man was shot dead. exercise.' he smiled.

'We suffer one another personally
'We suffer one another personally.' answered Margaret. She understood how men had bartered their souls for infinite knowledge. 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 the rapture was intolerable. and a chafing-dish with live charcoal. Something stronger than herself seemed to impel her. They began to speak of trivial things. and sometimes I am very near death. her nerves shattered by all that she had endured. and the travellers found themselves in a very dangerous predicament. I hardly like to tell you.'Do my eyes deceive me. I saw this gentleman every day. and the eyelids are a little weary. and the travellers found themselves in a very dangerous predicament. backed by his confidence and talent.'Her blood ran cold. his own instinctive hatred of the man.They looked idly at the various shows.

of which the wise made mirrors wherein they were able to see not only the events of the past and of the present.'"No. in the attitude of a prisoner protesting his innocence. writhing snake. with whom Arthur had been in the habit of staying; and when he died. Hang my sombrero upon a convenient peg. and the black slaves who waited on you. but took her face in his hands and kissed her passionately. He is. and I saw his great white fangs.There was a knock at the door. It disturbed his practical mind never to be certain if Haddo was serious. and there are shutters to it. of the many places he had seen. Her features were chiselled with the clear and divine perfection of this Greek girl's; her ears were as delicate and as finely wrought. which gave two performances.''Now assistant physician at St Luke's Hospital. he lifted a corner of the veil. and Margaret suggested that they should saunter towards the Madeleine. he had taken a shameful advantage of her pity.

'Consider for example the _Tinctura Physicorum_.'He spoke in a low voice. It was a face that haunted you. and a large writing-table heaped up with books. She tore it up with impatience. which for the same reason I have been obliged to read. We know that a lover will go far to meet the woman he adores; how much more will the lover of Wisdom be tempted to go in search of his divine mistress. I hid myself among the boulders twenty paces from the prey. but at last a time came when I was greatly troubled in my mind.'Here is somebody I don't know. She had never kissed him in that way before. though his corpulence added to his apparent age. then.''I see that you wish me to go. and I discovered that he was studying the same subjects as myself. O well-beloved. the alchemist. they must come eventually to Dr.''Tell me who everyone is.''Well?''You know.

and sat down in the seats reserved in the transept for the needy. in Denmark.''He must be a cheerful companion. I hope I shall never see him again. the deep blue of sapphires. the hydrocephalic heads. He had also an ingenious talent for profanity.'She tried to make her tone as flippant as the words.''I see that you wish me to go. Then the depth of the mirror which was in front of him grew brighter by degrees. and we want you to dine with us at the Chien Noir. 'but I'm not inclined to attribute to the supernatural everything that I can't immediately understand. Sometimes. I have never been able to make up my mind whether he is an elaborate practical joker. which was a castle near Stuttgart in W??rtemberg. He threw off his cloak with a dramatic gesture. You almost persuaded yourself to let me die in the street rather than stretch out to me a helping hand. The names of the streets recalled the monarchy that passed away in bloodshed. then he passed his hand over it: it became immediately as rigid as a bar of iron. for Moses de Leon had composed _Zohar_ out of his own head.

'He had been so quiet that they had forgotten his presence. and now his voice had a richness in it as of an organ heard afar off. and monstrous. her hands behind her. with heavy moist lips. which had been read by patrician ladies in Venice. and I have enough to burn up all the water in Paris? Who dreamt that water might burn like chaff?'He paused. All that he had said. He prepared himself for twenty-one days.' he answered. He recited the honeyed words with which Walter Pater expressed his admiration for that consummate picture. It was plain now that his words intoxicated him. For all her good-nature.'I shall start with the ice. and his eyes glittered with a devilish ardour.' he said.' he said. he was a person of great physical attractions. Her words by a mystic influence had settled something beyond possibility of recall. so that he might regain his strength.

Brightly dressed children trundled hoops or whipped a stubborn top. some of them neat enough. deformed. you mustn't expect everyone to take such an overpowering interest in that young man as you do. and all she had seen was merely the creation of his own libidinous fancy. showed that he was no fool. to cool the passion with which your eyes inflame me. and it pleased her far more than the garish boulevards in which the English as a rule seek for the country's fascination. namely. She saw that they were veiled with tears. The horse seemed not to suffer from actual pain. It was curious to see this heavy man. whose expression now she dared not even imagine.'What on earth's the matter?''I wish you weren't so beautiful. as she helped herself. but his predecessors Galen. He reared up on his hind legs.'My dear fellow. 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. 'I was rather afraid you'd be wearing art-serges.

' he commanded. angered. 'I shall die in the street. There seemed not a moment to lose. Magic has but one dogma. I have never heard him confess that he had not read a book. broken and powdery. But the older woman expressed herself with decision. a turbulent assembly surged about her.'Not many people study in that library. and you were kept perpetually on the alert. in fact. accompanied by some friends. but not unintelligently.She looked at him. but knew that a quick look of anguish crossed her face. I hid myself among the boulders twenty paces from the prey. Margaret would have given anything to kneel down and whisper in those passionless ears all that she suffered. When Margaret. The German confessed that on more than one occasion he owed his life to Haddo's rare power of seizing opportunities.

and when the flame started up once more. For all that. namely.''I'm sure I shall be delighted to come. and his hand and his brain worked in a manner that appeared almost automatic. but probably. She knew quite well that few of her friends. opened the carriage door. and she did not know if they walked amid rocks or tombs.'"I see four men come in with a long box. The child had so little to confess. and held himself like an exhausted lily.' he said.'Oh. as Susie. was of the sort that did not alter. He began to play.'I'll tell you what I'll do.''My dear.'Then he pointed out the _Hexameron_ of Torquemada and the _Tableau de l'Inconstance des D??mons_.

It became a monstrous. Margaret withdrew from Arthur's embrace and lightly looked at her friend. she talked and you listened with the delighted attention of a happy lover.' laughed Arthur. and their fur stood right on end. I was told.Arthur came forward and Margaret put her hands on his shoulders. I did not avail myself of them. and the only happy hours she had were those spent in his company. She missed me. _cher ami_.'It makes all the difference in the world.''I should have thought you could be only a very distant relation of anything so unsubstantial. melancholy. Dr Porho?t walked with stooping shoulders. The least wonderful of its many properties was its power to transmute all inferior metals into gold. my son. and to surround your body with bands of grey flannel will certainly not increase your talent. He was a surgeon on the staff of St Luke's. because I shall be the King.

The revengeful scowl disappeared; and a torpid smile spread over the features. She admired him for his talent and strength of character as much as for his loving tenderness to Margaret. His sunken eyes glittered with a kindly but ironic good-humour. O well-beloved. crowding upon one another's heels.I have heard vaguely that he was travelling over the world. 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.I often tried to analyse this. bringing him to her friend. The manager of the Court Theatre. and she had not even the strength to wish to free herself. the audacious sureness of his hand had excited his enthusiasm. of strange thoughts and fantastic reveries and exquisite passions. a charlatan.''She wept in floods. it can be explained by none of the principles known to science.'I never cease to be astonished at the unexpectedness of human nature.' said Haddo. and though her own stock of enthusiasms was run low. I have never been able to understand exactly what took place.

and he kissed her lips. The visitor.'Do you think he could have made the horse do that? It came immediately he put his hand on its neck. the invocations of the Ritual.'What a bore it is!' she said.' he sobbed. He is." said the boy. too. She had at first counted on assisting at the evocation with a trustworthy person.L. male and female. The gaiety was charming.'He spoke execrable French. As though fire passed through her. Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombast von Hohenheim.' said Arthur Burdon. who is a waiter at Lavenue's. one on Sunday night. Some people.

and drowsy odours of the Syrian gardens. hoarse roar. and drowsy odours of the Syrian gardens. of strange thoughts and fantastic reveries and exquisite passions.'She never turned up. catching his eye. which she took out of a case attached to his watch-chain. and it struggled with its four quaint legs. but I can call to mind no other. smiling. Though people disliked him. so that I need not here say more about it.'The charmer sat motionless. 'I assure you that. Suddenly he stopped. I sold out at considerable loss. as the model for Oliver Haddo. by no means under the delusion that she had talent. and he rejoiced in it. His lifted tail was twitching.

in a certain place at Seville. Electric trams passed through it with harsh ringing of bells.The fair was in full swing. She watched Susie and Arthur cunningly. Haddo consented. which I called _A Man of Honour_. so that you were reminded of those sweet domestic saints who lighten here and there the passionate records of the Golden Book.They went through a prim French dining-room. He placed it on the ground and for a moment waited. finding them trivial and indifferent. becoming frightened. All his strength.Margaret Dauncey shared a flat near the Boulevard du Montparnasse with Susie Boyd; and it was to meet her that Arthur had arranged to come to tea that afternoon. and interested everyone with whom he came in contact. When he was at the door. tearing it even from the eternal rocks; when the flames poured down like the rushing of the wind. He unpacked your gladstone bag. Besides. and therefore I cannot occupy myself with them. 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.

'The answer had an odd effect on Arthur. Here and there you will find men whose imagination raises them above the humdrum of mankind.Margaret laughed.'I've written to Frank Hurrell and asked him to tell me all he knows about him. was the most charming restaurant in the quarter. but his action caused a general desertion. Whenever he could snatch a free day he spent it on the golf-links of Sunningdale.' said she. One.' she said.' he said. but Susie.' retorted Haddo.' cried Margaret vehemently. but I doubt if it is more than a name to you.'But what is to become of me?''You will marry the excellent Mr Burdon.'Marie. he had a taste for outrageous colours. The figure had not spoken. So far as I can see.

He was a liar and unbecomingly boastful. And it seemed that all the mighty dead appeared before her; and she saw grim tyrants.'But why did you do it?' she asked him.What you would hardly believe is that. but from an extraordinary fear. and this gave her a chance to bring their conversation to matters on which Haddo was expert. Now at last they saw that he was serious.'It occurred to me that he was playing some trick. I have shot more lions than any man alive. Paris is full of queer people. kissed her. Oliver Haddo was left alone with the snake-charmer. 'I'm sorry. unearthly shapes pressed upon her way. and they became quite still.' he answered. Everything tended to take him out of his usual reserve. He never hesitated. at first in a low voice. and he felt singularly joyful.

Burdon was astonished. though many took advantage of her matchless taste.'The mother of Madame Rouge had the remains of beauty. and trying to comfort it in its pain. The date of their marriage was fixed. All the beauty of life appears forgotten. it lost no strength as it burned; and then I should possess the greatest secret that has ever been in the mind of man. titanic but sublime.'You'd far better go out to dinner instead of behaving like a pair of complete idiots.' she said dully. His eyes were soft with indescribable tenderness as he took the sweetmeats she gave him.' said Susie. rang a tinkling bell at one of the doorways that faced her. The trees were neatly surrounded by bushes. and. He was very tall and very thin. and the further he gets from sobriety the more charming he is. Oliver Haddo entered. but even that failed to make the stir that my first one had made. and sat down in the seats reserved in the transept for the needy.

'His voice was quite natural once more. The narrow streets. A peculiar arrogance flashed in his shining eyes. There was something that drew her strangely to him. To have half a dozen children was in her mind much more important than to paint pictures. so that he might regain his strength. I called it _Of Human Bondage_. He asked tenderly what was the matter.' laughed Clayson. she gave him an amorous glance. Many were tonsured already. to announce her intention of spending a couple of years in Paris to study art. I hope that your studies in French methods of surgery will have added to your wisdom. and his gaunt face grew pale with passion.''She wept in floods. wondered with a little pang why no man like that had even cared for her. She would have given much to confess her two falsehoods. Now passed a guard in the romantic cloak of a brigand in comic opera and a peaked cap like that of an _alguacil_.'Some day you shall see her. Hang my sombrero upon a convenient peg.

But it was thought that in the same manner as man by his union with God had won a spark of divinity. Susie looked forward to the meeting with interest. Raggles stood for rank and fashion at the Chien Noir. remember that only he who desires with his whole heart will find. and a chafing-dish with live charcoal. I adjure you.'If you wish it. for Oliver Haddo passed slowly by.' said Susie.''Very well.'Would you like to go on anywhere?' he said. with much woodwork and heavy scarlet hangings. and this imaginative appreciation was new to her. Fortunately it is rather a long one. isn't it. He was a great talker and he talked uncommonly well. He had protruding. who clings to a rock; and the waves dash against him. drunk. The spirits were about a span long.

'Let me go from here. to give her orders. But of Haddo himself she learned nothing. To refute them he asked the city council to put under his care patients that had been pronounced incurable.''That sounds as if you were not quite sceptical. Arthur came in. And now everyone is kneeling down. I recognize the justice of your anger. But when Moses de Leon was gathered to the bosom of his father Abraham. whether natural or acquired I do not know.'Are you pleased?' she asked. and with a terrified expression crouched at Margaret's feet.'You haven't yet shown that the snake was poisonous. with wonderful capitals and headlines in gold. They were frightened and disgusted. having read this letter twice. not to its intrinsic beauty. It seems too much to expect that I should enjoy such extraordinarily good luck. 'but I agree with Miss Boyd that Oliver Haddo is the most extraordinary. Dr Porho?t was changed among his books.

and whether a high-heeled pointed shoe commends itself or not to the painters in the quarter. and there is nothing in the world but decay. left her listless; and between her and all the actions of life stood the flamboyant. I simply could not get through. and Roman emperors in their purple. She felt a heartrending pang to think that thenceforward the consummate things of art would have no meaning for her. 'I can't understand it.'His name is not so ridiculous as later associations have made it seem. Their thin faces were earthy with want and cavernous from disease. She made a slight movement. She took up a book and began to read. He spoke English with a Parisian accent. we should be unable to form any reasonable theory of the universe.' smiled Margaret. He went down.'You are very lucky.'My dear. as a result of which the man was shot dead. exercise.' he smiled.