but not entirely a fake. Tradition says that.

They touched glasses
They touched glasses. an imposing strength of purpose and a singular capacity for suffering. She did not know why his request to be forgiven made him seem more detestable. The drawn curtains and the lamps gave the place a nice cosiness. and the wickedness of the world was patent to her eyes. 'I am the only man alive who has killed three lions with three successive shots. he had the adorable languor of one who feels still in his limbs the soft rain on the loose brown earth. speaking almost to himself. and Margaret did not move. Iokanaan! Thy body is white like the lilies of a field that the mower hath never mowed. are curiously alive to the romantic.'In whatever way you came. getting up with a frown. A legend grew up around him. 'And Marie is dying to be rid of us.' said Miss Boyd. and she looked away.' said she. It had been her wish to furnish the drawing-room in the style of Louis XV; and together they made long excursions to buy chairs or old pieces of silk with which to cover them. and you were kept perpetually on the alert.

but Arthur had reserved a table in the middle of the room.''He must be a cheerful companion. 'except that it's all very romantic and extraordinary and ridiculous. and took pains to read every word. and the lecherous eyes caressed her with a hideous tenderness. He sneered at the popular enthusiasm for games. when first she and Margaret were introduced into this society. Arthur was ridiculously happy.Oliver laid his hands upon her shoulders and looked into her eyes. His sunken eyes glittered with a kindly but ironic good-humour. the sorcerer threw incense and one of the paper strips into the chafing-dish. for Oliver Haddo passed slowly by.'And when you're married. He smiled quietly. It seemed to me that he had coarsened in mind as well as in appearance. with a life of vampires. But of Haddo himself she learned nothing. for he was become enormously stout. The magician bowed solemnly as he was in turn made known to Susie Boyd. beheld the wan head of the Saint.

But now Margaret could take no pleasure in its grace. _monsieur_. but was obliged soon to confess that he boasted of nothing unjustly. in one way and another. and I thought it would startle you if I chose that mode of ingress. Nothing has been heard of him since till I got your letter. The style is lush and turgid. by all the introspection of this later day. with a friend of my own age. Serpents very poisonous. It was no less amusing than a play. nor the breast of the moon when she lies on the breast of the sea.'You are evidently very brave. He smiled quietly.'The charmer sat motionless.She felt Oliver Haddo take her hands.'My dear fellow. and they made him more eager still to devote his own life to the difficult acquisition of knowledge. After the toil of many years it relieved her to be earnest in nothing; and she found infinite satisfaction in watching the lives of those around her. in the attitude of a prisoner protesting his innocence.

the Hollingtons. and he could not immediately get the cast he wanted for the next play he had in mind to produce. Thereupon. as was plain. Gerald Kelly took me to a restaurant called Le Chat Blanc in the Rue d'Odessa. a big stout fellow.' smiled Margaret. it's the only thing in which a woman's foot looks really nice. 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. with heavy moist lips. sad dignity; and it seemed to Margaret fit thus to adore God. and knew that the connexion between him and Margaret was not lacking in romance. but I must require of you first the most inviolable silence. I don't think you can conceive how desperately he might suffer. He was more beautiful than the Adam of Michelangelo who wakes into life at the call of the Almighty; and. I have sometimes thought that with a little ingenuity I might make it more stable. He walked by her side with docility and listened. Susie looked at the message with perplexity. and strength of character were unimportant in comparison with a pretty face. 'He's a nice.

and it is asserted that he was seen still alive by a French traveller at the end of the seventeenth century. and when the flame started up once more. the organic from the inorganic.'You haven't yet shown that the snake was poisonous. and the spirits showed their faces. 'Let Margaret order my dinner for me. He was very tall and very thin. Susie told the driver where they wanted to be set down. half gay. He never hesitated. after more than the usual number of _ap??ritifs_. She would have given much to confess her two falsehoods. it will be beautiful to wear a bonnet like a sitz-bath at the back of your head. She has a wrinkled face and her eyes are closed.'For a moment he kept silence. perhaps only once. but Margaret and Arthur were too much occupied to notice that she had ceased to speak. but of life. and Susie. all these were driven before the silent throngs of the oppressed; and they were innumerable as the sands of the sea.

'Dr Porho?t interposed with introductions. It was difficult to breathe. He attracted attention. and many the dingy.''I have not finished yet.' he said. 'I've never seen a man whose honesty of purpose was so transparent. And it seemed that all the mighty dead appeared before her; and she saw grim tyrants.''I have not finished yet. since by chance I met the other night at dinner at Queen Anne's Gate a man who had much to tell me of him. which. It was crowded. and she sat bolt upright.'Come here.' she laughed. making more and more friends. I really should read it again. when first she and Margaret were introduced into this society. when he first came up. which Dr.

that her exquisite loveliness gave her the right to devote herself to the great art of living? She felt a sudden desire for perilous adventures. leaves out of consideration the individual cases that contradict the enormous majority. For one thing.Instead of going to the sketch-class.'"Let the creature live. recounted the more extraordinary operations that he had witnessed in Egypt. It might be very strange and very wonderful.' confessed the doctor.''What did he say?' asked Susie. Then.'I think he has an extraordinarily good face. with the peculiar suddenness of a drop of water falling from a roof. 'God has foresaken me. Even now I feel his eyes fixed strangely upon me. With Haddo's subtle words the character of that man rose before her.At the time I knew him he was dabbling in Satanism. The dignity which encompassed the perfection of her beauty was delightfully softened.' he said. There was a peculiar odour in the place. All that he had said.

'Oh.'Here is somebody I don't know.'Knowing Susie's love for Arthur. Power was the subject of all his dreams. It was a scene of indescribable horror.''Do you mean to say I'm drunk. Susie. It seemed to her that she was entering upon an unknown region of romance. he had used her natural sympathy as a means whereby to exercise his hypnotic power.An immensely long letter!Goodbye. It should be remembered that Lactantius proclaimed belief in the existence of antipodes inane. but we waited. vehement intensity the curious talent of the modern Frenchman. and remembered with an agony of shame the lies to which she had been forced in order to explain why she could not see him till late that day. But though she sought to persuade herself that. the organic from the inorganic. In three minutes she tripped neatly away. lifting his hat. Haggard women. 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.

Her nose was long and thin.' he said. and formed a very poor opinion of it; but he was in a quandary. 'I wonder you don't do a head of Arthur as you can't do a caricature.'I thought once of writing a life of that fantastic and grandiloquent creature. somewhat against their will. The American sculptor paid his bill silently. 'For God's sake. his appearance. your laughter is more soft in mine ears than the singing of Bulbul in a Persian garden. 'You should be aware that science. Why shouldn't one work on a larger scale. He was not a great talker and loved most to listen in silence to the chatter of young people. It was a faint. but from the way in which Burkhardt spoke. Warren reeled out with O'Brien. and I thought it would startle you if I chose that mode of ingress. and fell heavily to the ground. It governed the minds of some by curiosity.' she said.

she loathed and feared him.' said the doctor. such furniture and household utensils as were essential. on his advice.She felt Oliver Haddo take her hands. The surroundings were so commonplace that they seemed to emphasise his singularity. though mentioned under the name of _The Red Lion_ in many occult works. Her love for Arthur appeared on a sudden more urgent. and the flowers. He had an apartment in a _maison meubl??e_.' cried Warren. my friend. as though the victims of uncontrollable terror. though he was never seen to work. She saw that the water was on fire. his lips broke into a queer. One day. and she took a first glance at them in general. but received lessons in it from an obliging angel.' she answered frigidly.

'Is not that your magician?''Oliver Haddo.'Come here. who offered sacrifice before this fair image. He was puzzled. and I had received no news of her for many weeks. But the daughter of Herodias raised her hands as though. which was reserved for a small party of English or American painters and a few Frenchmen with their wives. the insane light of their eyes.'I wish you worked harder. which gave such an unpleasant impression. as two of my early novels. A peculiar arrogance flashed in his shining eyes. wholly enveloped in a winding sheet. and by many others. He wore a very high collar and very long hair. He sneered at the popular enthusiasm for games. The lightning had torn it asunder. who sat on the other side of Margaret. midwives.'Miss Boyd could not help thinking all the same that Arthur Burdon would caricature very well.

' he said. and in front a second brazier was placed upon a tripod. Power was the subject of all his dreams.' said Arthur. The greatest questions of all have been threshed out since he acquired the beginnings of civilization and he is as far from a solution as ever. You would be wrong. smiling shook his head. She was a hard-visaged creature of mature age. Aleister Crowley. At first Susie could not discover in what precisely their peculiarity lay. It was a remedy to prolong life. On a sudden. It was a curious sight. The fumes of the incense filled the room with smoke. with palm trees mute in the windless air. but the wind of centuries had sought in vain to drag up its roots. For there would be no end of it. He is too polite to accuse me of foolishness. and Bacchus.'You've been talking of Paracelsus.

with a pate as shining as a billiard-ball.'Why did you make me come here?' she asked suddenly. undines.'O viper.' she said. 'God has foresaken me. Like a man who has exerted all his strength to some end. Be very careful.'You give me credit now for very marvellous powers. you would accept without question as the work of the master. and when he kissed her it was with a restraint that was almost brotherly. and in due course published a vast number of mystical works dealing with magic in all its branches. The American sculptor paid his bill silently. is singularly rich in all works dealing with the occult sciences. He soothed her as he would have done a child. Thereupon. And on a sudden.'The night had fallen; but it was not the comfortable night that soothes the troubled minds of mortal men; it was a night that agitated the soul mysteriously so that each nerve in the body tingled.'You'd far better go out to dinner instead of behaving like a pair of complete idiots.''I should have thought you could be only a very distant relation of anything so unsubstantial.

and it was with singular pleasure that Dr Porho?t saw the young man. put down the sheet of paper and struck a match. It was as if there had been a devastating storm. She would have cried for help to Arthur or to Susie. My family has formed alliances with the most noble blood of England. but received lessons in it from an obliging angel. lean face.' he said. And they surged onward like a riotous crowd in narrow streets flying in terror before the mounted troops. She seemed bound to him already by hidden chains. and. I'll drop a note to Hurrell tonight and ask him to tell me anything he can.Miss Boyd had described everyone to Arthur except young Raggles.'Haddo ceased speaking. Four concave mirrors were hung within it. but with a certain vacancy. Courtney. He seemed to have a positive instinct for operating. A copper brazier stood on the altar. seeming to forget her presence.

and it swayed slowly to and fro.'It occurred to me that he was playing some trick. What had she done? She was afraid. intent upon his greetings. not of the lips only but of the soul. after more than the usual number of _ap??ritifs_.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 I thought it would startle you if I chose that mode of ingress. Just as Arthur was a different man in the operating theatre. His face was large and fleshy. His behaviour surprised them. The telegram that Susie had received pointed to a definite scheme on Haddo's part. and brought the dishes that had been ordered. Paracelsus concludes his directions for its manufacture with the words: _But if this be incomprehensible to you. Although she repeated to herself that she wanted never to see him again.'He is an Egyptian from Assiut. you may have heard. but at last a time came when I was greatly troubled in my mind.'"Do you see anything in the ink?" he said.She did not see Susie.

when I dined out. in ghastly desolation; and though a dead thing. Margaret could scarcely resist an overwhelming desire to go to him. and not a drop remained. Susie.''Well. There is an old church in the south of Bavaria where the tincture is said to be still buried in the ground. with long fashioning fingers; and you felt that at their touch the clay almost moulded itself into gracious forms. in her eagerness to get a preliminary glimpse of its marvels. Those pictures were filled with a strange sense of sin. and perhaps she might be able to pray. There was a mockery in that queer glance. so that you were reminded of those sweet domestic saints who lighten here and there the passionate records of the Golden Book.Oliver Haddo seemed extraordinarily fascinated. gathered round him and placed him in a chair. Susie gave a cry of delight. 'I wouldn't let him out of my sight for worlds.She bent forward. Her lips were like living fire. The painters she knew spoke of their art technically.

Italy. He amused her. the only person at hand. The manager of the Court Theatre. and knows the language of the stars. He gave Haddo a rapid glance. My family has formed alliances with the most noble blood of England. call me not that. There was always that violent hunger of the soul which called her to him. and an overwhelming remorse seized her. partly from her conversation. At length she could control herself no longer and burst into a sudden flood of tears. and I have enough to burn up all the water in Paris? Who dreamt that water might burn like chaff?'He paused. she could enjoy thoroughly Margaret's young enchantment in all that was exquisite.' he said. and the moonlit nights of the desert. he found a baronial equipage waiting for him.'The pain of the dog's bite was so keen that I lost my temper. une sole. as the mist of early day.

'In a little while. and the wizard in a ridiculous hat. The scales fell from her eyes. and it was only interrupted by Warren's hilarious expostulations. and fell back dead.' said Arthur. occasioned. printed in the seventeenth century. 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 concealed the first principles of science in the calculations of Pythagoras. The door is open. But it changed. During the next six years I wrote several novels and a number of plays. and beardless. Of these I am. I'd do all I could to make him happy. that Susie. quickly; and the hurricane itself would have lagged behind them. who sat in silence. in that which they have of power to refine and make expressive the outward form.

in ample robes of dingy black. He has the most fascinating sense of colour in the world. Her nature was singularly truthful.'He was trying to reassure himself against an instinctive suspicion of the malice of circumstances.Then Oliver Haddo moved. he asked him to come also. Susie could not prevent the pang that wrung her heart; for she too was capable of love. 'There was a time when you did not look so coldly upon me when I ordered a bottle of white wine. often to suffer persecution and torture. and there was an altar of white marble. when I dined out. and she did not see how she could possibly insist. But the daughter of Herodias raised her hands as though. but even that failed to make the stir that my first one had made. but probably. playing on his pipes.'Ah.'Sit in this chair. when he thought that this priceless treasure was his. Nor would he trouble himself with the graceful trivialities which make a man a good talker.

he was able to assume an attitude of omniscience which was as impressive as it was irritating. His manner and his conversation had the flamboyance of the romantic thirties. She surrendered herself to him voluptuously.' answered Susie."'The magician put the second and third of the small strips of paper into the chafing-dish. he placed his hand on the Pentagram. were extraordinarily significant. and when the flame started up once more. She caught the look of alarm that crossed her friend's face. He reigns with all heaven and is served by all hell.'Now you must go.''I should have thought you could be only a very distant relation of anything so unsubstantial. Everyone had put aside grave thoughts and sorrow. She was astonished at the change in his appearance. Margaret remembered that her state had been the same on her first arrival in Paris.'She turned her chair a little and looked at him. smiling under the scrutiny. and a wonderful feeling for country. but not entirely a fake. Tradition says that.