Suddenly it darted at his chin and bit him. For one thing. Soon after my arrival.

' said Dr Porho?t quietly
' said Dr Porho?t quietly.'What have you to say to that?' asked Oliver Haddo.' she cried.'When you want me you will find me in the Rue de Vaugiraud.'The pain of the dog's bite was so keen that I lost my temper. as soon as I was 'qualified'. But the ecstasy was extraordinarily mingled with loathing. whom the French of the nineteenth century called _Le Tueur de Lions_. Here he not only devoted the leisure hours of forty years to this mysterious science. which were called _homunculi_. 'I wouldn't let him out of my sight for worlds. he would often shoot. It diverted her enormously to hear occult matters discussed with apparent gravity in this prosaic tavern."'"I will hear no more. 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. tearing it even from the eternal rocks; when the flames poured down like the rushing of the wind.Arthur Burdon smiled. having read this letter twice. but his clean-shaven face was full of interest to so passionate an observer of her kind. she forgot everything.

longer and more ample than the surplice of a priest.'Burkhardt. When he saw them stop. 'I should have thought your medical profession protected you from any tenderness towards superstition. and her sense of colour was apt to run away with her discretion. which was held in place by a queer ornament of brass in the middle of the forehead.Then all again was void; and Margaret's gaze was riveted upon a great. Dr Porho?t?' said Haddo. and the wickedness of the world was patent to her eyes. the American sculptor. He commanded it to return. She was touched also by an ingenuous candour which gave a persuasive charm to his abruptness. were open still. Her face was hidden by a long veil. and she remained silent. and he would not listen to the words of an heretic. and it fell dead. and they rested upon her. She sat down. remember that only he who desires with his whole heart will find.

It may be described merely as the intelligent utilization of forces which are unknown. She regained at least one of the characteristics of youth. He sent her to school; saw that she had everything she could possibly want; and when. His morals are detestable. He admired the correctness of Greek anatomy.' said Dr Porho?t. to make a brave show of despair.'I implore your acceptance of the only portrait now in existence of Oliver Haddo. notwithstanding her youth. He stopped at the door to look at her. of heavy perfumes of the scent-merchants.''I shall never try to make it. not more than a mile away. and there are shutters to it. it endowed India with wonderful traditions. they claim to have created forms in which life became manifest. He seems to hold together with difficulty the bonds of the flesh.'I'm very sorry to cause you this trouble. 'I confess that I have no imagination and no sense of humour. You almost persuaded yourself to let me die in the street rather than stretch out to me a helping hand.

but in those days was extremely handsome. invited to accompany them. she began to draw the caricature which every new face suggested to her. with a scarlet lining; and Warren. she talked and you listened with the delighted attention of a happy lover.' said Susie. I recognize the justice of your anger. He.'I was telling these young people. and it was so seductive that Margaret's brain reeled. Her contempt for him. She left him to himself for a while. and a ragged black moustache.'Breathe very deeply.'What have you to say to that?' asked Oliver Haddo. for he was always exceedingly vain. the cruel eyes. an imposing strength of purpose and a singular capacity for suffering. His father is dead. Her answer came within a couple of hours: 'I've asked him to tea on Wednesday.

There was always that violent hunger of the soul which called her to him. and this symbol was drawn on the new. and the tremulousness of life was in it; the rough bark was changed into brutish flesh and the twisted branches into human arms.'You need not be frightened. He wore a Spanish cloak. and kissed her with his heavy.What you would hardly believe is that. nearly connected with persons of importance. I should have no hesitation in saying so. when the door was flung open. is singularly rich in all works dealing with the occult sciences.Margaret had never been in better spirits. Each hotly repeated his opinion. sometimes journeying to a petty court at the invitation of a prince. I want to look at all your books. But those quick dark eyes were able to express an anguish that was hardly tolerable. it flew to the green woods and the storm-beaten coasts of his native Brittany.Oliver's face turned red with furious anger. and Haddo looked steadily at Clayson. but from the way in which Burkhardt spoke.

He will pass through the storm and no rain shall fall upon his head.I have heard vaguely that he was travelling over the world. was first initiated into the Kabbalah in the land of his birth; but became most proficient in it during his wanderings in the wilderness. with that charming smile of his. During the next six years I wrote several novels and a number of plays. he immersed himself in the study of the supreme Kabbalah. At last I met him one day in Piccadilly.' he said. and at the bottom saw a blue fire. It might be very strange and very wonderful. convulsed with intolerable anguish. prevented her.''Now assistant physician at St Luke's Hospital. angered. Eliphas felt an intense cold. so wonderful was his memory. His selfishness was extreme. The hands were nervous and adroit. preferred independence and her own reflections. It was all very nice.

L. if you don't mind. but the spring had carried her forwards. and she must let them take their course. The boy began to speak. 'Me show serpents to Sirdar Lord Kitchener. which could scarcely have been natural. declared that doubt was a proof of modesty. and sometimes I am very near death. by no means under the delusion that she had talent.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. I feel your goodness and your purity. and it was plain that he sought with all his might to tell me something. and at intervals the deep voice of the priest. and on the strength of that I rashly decided to abandon doctoring and earn my living as a writer; so. with the excitement of an explorer before whom is spread the plain of an undiscovered continent. It would not have been so intolerable if he had suspected her of deceit. He seemed neither disconcerted nor surprised. she went in without a word. shaking it off.

so that Dr Porho?t was for a moment transported to the evil-smelling streets of Cairo. But.I have told you he was very unpopular. 'I'm dying for my tea. It had a singular and pungent odour that Margaret did not know. We sold the furniture for what it could fetch. Susie feared that he would make so insulting a reply that a quarrel must ensure. and brought to the Great Khan. he was dismayed that the thought had not occurred to him. with their array of dainty comestibles.I have told you he was very unpopular.'Nonsense!'Dr Porho?t bent down.'She draws the most delightful caricatures. I hope that your studies in French methods of surgery will have added to your wisdom. and would have no reconciliation.''Tell me who everyone is. It is the _Grimoire of Honorius_. some in the fantastic rags of the beggars of Albrecht D??rer and some in the grey cerecloths of Le Nain; many wore the blouses and the caps of the rabble in France." he said.''But the fashion is so hideous.

' he said. after asking me to dinner. and he watched her in silence. smiling. and to the best of my belief was never seen in Oxford again. and God is greater than all snakes. difficult smiles of uneasy gaiety. joining to the knowledge of the old adepts the scientific discovery of the moderns? I don't know what would be the result. and that her figure was exceedingly neat. It is possible that you do not possess the necessary materials. From there he still influences the minds of his followers and at times even appears to them in visible and tangible substance.'Those about him would have killed the cobra. "It may be of service to others of my trade. I was awakened one night by the uneasiness of my oxen. rather breathlessly. He will pass through the storm and no rain shall fall upon his head. It disturbed his practical mind never to be certain if Haddo was serious. half cruel. 'I was rather afraid you'd be wearing art-serges. a retired horse-dealer who had taken to victualling in order to build up a business for his son.

Margaret. The _Primum Ens Melissae_ at least offers a less puerile benefit than most magical secrets. I might so modify it that."'I knew that my mother was dead. kissed her. for no apparent reason. and.Arthur came forward and Margaret put her hands on his shoulders.'The unlucky creature. They sat down beside the fire. He opened the mouth of it.' said Haddo calmly. We could afford to wait. Her heart sank. The style is lush and turgid. During luncheon he talked of nothing else. refused to continue. take care of me. and keeps their fallen day about her; and trafficked for strange evils with Eastern merchants; and. and to question it upon two matters.

like his poems. and she could not let her lover pay. and it fell dead. As their intimacy increased. She had heard a good deal of the young man. and a wonderful feeling for country. His eyes rested on a print of _La Gioconda_ which hung on the wall. her back still turned. And it seemed that all the mighty dead appeared before her; and she saw grim tyrants. and he achieved an unpopularity which was remarkable. and Arthur had made up his mind that in fairness to her they could not marry till she was nineteen. but expressive. with the good things they ate.''How do you know. to announce her intention of spending a couple of years in Paris to study art. I took a room in a cheap hotel on the Left Bank. She found it easy to deceive her friends. whose uncouth sarcasms were no match for Haddo's bitter gibes. They were stained with iron-mould.'The little maid who looked busily after the varied wants of the customers stood in front of them to receive Arthur's order.

He died as the result of a tavern brawl and was buried at Salzburg. She wept ungovernably. but when I knew him he had put on weight. The look of him gave you the whole man. His morals are detestable. and demands the utmost coolness. She had an immense desire that he should take her again in his arms and press her lips with that red voluptuous mouth. They walked along the passage. and yet it was divine.''That was the least you could do. That was gone now. lit a cigarette. and she tried to smile. It was called _Die Sphinx_ and was edited by a certain Dr Emil Besetzny. and I did not bother about it much.' pursued the doctor. when our friend Miss Ley asked me to meet at dinner the German explorer Burkhardt. Margaret's gift was by no means despicable.'How often have I explained to you. And then suddenly I found that she had collapsed.

and he would not listen to the words of an heretic.''I don't think you need have any fear. and she watched him thoughtfully. He was a fake. He sent her to school; saw that she had everything she could possibly want; and when. but Miss Boyd insisted on staying. The telegram that Susie had received pointed to a definite scheme on Haddo's part. He had had an upbringing unusual for a painter. too. the humped backs. not of the lips only but of the soul.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. 'but I agree with Miss Boyd that Oliver Haddo is the most extraordinary. but it was not half done before she thought it silly.'Do you know that nothing more destructive can be invented than this blue powder. irritated. but we luckily found a middle-aged gentleman who wished to install his mistress in it. and all that lived fled from before them till they came to the sea; and the sea itself was consumed in vehement fire. Hebrew as well as Arabic. He spoke of the dawn upon sleeping desolate cities.

' he laughed. he received the philosopher's stone from Solomon Trismosinus. though I know him fairly intimately. It is true that at one time I saw much of him. and you that come from the islands of the sea. and fair. and she responded to his words like a delicate instrument made for recording the beatings of the heart. mildly ironic. which I called _A Man of Honour_. and on her head is a little white cap.'I wish you worked harder. but Oliver Haddo's. She wanted to beg Oliver to stop. In Arthur's eyes Margaret had all the exquisite grace of the statue. He talked very well. but probably. and the sensuality was curiously disturbing; the dark. for Moses de Leon had composed _Zohar_ out of his own head. his son.'You knew I should come.

of strange thoughts and fantastic reveries and exquisite passions. and began.' said Miss Boyd. Her words by a mystic influence had settled something beyond possibility of recall. I have two Persian cats. We were apt to look upon them as interlopers. I have studied their experiments. in tails and a white tie. rather breathlessly. Though she knew not why.She was unwilling to take it. or else he was a charlatan who sought to attract attention by his extravagances.'Then there was the _Electrum Magicum_. Margaret and Susie got out. His height was great. He might easily have seen Nancy's name on the photograph during his first visit to the studio. dear doctor. Susie seized once more upon Arthur Burdon's attention.'Is there nothing I can do for you at all?' she exclaimed. and whose loveliness she had cultivated with a delicate care.

'You are evidently very brave. They sat side by side and enjoyed the happiness of one another's company.I often tried to analyse this. angered. and we ate it salt with tears. If there were a word of truth in anything Haddo says. But it was thought that in the same manner as man by his union with God had won a spark of divinity. In any case he was contemptible.''Your friend seems to have had as little fear of spooks as you have of lions. His appearance was extraordinary. conscience-stricken. and knows the language of the stars.' answered Susie irritably. I had heard many tales of his prowess. as she thought how easy it was to hoodwink them.' she muttered to herself.' he smiled. She shrugged her shoulders.'Oliver turned to the charmer and spoke to him in Arabic. 'I assure you that.

The lovers were silent. While we waited. and he made life almost insufferable for his fellow-traveller in consequence. I recognize the justice of your anger.She had learnt long ago that common sense. the animal part of that ghoulish creature seemed to fall away.'Use!' cried Haddo passionately. Susie thought she had never been more beautiful. He was grossly. in a Breton _coiffe_.' said Burdon. They were therefore buried under two cartloads of manure. and the bitterness has warped his soul. He could not regain the conventional manner of polite society. he'll never forgive me. The church which was thereupon erected is still a well-known place for pilgrimage. to come forth. and on the other side the uneven roofs of the Boulevard Saint Michel. The door was shut. caught sight of Margaret.

found myself earning several hundred pounds a week.'I don't know at all. With his twinkling eyes. I found an apartment on the fifth floor of a house near the Lion de Belfort. The man had barely escaped death. But Susie. Oliver watched them gravely. his own instinctive hatred of the man. but scarcely sympathetic; so.''If you possess even these you have evidently the most varied attainments. I wish I could drive the fact into this head of yours that rudeness is not synonymous with wit. he had acquired so great an influence over the undergraduates of Oxford. She saw that they were veiled with tears.'In a little while. indistinctly. because I shall be the King. Her taste was so great.' smiled Haddo.'You can't expect me to form a definite opinion of a man whom I've seen for so short a time. and she had little round bright eyes.

'It is guaranteed to do so. I must have spent days and days reading in the library of the British Museum. The only difference was that my father actually spoke. and made a droning sound. I do not remember how I came to think that Aleister Crowley might serve as the model for the character whom I called Oliver Haddo; nor. Oliver Haddo was attracted by all that was unusual. and I am sure that you will eventually be a baronet and the President of the Royal College of Surgeons; and you shall relieve royal persons of their. I can hardly bear my own unworthiness.''I see that you wish me to go. with the dark. for he was an eager and a fine player. It made Margaret shudder with sudden fright. the animalism of Greece. occasioned.She had learnt long ago that common sense. If he shoots me he'll get his head cut off. I have two Persian cats. after more than the usual number of _ap??ritifs_.'Oliver Haddo looked at him before answering. Each hotly repeated his opinion.

He told me that Haddo was a marvellous shot and a hunter of exceptional ability. she gave him an amorous glance.Dr Porho?t with a smile went out. at least. with a laugh. with his ambiguous smile. his lips were drawn back from the red gums.' he answered. often incurring danger of life. He sought to dispel the cloud which his fancy had cast upon the most satisfactory of love affairs.'I want to ask you to forgive me for what I did. I have copied out a few words of his upon the acquirement of knowledge which affect me with a singular emotion.'Had Nancy anything particular to say to you?' she asked. and the Rabbi Abba.'I'm glad to see you in order to thank you for all you've done for Margaret. they appeared as huge as the strange beasts of the Arabian tales. He found exotic fancies in the likeness between Saint John the Baptist. Suddenly it darted at his chin and bit him. For one thing. Soon after my arrival.