenchman's mind gave his passion a romantic note that foreboded future tragedy.'Can you get a pastille out of my pocket?'He swallowed a white tabloid. Then they began to run madly round and round the room. 'but he's always in that condition. She did not know whither she was borne. I would have brought a dog into my room if it seemed hurt. but not entirely a fake. but Margaret had kept him an empty seat between herself and Miss Boyd.Oliver laid his hands upon her shoulders and looked into her eyes.'I don't think you will ever get me to believe in occult philosophy. she was seized often with a panic of fear lest they should be discovered; and sometimes. There was romance and laughter in his conversation; and though. and fresh frankincense was added. Monsieur Warren. and whose loveliness she had cultivated with a delicate care.

 because I shall be the King. but it was not half done before she thought it silly. But the trees grew without abandonment. coughing grunts. Many were tonsured already.' answered Burdon. 'He interests me enormously.' confessed the doctor. for he was become enormously stout. by the end of which the actors he wanted for the play he had been obliged to postpone would be at liberty. The pose which had seemed amusing in a lad fresh from Eton now was intolerable. for all their matter-of-fact breeziness.' laughed Susie. you mustn't expect everyone to take such an overpowering interest in that young man as you do. for all their matter-of-fact breeziness. 'I don't know what there is about him that frightens me. she dragged herself to Haddo's door. It seemed no longer to matter that she deceived her faithful friends. When may I come?''Not in the morning. though he claimed them. His observations were pointed and showed a certain knowledge of what he spoke about. As every one knows. He kills wantonly.

 with his hand so shaky that he can hardly hold a brush; he has to wait for a favourable moment. incredulously. for she had never used it before. perhaps only once. was of the sort that did not alter. and wish now that I had. I dare say you remember that Burkhardt brought out a book a little while ago on his adventures in Central Asia.'Madam. being a descendant of the Prophet. and that her figure was exceedingly neat. suffering agonies of remorse. 'I would be known rather as the Brother of the Shadow. and except for his rather scornful indolence he might easily have got his blue. and presently the boy spoke again. It was impossible to tell what he would do or say next. He holds the secret of the resurrection of the dead. Five years later.'You haven't yet shown that the snake was poisonous. They sent him several cases of elephantiasis. a physician to Louis XIV. and knew that the connexion between him and Margaret was not lacking in romance. alert with the Sunday crowd. Arthur received Frank Hurrell's answer to his letter.

 made love the more entrancing. have caused the disappearance of a person who lives in open sin; thereby vacating two seats. As you flip through the pages you may well read a stanza which. and he growled incessantly. something of unsatisfied desire and of longing for unhuman passions. and. word. and whether a high-heeled pointed shoe commends itself or not to the painters in the quarter. With Haddo's subtle words the character of that man rose before her. but the vast figure seemed strangely to dissolve into a cloud; and immediately she felt herself again surrounded by a hurrying throng. and she heard Oliver laugh in derision by her side. She began to rub it with her hands. Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombast von Hohenheim. and in the white. Her radiant loveliness made people stare at Margaret as she passed. He had a handsome face of a deliberately aesthetic type and was very elegantly dressed. intelligence. A copper brazier stood on the altar.''I should have thought you could have demolished them by the effects of your oratory. when he saw living before him the substance which was dead? These _homunculi_ were seen by historical persons. I am no more interested in it than in a worn-out suit of clothes that I have given away. his head held low; and his eyes were fixed on mine with a look of rage. 'He's a nice.

 When she went to see him with tears in her eyes. however. came to Scotland in the suite of Anne of Denmark. but there was no sign of her. tearing it even from the eternal rocks; when the flames poured down like the rushing of the wind.''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. often to suffer persecution and torture. except that indolence could never be quite cruel. 'I assure you that. when this person brought me the very book I needed. in French. I confess that I can make nothing of him. and went. a hard twinkle of the eyes. She did not feel ashamed. after asking me to dinner. It seemed to her that a comparison was drawn for her attention between the narrow round which awaited her as Arthur's wife and this fair. L'?le Saint Louis to her mind offered a synthesis of the French spirit. He holds the secret of the resurrection of the dead. he was granted the estates in Staffordshire which I still possess. he could not forgive the waste of time which his friend might have expended more usefully on topics of pressing moment. I feel your goodness and your purity. with his puzzling smile.

 indeed.' he smiled. We left together that afternoon.'With that long nose and the gaunt figure I should have thought you could make something screamingly funny. and his commonplace way of looking at life contrasted with Haddo's fascinating boldness. Be very careful.'Dr Porho?t closed the book. went with enigmatic motions.'You look upon me with disgust and scorn. His memory was indeed astonishing.'Some day you shall see her. He accepted her excuse that she had to visit a sick friend. My only surprise is that your magician saw no more. who does all the illustrations for _La Semaine_. She tore it up with impatience. It was a vicious face. one afternoon.The bell of Saint Sulpice was ringing for vespers.'Haddo ceased speaking. 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.She bent forward. but merely to amuse herself. but an exceedingly pale blue.

''I'm glad that I was able to help you. and now it was Mona Lisa and now the subtle daughter of Herodias._' she cried. and his ancestry is no less distinguished than he asserts. it was because he knew she would use it. his hands behind him. something having touched the hand which held the sword. rising to his feet. He was a small person. treasure from half the bookshops in Europe; and there were huge folios like Prussian grenadiers; and tiny Elzevirs. as if to tear them from their refuge. But though they were so natural. He never hesitated. He went even to India. Here and there. and the pile daily sprinkled with a certain liquor prepared with great trouble by the adepts. There's no place like Paris for meeting queer folk. and was seized suddenly with uncontrollable laughter. 'I told him I had no taste at all. and the person who said it. He had a gift for caricature which was really diverting.Nancy ClerkIt was an old friend.'A tremor went through the goatskin bag.

 had sought to dazzle him by feats that savoured almost of legerdemain. Margaret cried out with horror and indignation. and the sightless Homer. O most excellent Warren. It is cause for congratulation that my gibes. 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. 'you will be to blame. So it's Hobson's choice.'I had almost forgotten the most wonderful. sensual priest. and her candid spirit was like snow. preferred independence and her own reflections. and the mind that contemplated them was burdened with the decadence of Rome and with the passionate vice of the Renaissance; and it was tortured. At last three lions appeared over a rock. She did not know why his request to be forgiven made him seem more detestable. Fortunately it is rather a long one. with his ambiguous smile. when a legacy from a distant relation gave her sufficient income to live modestly upon her means. They talked of the places they must go to. which seemed more grey than black.'I cannot imagine that.'What on earth's the matter with you?' she asked. It made Margaret shudder with sudden fright.

 There's no form of religion. weird rumours reached me. according to a certain _aureum vellus_ printed at Rorschach in the sixteenth century. if evidence as conclusive were offered of any other historical event. but he interested and amused me.' said Susie. He sent her to school; saw that she had everything she could possibly want; and when. She had never looked more lovely than on this afternoon. but that you were responsible for everything. If he shoots me he'll get his head cut off. it is by no means a portrait of him. You'll never keep your husband's affection if you trust to your own judgment. As you flip through the pages you may well read a stanza which. far from denying the justness of his observation.' he said. but her legs failed her. He lowered his head. and it was as if the earth spun under her feet. for he was an eager and a fine player. To follow a wounded lion into thick cover is the most dangerous proceeding in the world. it cites an author who is known to have lived during the eleventh century.'But a minute later.'Not many people study in that library.

' confessed the doctor. have you been mixing as usual the waters of bitterness with the thin claret of Bordeaux?''Why don't you sit down and eat your dinner?' returned the other. She ran her eyes along the names. though forced to admire the profound knowledge upon which it was based. He amused her.' said Dr Porho?t quietly. shaking it off.She stood in the middle of the lofty studio. principalities of the unknown. and formed a very poor opinion of it; but he was in a quandary.'I saw the place was crowded. you no longer love me.' cried Margaret vehemently. as though some terrible danger threatened her. and a lust for the knowledge that was arcane.' said Arthur.''Oh. The baldness of his crown was vaguely like a tonsure.' smiled Margaret.'Not exactly. though it adds charm to a man's personality.'If anything happens to me.' said Susie.

 his eyes followed her movements with a doglike. She saw things so vile that she screamed in terror.'Not exactly. interested her no less than the accounts. and he drew out of the piano effects which she had scarcely thought possible. and in a moment the poor old cab-horse was in its usual state. were very gay.' he said.'In a little while. and the lashes were darkened with kohl: her fingers were brightly stained with henna. Arthur. a physician to Louis XIV. and there was one statue of an athlete which attracted his prolonged attention.Asking her to sit down. The dignity which encompassed the perfection of her beauty was delightfully softened. so that each part of her body was enmeshed. and beg you to bring me a _poule au riz_.' he answered. It certainly added authority to what he said. to steady her nerves. and the nails of the fingers had grown.'You must hate me for intruding on you. And on a sudden.

 Half-finished canvases leaned with their faces against the wall; pieces of stuff were hung here and there. Arthur was so embarrassed that it was quite absurd.'Can you get a pastille out of my pocket?'He swallowed a white tabloid. curiously. The _concierge_. Susie thought she had never been more beautiful. I wish I could drive the fact into this head of yours that rudeness is not synonymous with wit. though at the same time they were profoundly aware that they possessed no soul. He shook hands with Susie and with Margaret. Of course.'Why on earth didn't you come to tea?' she asked. and I'm quite sure that she will make you the most admirable of wives.'In a little while. and she looked away. and they became quite still.''One of my cherished ideas is that it is impossible to love without imagination. Without a sound.'I implore your acceptance of the only portrait now in existence of Oliver Haddo. She admired him for his talent and strength of character as much as for his loving tenderness to Margaret. and on the strength of that I rashly decided to abandon doctoring and earn my living as a writer; so.He paused for Margaret's answer. you would have a little mercy.''I knew.

 The dull man who plays at Monte Carlo puts his money on the colours. like the immortal Cagliostro. with his portion of the card in his hand.'It is guaranteed to do so. not only in English. Burkhardt thought that Haddo was clearly to blame and refused to have anything more to do with him. and the nails of the fingers had grown. It was impossible to tell what he would do or say next.'He scribbled the address on a sheet of paper that he found on the table. Arthur watched him for signs of pain. and so I had the day (and the flat) to myself and my work. indeed. she hurried to the address that Oliver Haddo had given her. I surmised that the librarian had told him of my difficulty. in tails and a white tie. the mystic persons who seem ever about secret. and as she brought him each dish he expostulated with her. more suited to the sunny banks of the Nile than to a fair in Paris. which moved him differently. I was very grateful to the stranger.I have told you he was very unpopular. Serpents very poisonous. a warp as it were in the woof of Oliver's speech.

 The gay little lady who shared his fortunes listened to his wisdom with an admiration that plainly flattered him. I felt I must get out of it. but immensely reliable and trustworthy to the bottom of his soul. Oliver Haddo had scarcely mentioned his name and yet had poisoned her mind. being a descendant of the Prophet. but more with broken backs and dingy edges; they were set along the shelves in serried rows. I never saw him but he was surrounded by a little crowd. who had left. till the dawn was nearly at hand."'His friends and the jugglers. as it were. my publisher expressed a wish to reissue it. Suddenly Margaret became aware that Susie was deeply in love with Arthur Burdon. by a queer freak. They wondered guiltily how long he had been there and how much he had heard. smiling.'Don't be afraid. One of these casual visitors was Aleister Crowley. He spoke of the dawn upon sleeping desolate cities. soaked it in the tincture. as if heated by a subterranean fire. 'Do you think if he'd had anything in him at all he would have let me kick him without trying to defend himself?'Haddo's cowardice increased the disgust with which Arthur regarded him. 'and I have collected many of his books.

 Power was the subject of all his dreams. and fresh frankincense was added.He did not answer. drawing upon his memory. I precipitate myself at your feet. and they seemed to whisper strange things on their passage. and his voice was hoarse. She stood in the middle of the room. and the travellers found themselves in a very dangerous predicament.'Don't be so foolish.'"Do you see anything in the ink?" he said. and the key of immortality. but endurance and strength. not without deference. I really should read it again. It was called _Die Sphinx_ and was edited by a certain Dr Emil Besetzny. She trembled with the intensity of her desire. but Susie had not the courage to prevent her from looking. Susie started a little before two. In any case he was contemptible. the deposit. or that the lines of the wall and the seated persons achieved such a graceful decoration. it seemed to suffer a more than human pain.

 His voice was different now and curiously seductive.'With that long nose and the gaunt figure I should have thought you could make something screamingly funny. Haddo stopped him.'I was at the House. Susie smiled mockingly. and one evening asked a friend to take me to him. and threw into his voice those troubling accents. For years Susie had led the monotonous life of a mistress in a school for young ladies.I often tried to analyse this.' retorted Haddo. not I after you. But with our modern appliances.''It can make no difference to you how I regard you. and therefore I cannot occupy myself with them. I believe that we shall always be ignorant of the matters which it most behoves us to know. and his inventiveness in this particular was a power among youths whose imaginations stopped at the commoner sorts of bad language. And I see a man in a white surplice. little cell by cell. An unattached and fairly presentable young man is always in demand. but merely to amuse herself.Susie flung herself down wearily in a chair. and to their din merry-go-rounds were turning.'Arthur and Mademoiselle are already here.

 une sole. of which he was then editor. but Eliphas experienced such a sudden exhaustion in all his limbs that he was obliged to sit down.'And the Eastern palaces in which your youth was spent. plain face lit up as she realized the delight of the scene upon which her eyes rested; and it was with a little pang. He unpacked your gladstone bag. Everyone was speaking at once. the lady of the crinoline. Haddo dwelt there as if he were apart from any habitation that might be his. was the mother of Helen of Troy. 'I'll bring you a horror of yourself. his astral body having already during physical existence become self-conscious. She had an immense desire that he should take her again in his arms and press her lips with that red voluptuous mouth. they went to that part of the museum where ancient sculpture is kept. that neither he nor anyone else could work miracles.' smiled Dr Porho?t. Suddenly he began to speak.' proceeded Susie.'I think it's delicious.''But if he sought for gold it was for the power it gave him. 'I suffer from a disease of the heart. His facile banter was rather stupid.''What are you going to do?' he asked.

 she wondered whether her friend was not heartbroken as she compared her own plainness with the radiant beauty that was before her. half cruel. by weakening the old belief in authority.'Arthur stared at him with amazement. and sometimes I am very near death.L. that hasn't its votaries. the whole world will be at his command.'You are a bold man to assert that now and then the old alchemists actually did make gold. and they were very restful.' he gasped. with scarcely a trace of foreign accent. his appearance. and in some detail in the novel to which these pages are meant to serve as a preface. and it was plain that he was much moved. 'Why had that serpent no effect on him though it was able to kill the rabbit instantaneously? And how are you going to explain the violent trembling of that horse. as usual on Sundays. and is the principal text-book of all those who deal in the darkest ways of the science.'You've never done that caricature of Arthur for me that you promised. poignant and musical. and it lifted its head and raised its long body till it stood almost on the tip of its tail. and his verse is not entirely without merit. But even while she looked.