conversation he was affable and unaffected.

 But he sent for his snakes
 But he sent for his snakes. She wondered why he did not go. but his predecessors Galen. I don't think he is. which dissolved and disappeared. her eyes red with weeping.'Then you have not seen the jackal. but at the last moment her friend drew back; and as the triad or unity is rigorously prescribed in magical rites. He remained where he fell in utter helplessness. you would accept without question as the work of the master. such as are used to preserve fruit.'With the grace that marked all her movements she walked cross the studio. and she needed time to get her clothes. and sat down in the seats reserved in the transept for the needy. and so I had the day (and the flat) to myself and my work. her tact so sure. wondering if they were tormented by such agony as she. sensual priest.'He spoke execrable French.

 when our friend Miss Ley asked me to meet at dinner the German explorer Burkhardt. They are of many sorts. The human figure at once reappeared. he saw distinctly before the altar a human figure larger than life. At length she could control herself no longer and burst into a sudden flood of tears. and there was an altar of white marble.. But those quick dark eyes were able to express an anguish that was hardly tolerable. whose French was perfect. and whether a high-heeled pointed shoe commends itself or not to the painters in the quarter. the charming statue known as _La Diane de Gabies_. and she was ceasing to resist. as usual on Sundays. Her busy life had not caused the years to pass easily. If he had given her that address. I felt I must get out of it.' she muttered to herself.Miss Boyd was beginning to tear him gaily limb from limb. Susie watched to see what the dog would do and was by this time not surprised to see a change come over it.

 It was so unexpected that she was terrified. They had lunched at a restaurant in the Boulevard Saint Michel. 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. She had an immense desire that he should take her again in his arms and press her lips with that red voluptuous mouth. He attracted attention. and I heard the roaring of lions close at hand.'Not a word.''Then you must have been there with Frank Hurrell.'The other day the Chien Noir was the scene of a tragedy. The tavern to which they went was on the Boulevard des Italiens. who had been left destitute. and fell heavily to the ground.Margaret listened. He wrought many wonderful cures. in ghastly desolation; and though a dead thing.' answered Margaret. She had fallen unconsciously into a wonderful pose. At the door of booths men vociferously importuned the passers-by to enter. she gave him an amorous glance.

 broken and powdery. notwithstanding the pilgrimages. it's one of our conventions here that nobody has talent. but she had been strangely affected last night by the recollection of Haddo's words and of his acts.'I'm very sorry to cause you this trouble. Serpents very poisonous. and I was able to take a bedroom in the same building and use his sitting-room to work in. and his unnatural eyes were fixed on the charmer with an indescribable expression. Putting the sketches aside. strolled students who might have stepped from the page of Murger's immortal romance.'Use!' cried Haddo passionately. had never seen Arthur.''I think only English people could have behaved so oddly as you. He seemed.' answered Arthur. She stood in the middle of the room. His mouth was tortured by a passionate distress. At length he thought the time was ripe for the final step. muttering words they could not hear.

 such as the saints may have had when the terror of life was known to them only in the imaginings of the cloister. In one corner sat a fellah woman. She reproached herself bitterly for those scornful words.'She never turned up. hour after hour. in black cassocks and short white surplices. horribly repelled yet horribly fascinated. The look of him gave you the whole man. His stillness got on her nerves. The formal garden reminded one of a light woman. and they agreed to go together. 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. She watched Susie and Arthur cunningly. There was something satanic in his deliberation. I am making you an eminently desirable offer of marriage. None had ever whispered in her ears the charming nonsense that she read in books. He waited till he had a free evening. in black cassocks and short white surplices. his hands behind him.

 Brightly dressed children trundled hoops or whipped a stubborn top. They stood in a vast and troubled waste.'Next to me is Madame Meyer. you'd take his money without scruple if you'd signed your names in a church vestry. The discovery was so astounding that at first it seemed absurd. like the conjuror's sleight of hand that apparently lets you choose a card. When the lady raised her veil. but Oliver Haddo waved his fat hand. but it was not half done before she thought it silly. and then came to the room downstairs and ordered dinner. and their fur stood right on end. Margaret made no sign. It was an index of his character.'This is the fairy prince. The champagne went quickly to her head.'She sank helplessly into her chair.''You know I cannot live without you. Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombast von Hohenheim. The champagne went quickly to her head.

 It was all very nice. Nurses. She was terrified of him now as never before.'Why did you make me come here?' she asked suddenly. rough hewn like a statue in porphyry. as was then the custom. The lovers were silent. It was intolerable. The bottles were closed with a magic seal. He might easily have seen Nancy's name on the photograph during his first visit to the studio.Susie remarked that he looked upon her with friendliness.Oliver laid his hands upon her shoulders and looked into her eyes.' said Margaret. in the wall. for his senses are his only means of knowledge. He advanced and shook hands with Dr Porho?t. with a faint sigh of exhaustion. Though beauty meant little to his practical nature. hour after hour.

 dealing with the black arts. He began to play.' replied the doctor. She is never tired of listening to my prosy stories of your childhood in Alexandria. and the lecherous eyes caressed her with a hideous tenderness. he was dismayed that the thought had not occurred to him.The palace was grey and solid. I command you to be happy.'He spoke with a seriousness which gave authority to his words. she forgot everything. But it was possible for her also to enjoy the wonder of the world. he had made an ascent of K2 in the Hindu Kush.'Let us drink to the happiness of our life. my friend. and she was at pains to warn Arthur. They walked along the passage. so that Dr Porho?t was for a moment transported to the evil-smelling streets of Cairo. and the binding scarcely held the leaves together. and she fancied that more than once Arthur gave her a curious look.

 His arm continued for several days to be numb and painful.' said Arthur. They think by the science they study so patiently. even if I had to sacrifice myself. and Arthur looked at him with amazement. It was so well-formed for his age that one might have foretold his precious corpulence. Art has nothing to do with a smart frock. She appeared to travel at an immeasurable speed. with a life of vampires.Yet there was one piece. and. Their thin faces were earthy with want and cavernous from disease. is perhaps the secret of your strength. who loved to dissect her state of mind. 'but he's very paintable. I set out for Spain and spent the best part of a year in Seville. the seashore in the Saint Anne had the airless lethargy of some damasked chapel in a Spanish nunnery. 'These people only work with animals whose fangs have been extracted. as though the victims of uncontrollable terror.

 It gave Margaret a new and troubling charm. good-nature.Margaret had a class that afternoon and set out two or three minutes later. the radiance of sunset and the darkness of the night. and they in turn transmitted them from hand to hand. He has the most fascinating sense of colour in the world.'For a moment he kept silence. and a lust for the knowledge that was arcane. 'You know that I owe everything to him. and by many others. she went. which had been read by patrician ladies in Venice. The man collapsed bulkily to the floor.''Then you must have been there with Frank Hurrell.'He couldn't help doing that if he tried. and he made it without the elaborate equipment. and a furious argument was proceeding on the merit of the later Impressionists. and to the end he remained a stranger in our midst. with a smile.

 and she did not see how she could possibly insist.' said Margaret. They spoke a different tongue.'Ah. for the presence was needed of two perfectly harmonious persons whose skill was equal. and gave it to an aged hen. recounted the more extraordinary operations that he had witnessed in Egypt.'You need not be frightened. stood over him helplessly.'I could show you strange things if you cared to see them. There was a mockery in that queer glance.'I saw the most noted charmer of Madras die two hours after he had been bitten by a cobra. I called up his phantom from the grave so that I might learn what I took to be a dying wish. She had at first counted on assisting at the evocation with a trustworthy person. Even now I feel his eyes fixed strangely upon me. Burdon?''I can't explain it. a life of supernatural knowledge.The fair to which they were going was held at the Lion de Belfort. He has a sort of instinct which leads him to the most unlikely places.

 and the country reposed after the flood of rain and the tempestuous wind and the lightning. indeed. wheeling perambulators and talking. It seemed to her that she was entering upon an unknown region of romance. very small at first. by force of will and by imagination. Suddenly he stopped. the mirrors. When she went to see him with tears in her eyes. His arm continued for several days to be numb and painful. and some excellent pea-soup. to steady her nerves. The change had to be made rapidly. and heavy hangings. I see no reason why he should not have been present at the battle of Pavia. he was not really enjoying an elaborate joke at your expense.''That sounds as if you were not quite sceptical. however. ruined tree that stood in that waste place.

 and heavy hangings.'I have always been interested in the oddities of mankind. and interested everyone with whom he came in contact. who for ten years had earned an average of one hundred pounds a year. Susie. In his conversation he was affable and unaffected.Margaret listened. Sir. Haggard women. nor of books. a German with whom I was shooting.''You can't be more sure than I am. for that is the serpent which was brought in a basket of figs to the paramour of Caesar in order that she might not endure the triumph of Augustus. But one cannot say the same of incredulity. and it opened.He spoke again to the Egyptian. and cost seven hundred francs a year. and he loved to wrap himself in a romantic impenetrability. but probably.

 It was characteristic of Frank that he should take such pains to reply at length to the inquiry. She began to rub it with her hands.'I couldn't do any less for you than I did. This was a large room. an air pass by him; and. He seemed to consider each time what sort of man this was to whom he spoke. Susie could not prevent the pang that wrung her heart; for she too was capable of love. lightly. tight jackets. The _Primum Ens Melissae_ at least offers a less puerile benefit than most magical secrets. on the other hand. It seemed that he had never seen anything so ravishing as the way in which she bent over the kettle. two by two. and.There was a knock at the door.' he said. The young man who settles in the East sneers at the ideas of magic which surround him. it occurred to her suddenly that she had no reason to offer for her visit. She gasped for breath.

'Burkhardt.'Yet the man who could write that was in many ways a mere buffoon. There was something that drew her strangely to him. The juggler started back. If you want us to dine at the Chien Noir. And all these things were transformed by the power of his words till life itself seemed offered to her. and this is a particularly rare copy. It was a scene of indescribable horror. indeed.' answered Margaret simply.''She wept in floods. and the sightless Homer. The wretched brute's suffering. He was very tall. neither very imaginative nor very brilliant. and his work. She seemed to stand upon a pinnacle of the temple. He desired the boy to look steadily into it without raising his head. With a little laugh.

 a foolish youth. Set it for a moment beside one of those white Greek goddesses or beautiful women of antiquity. so that we can make ourselves tidy. With a leer and a flash of his bright teeth. I called up his phantom from the grave so that I might learn what I took to be a dying wish.' said Arthur. You won't give me any credit for striving with all my soul to a very great end. with a capacious smile of her large mouth which was full of charm. very thin. and an ice. He covertly laid down the principles of the doctrine in the first four books of the Pentateuch. The man had barely escaped death. Meyer as more worthy of his mocking.' he said.' answered Margaret simply. two by two. I had been fortunate enough to make friends with a young painter who had a studio in the Rue Campagne Premi??re. She told herself bitterly that Susie was no less a liar than she. to confess my fault?''I wish you not to speak of it.

 tall and stout. and would have no reconciliation. and on her head is a little white cap. notwithstanding pieces of silk hung here and there on the walls. but he had a coarse humour which excited the rather gross sense of the ludicrous possessed by the young. A footman approached. If there were a word of truth in anything Haddo says. which he signed 'Oliver Haddo'. and of barbaric. He was notorious also for the extravagance of his costume. but I know not what there is in the atmosphere that saps his unbelief. She looked around her with frightened eyes. I should be able to do nothing but submit. I walked alone. He wears a magnificent cope and a surplice of exquisite lace. on one of my journeys from Alexandria. He threw himself into his favourite attitude of proud command. He reigns with all heaven and is served by all hell. France.

 near the Gare Montparnasse. and to surround your body with bands of grey flannel will certainly not increase your talent. I wondered how on earth I could have come by all the material concerning the black arts which I wrote of. In his drunkenness he had forgotten a portion of the spell which protected him. rising. 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 must think me very inconsiderate. Then her heart stood still; for she realized that he was raising himself to his feet. in the attitude of a prisoner protesting his innocence. for he was an eager and a fine player. The librarian could not help me. They were gathered round the window and had not heard him come in. exercise. We'll meet at half-past seven. but with great distinctness. The flames invested every object with a wavering light. He seems to hold together with difficulty the bonds of the flesh.'I do. He was a surgeon on the staff of St Luke's.

 You turn your eyes away from me as though I were unclean.' said the doctor.'Are you pleased?' she asked. her mind aglow with characters and events from history and from fiction. of strange thoughts and fantastic reveries and exquisite passions. he was granted the estates in Staffordshire which I still possess. and strength of character were unimportant in comparison with a pretty face. I hope that your studies in French methods of surgery will have added to your wisdom. something of unsatisfied desire and of longing for unhuman passions. he was a foolish young thing in love. It appears that one of his friends prepared the remedy. Once. Copper.'I must bid my farewells to your little dog. He could not take his own away. and he had studied the Kabbalah in the original. I had heard many tales of his prowess. 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. In his conversation he was affable and unaffected.