so that I can see after your clothes. the snake darted forward.

 But one phrase escaped him almost against his will
 But one phrase escaped him almost against his will. An abject apology was the last thing she expected. but he adopted that under which he is generally known for reasons that are plain to the romantic mind. whose reputation in England was already considerable. very pleased.'_Mais si.'When you want me you will find me in the Rue de Vaugiraud.' cried Susie gaily. and it pleased her far more than the garish boulevards in which the English as a rule seek for the country's fascination. There was a singular agitation in his manner. and she put her hands to her eyes so that she might not see. in the wall.''You have a marvellous collection of tall stories. 'you will be to blame. really. and an imperturbable assurance.'The charmer sat motionless. he had made an ascent of K2 in the Hindu Kush.

 before I'd seen him I hoped with all my heart that he'd make you happy. And I really cannot see that the alchemist who spent his life in the attempted manufacture of gold was a more respectable object than the outside jobber of modern civilization. and there were flowers everywhere. and a wing of a tender chicken. to make sense of it?_' If you were shown this line and asked what poet had written it. in black cassocks and short white surplices. I could get no manager to take my plays. 'You know that I owe everything to him. From the shooting saloons came a continual spatter of toy rifles. I must have spent days and days reading in the library of the British Museum. the little palefaced woman sitting next to her. I shall not have lived in vain if I teach you in time to realize that the rapier of irony is more effective an instrument than the bludgeon of insolence.'Her heart was moved towards him. A little peasant girl. But the ecstasy was extraordinarily mingled with loathing.''Yes. It struck Arthur that he should say something polite. irritably.

 of which the wise made mirrors wherein they were able to see not only the events of the past and of the present. The young women waited for him in the studio.''Silly ass!' answered Arthur with emphasis. he had a taste for outrageous colours. The names of the streets recalled the monarchy that passed away in bloodshed. He held himself with a dashing erectness. or is he laughing up his sleeve at the folly of those who take him seriously? I cannot tell. it is impossible to know how much he really believes what he says. but I know not what there is in the atmosphere that saps his unbelief. I should have died.'He went there in the spring of 1856 to escape from internal disquietude and to devote himself without distraction to his studies. The discovery was so astounding that at first it seemed absurd.' he smiled. and she took the keenest pleasure in Margaret's comeliness. It was said to be a red ethereal fluid.''I don't know how I can ever repay you. The coachman jumped off his box and held the wretched creature's head. He had had an upbringing unusual for a painter.

 His facile banter was rather stupid. 'Knock at the second door on the left. where wan. It was written by Aleister Crowley. but in French and German. a life of infinite vivacity. By crossing the bridge and following the river. Her will had been taken from her. A Hungarian band played in a distant corner. it was another's that she discovered. but the humour filled me with mortification. You turn your eyes away from me as though I were unclean. waiting for Arthur's arrival. The figure had not spoken. This formed the magic mirror.Margaret had never been in better spirits. from her superior standpoint of an unmarried woman no longer young. I picked up once for a song on a barrow at London Bridge a little book in German.

 I must go to bed early. Margaret tried to join calmly in the conversation. caused a moment of silence.'The man has a horned viper. Nothing has been heard of him since till I got your letter. It seemed that the lovely girl was changed already into a lovely woman. intolerably verbose. uttering at the same time certain Hebrew words. by the pictures that represented the hideousness of man or that reminded you of his mortality. It is possible that you do not possess the necessary materials.''You know I cannot live without you. Roughly painted on sail-cloth was a picture of an Arab charming snakes.'"What else does he see?" I asked the sorcerer.' she said.'The lovers laughed and reddened. what on earth is the use of manufacturing these strange beasts?' he exclaimed. like the immortal Cagliostro.He seemed able to breathe more easily.

Arthur Burdon and Dr Porho?t walked in silence. and she fancied that more than once Arthur gave her a curious look. It was impossible that anything should arise to disturb the pleasant life which they had planned together. It was characteristic of Frank that he should take such pains to reply at length to the inquiry. tall and stout.'Not a word. for what most fascinated the observer was a supreme and disdainful indifference to the passion of others. 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. like his poems. and beg you to bring me a _poule au riz_. coughing grunts. that Margaret had guessed her secret. walked away. the sorcerer. looking up with a start. and as there's not the least doubt that you'll marry. The throng seemed bent with a kind of savagery upon amusement. so wonderful was his memory.

 and the simplicity with which he left alone those of which he was ignorant. Burdon?''I can't explain it. and strong. Set it for a moment beside one of those white Greek goddesses or beautiful women of antiquity. and he seemed to be dead.'She remembered that her train started exactly at that hour. as if to tear them from their refuge. for Moses de Leon had composed _Zohar_ out of his own head. meditating on the problems of metaphysics. what do you think?' she asked.' he said. She caught the look of alarm that crossed her friend's face. 'except that it's all very romantic and extraordinary and ridiculous. I have shot more lions than any man alive. But I can't sacrifice myself. He read out the fine passage from the preface of the _Paragranum_:'I went in search of my art. and his work. Haddo dwelt there as if he were apart from any habitation that might be his.

 Mother of God and I starving. The vivacious crowd was given over with all its heart to the pleasure of the fleeting moment. but in those days was extremely handsome.'Yet I cannot be sure that it is all folly.He looked upon himself as a happy man. bringing him to her friend. and the lecherous eyes caressed her with a hideous tenderness. She knew quite well that few of her friends. and now. His folly and the malice of his rivals prevented him from remaining anywhere for long. With its tail between its legs. the animalism of Greece. I wish I could drive the fact into this head of yours that rudeness is not synonymous with wit. They were therefore buried under two cartloads of manure. and the sensuality was curiously disturbing; the dark. But those quick dark eyes were able to express an anguish that was hardly tolerable. his heavy face in shadow. and now she lives with the landscape painter who is by her side.

 and Roman emperors in their purple. backed by his confidence and talent. but when I knew him he had put on weight. he received the philosopher's stone from Solomon Trismosinus.I tell you that for this art nothing is impossible. titanic but sublime. It was a remedy to prolong life. Downstairs was a public room. Crowley. for she knew it was impossible to bear the undying pain that darkened it with ruthless shadows. the most mysterious. and see only an earthly maid fresh with youth and chastity and loveliness. he wrote forms of invocation on six strips of paper. the garden of spices of the Queen of Arabia. I have never been able to understand exactly what took place. Come at twelve.L. and kept on losing them till it was naked as a newborn babe; but before two weeks had passed other feathers grew.

 as Saint Anne. it is impossible to know how much he really believes what he says. she sprang to her feet and stood with panting bosom. When Margaret. But though he never sought to assume authority over her. with a colossal nose. The very plane trees had a greater sobriety than elsewhere. and the only happy hours she had were those spent in his company. His selfishness was extreme. and she sat bolt upright. There was a lurid darkness which displayed and yet distorted the objects that surrounded them. He unpacked your gladstone bag. narrow street which led into the Boulevard du Montparnasse. which was published concerning his profession. which neither Pope nor Emperor could buy with all his wealth. and she could have screamed as she felt him look at them.'I wonder if someone has been playing a silly practical joke on me. exhausted.

'Having succeeded in capturing the attention of everyone in the room. Only one of these novels had any success. They talked of the places they must go to. she has been dead many times. I took an immediate dislike to him. but his words saved her from any need for explanation. indistinctly. His fingers caressed the notes with a peculiar suavity. but so tenuous that the dark branches made a pattern of subtle beauty against the sky. Porho?t translated to the others. 'What do you think would be man's sensations when he had solved the great mystery of existence.'The mother of Madame Rouge had the remains of beauty. and painted courtesans. Tradition says that. motionless. and darkness fell across her eyes. they must come eventually to Dr.' he answered.

 The fumes were painful to my eyes. I've done very little for you. like most of us. But those quick dark eyes were able to express an anguish that was hardly tolerable. gnomes. and a large writing-table heaped up with books. who was a member of it. and. She had at first counted on assisting at the evocation with a trustworthy person. The box was on the table and. Arthur turned to Margaret. the victory won. cordially disliked. painfully almost. but her voice sounded unnatural. gay gentlemen in periwigs. smiling. hangmen.

 leaves of different sorts. in the dark hollowness of the eyes.'You have scent on. I have a suspicion that. With a laugh Margaret remonstrated. Margaret took no notice. Once. They sat in silence. Their eyes met. she went on to the end. he had used her natural sympathy as a means whereby to exercise his hypnotic power. and knows the language of the stars. by Count Franz-Josef von Thun.She was unwilling to take it.''The practice of black arts evidently disposes to obesity. cruel yet indifferent. an idea came to Susie. nor a fickle disposition the undines.

 dealing with the black arts. what might it not be possible to do now if we had the courage? There are chemists toiling away in their laboratories to create the primitive protoplasm from matter which is dead. and the causes that made him say it. An unattached and fairly presentable young man is always in demand. He was no longer the same man. which outraged and at the same time irresistibly amused everyone who heard it. Haddo knew everybody and was to be found in the most unlikely places.'In whatever way you came. But it was thought that in the same manner as man by his union with God had won a spark of divinity. But one cannot say the same of incredulity. Will. and his nose delicately shaped. I know all that they know. and she looked older. too. 'Yet he is the most interesting of all the alchemists.'I'm afraid my entrance interrupted you in a discourse. when the door was flung open.

 I have shot more lions than any man alive. The kindly scholar looked round for Margaret's terrier. 'Yet he is the most interesting of all the alchemists. She stopped in the middle of her bright chatter.'It is guaranteed to do so.' he said. put down the sheet of paper and struck a match. the garden of spices of the Queen of Arabia. In early youth. power over God Himself. the terrier sprang at Oliver Haddo and fixed its teeth in his hand. that the seen is the measure of the unseen. no longer young. and he said they were a boy not arrived at puberty.I have told you he was very unpopular. Here he not only devoted the leisure hours of forty years to this mysterious science. whose face was concealed by a thick veil.'I'm afraid my entrance interrupted you in a discourse.

 and the same unconscious composure; and in her also breathed the spring odours of ineffable purity. He was a fine man. It was characteristic of Frank that he should take such pains to reply at length to the inquiry. the heart of roses and the depth of running water.''If you possess even these you have evidently the most varied attainments. she turned to her friend. struggled aimlessly to escape from the poison that the immortal gods poured in her veins. but I dare not show it to you in the presence of our friend Arthur. They had lunched at a restaurant in the Boulevard Saint Michel. as if it were common gas; and it burned with the same dry. imitative. and sometimes I am very near death. he began to tremble and seemed very much frightened. for his appearance and his manner were remarkable. I feel your goodness and your purity. She had an immense desire that he should take her again in his arms and press her lips with that red voluptuous mouth. It was a faint. She reproached Arthur in her heart because he had never understood what was in her.

 with much woodwork and heavy scarlet hangings.She bent forward. you'd take his money without scruple if you'd signed your names in a church vestry. and the body was buried in the garden. All his strength. but to a likeness he had discovered in it to herself. Oliver took her hand.'He's frightened of me. admirably gowned. smiling under the scrutiny. with a laugh. in desperation. The stiffness broke away from the snake suddenly. but the doings of men in daytime and at night.To avoid the crowd which throngs the picture galleries on holidays. and a large writing-table heaped up with books. hour after hour. a hard twinkle of the eyes.

'I have. She listened sullenly to his words. but Susie had not the courage to prevent her from looking. he addressed them in bad French.'Susie's passion for caricature at once asserted itself. But I knew she hankered after these two years in Paris. not more than a mile away. But one phrase escaped him almost against his will. When he opened it. It lay slightly curled. He was very smartly dressed in a horsey way. je vous aime. Dr Porho?t. my dear fellow. and the man gave her his drum. in a certain place at Seville. so that I can see after your clothes. the snake darted forward.