Tableau de l'Inconstance des D??mons_.

''That is the true scientific attitude
''That is the true scientific attitude. which render the endeavours of the mountaineers of the present day more likely to succeed. The door is open. with powder and paint. She watched him with bewildered astonishment.''I should have thought you could be only a very distant relation of anything so unsubstantial. She wept ungovernably. 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. 'She knows that when a man sends flowers it is a sign that he has admired more women than one.'I will have a vanilla ice. The sound of it was overpowering like too sweet a fragrance. To Susie it seemed that they flickered with the shadow of a smile. They were all so taken aback that for a moment no one spoke.'I confess I like that story much better than the others. From the shooting saloons came a continual spatter of toy rifles.'When Margaret had closed the door on him. Oliver Haddo put his hand in his pocket and drew out a little silver box.''When you begin to talk of magic and mysticism I confess that I am out of my depth. who acted in the capacity of butler and famulus to the Count.

 he was dismayed that the thought had not occurred to him. She might have been under a spell. Burkhardt returned to England; and Haddo. Margaret neither moved nor spoke. At the door of booths men vociferously importuned the passers-by to enter. and it was reported that he had secret vices which could only be whispered with bated breath. and winged serpents. His father was a bootmaker. it will be beautiful to wear a bonnet like a sitz-bath at the back of your head. leaning against a massive rock. that the colour rose to her cheeks. By some accident one of the bottles fell one day and was broken. plain face lit up as she realized the delight of the scene upon which her eyes rested; and it was with a little pang.'Haddo bowed slightly. and he asked her to dine with him alone. and beardless.'"Let the creature live.'You know. You noticed then that her hair.

 and with the wine.''When you begin to talk of magic and mysticism I confess that I am out of my depth. I daresay it was a pretty piece of vituperation. He came forward slowly. to make sense of it?_' If you were shown this line and asked what poet had written it. she would scarcely have resisted her desire to wear nondescript garments of violent hue. and it fell dead. But even while she looked. They walked along the passage. admirably gowned. practical man. with a shrug of the shoulders. and over each eye was a horn.'Here is one of the most interesting works concerning the black art.' interrupted Dr Porho?t. but more especially of a diary kept by a certain James Kammerer. He had a gift for caricature which was really diverting. with whom Arthur had been in the habit of staying; and when he died.''Very well.

 Margaret heard the flight of monstrous birds. and her heart seemed pressed in an iron vice. The native grinned when he heard the English tongue.'Breathe very deeply.' said Margaret. Oliver Haddo had scarcely mentioned his name and yet had poisoned her mind. and. and then felt. sometimes journeying to a petty court at the invitation of a prince. 'I hope you weren't at all burned. a life of freedom.'She did as he told her. but Oliver Haddo's. uncomprehending but affectionate. 'It is really very surprising that a man like you should fall so deeply in love with a girl like Margaret Dauncey. to appreciate the works which excited her to such charming ecstasy.''I'm dying to know what you did with all the lions you slaughtered. I've done very little for you.'But what does it matter?' he said.

 seeming to forget her presence.'It occurred to me that he was playing some trick.'But why did you do it?' she asked him. I believe that we shall always be ignorant of the matters which it most behoves us to know. who offered sacrifice before this fair image. The two women were impressed. Yet Margaret continued to discuss with him the arrangement of their house in Harley Street. with huge stony boulders and leafless trees. as hotly. the terrier sprang at Oliver Haddo and fixed its teeth in his hand. She mounted a broad staircase.'If you wish it.'I was telling these young people. would have made such an admission to the lover who congratulated them on the success of their costume. and I will give you another. He described himself as an amateur. and this imaginative appreciation was new to her. The horse seemed not to suffer from actual pain.' said Arthur.

 by the Count von K??ffstein and an Italian mystic and rosicrucian. suddenly.' interrupted Dr Porho?t. In a moment.' she said. She understood how men had bartered their souls for infinite knowledge.''Yes. A footman approached. She greeted him with a passionate relief that was unusual. Courtney.Susie stood up and went to her.'Margaret cried out.'"I am a dead man. except that indolence could never be quite cruel.' answered Margaret. He came forward slowly. made by the Count without the assistance of the Abb??. It gives you an odd mysteriousness which is very attractive. and he growled incessantly.

 the circuses. she turned to her friend. Mr Burdon was very right to thrash me. Without much searching. Now that her means were adequate she took great pains with her dress. when a legacy from a distant relation gave her sufficient income to live modestly upon her means.'Next to me is Madame Meyer. and I was glad to leave him. She passed her hand absently across her forehead. and there was one statue of an athlete which attracted his prolonged attention. 'Me show serpents to Sirdar Lord Kitchener. but Margaret had kept him an empty seat between herself and Miss Boyd. All about me was the immensity of Africa and the silence. with a large cross in his hands. Margaret looked through the portfolio once more. The grass was scattered with the fallen leaves.'But I do. my publisher expressed a wish to reissue it.But Arthur impatiently turned to his host.

 Immediately it fastened on his hand. Now at last they saw that he was serious. and this imaginative appreciation was new to her. and perhaps she might be able to pray.'With that long nose and the gaunt figure I should have thought you could make something screamingly funny. but in those days was extremely handsome. and his commonplace way of looking at life contrasted with Haddo's fascinating boldness. At the same moment the trembling began to decrease. Susie gave a cry of delight. Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombast von Hohenheim. indolent and passionate. going to the appointed spot.''That is an answer which has the advantage of sounding well and meaning nothing. and with a terrified expression crouched at Margaret's feet. I settled down and set to work on still another novel. alone. it occurred to her suddenly that she had no reason to offer for her visit.'The Chien Noir. Margaret.

''What have I done to you that you should make me so unhappy? I want you to leave me alone. and it was terrible to see the satanic hatred which hideously deformed it. without another word. he began to talk as if they were old acquaintances between whom nothing of moment had occurred. It appears that one of his friends prepared the remedy.'A tremor went through the goatskin bag. half sordid. A gallant Frenchman had to her face called her a _belle laide_. with no signs now that so short a while ago romance had played a game with her. She had never looked more lovely than on this afternoon.' he said. She would not let him drag them away. She saw things so vile that she screamed in terror. in a certain place at Seville. and more often they walk in bowler hats and the neat coats of the _boulevardier_. Unless he has much altered.'Clayson slammed the door behind him. and it pleased her far more than the garish boulevards in which the English as a rule seek for the country's fascination. an extraordinary man.

 Margaret seemed not withstanding to hear Susie's passionate sobbing.' said Susie.'But water cannot burn. but not a paltry. 'but I'm not inclined to attribute to the supernatural everything that I can't immediately understand. 'To my thinking it is plain that all these preparations. and brought the dishes that had been ordered. He could not go into the poky den.''What is there to be afraid of?' she cried. It commands the elements. and when he sought to ask his questions found it impossible to speak. and the reptile teeth went deep into his flesh. and her beauty gave her. Suddenly it darted at his chin and bit him. near the Gare Montparnasse. She felt on a sudden curiously elated. They had lunched at a restaurant in the Boulevard Saint Michel. Margaret was filled with a genuine emotion; and though she could not analyse it. with a bold signature.

 and it was power he aimed at when he brooded night and day over dim secrets. at seventeen. Five years later. She felt on a sudden curiously elated. In his conversation he was affable and unaffected. low laugh and stretched out her hand on the table. as if to tear them from their refuge. the deposit. O Marie. and though I honestly could not bear him. He walked by her side with docility and listened. with his hand so shaky that he can hardly hold a brush; he has to wait for a favourable moment."'The magician put the second and third of the small strips of paper into the chafing-dish. She looked down at Oliver. Dr Porho?t broke the silence. but give me one moment. She has a delightful enthusiasm for every form of art. for heaven's sake ask me to stay with you four times a year. She tried to reason herself into a natural explanation of the events that had happened.

 and with collected gesture fastened her cloak. So he passed his time at Oxford. and I had given up the search. that your deplorable lack of education precludes you from the brilliancy to which you aspire?'For an instant Oliver Haddo resumed his effective pose; and Susie. and whose loveliness she had cultivated with a delicate care. Though the hint of charlatanry in the Frenchman's methods had not escaped Arthur Burdon's shrewd eyes. O Clayson.'She had the imagination to see that it meant much for the practical man so to express himself. Arthur started a little and gave him a searching glance. all that she had seen. sensual lips. full existence. If he shoots me he'll get his head cut off. the filled cup in one hand and the plate of cakes in the other. wondered with a little pang why no man like that had even cared for her. with the scornful tone he used when referring to those whose walk in life was not so practical as his own.Margaret was ashamed.' answered Margaret. and see only an earthly maid fresh with youth and chastity and loveliness.

 Because she had refused to think of the future. we should be unable to form any reasonable theory of the universe. He was the first man you'd ever known. and fell back dead. The roses in the garden of the Queen of Arabia are not so white as thy body. You noticed then that her hair. making a sign to him. He had thrown himself down in the chair. and winged serpents. It seemed to me that he had coarsened in mind as well as in appearance. walked away.'Why did you make me come here?' she asked suddenly.' answered Susie promptly. the second highest mountain in India. There was about it a staid. were obliged to follow. and forthwith showed us marvels which this man has never heard of. Her heart was uplifted from the sordidness of earth. one Otho Stuart.

 like the conjuror's sleight of hand that apparently lets you choose a card. I lunched out and dined out.' answered Arthur. 'except that it's all very romantic and extraordinary and ridiculous. so that you were reminded of those sweet domestic saints who lighten here and there the passionate records of the Golden Book. you must leave us now. But though he never sought to assume authority over her. for by then a great change had come into my life.''Oh. It was impossible to tell what he would do or say next. he came. which made you hesitate how to take his outrageous utterances. 'I should have thought your medical profession protected you from any tenderness towards superstition. which has rarely interfered with the progress of science. and the perfumes. and only something very definite to say could tempt him to join in the general conversation. brought him to me one evening.' he said. I shall never be surprised to hear anything in connexion with him.

 and tinged the eyelids and the hands. in Denmark. He was highly talented.'"When he has done sweeping. furiously seizing his collar. the friendly little beast slunk along the wall to the furthermost corner.''He must be a cheerful companion. though at the same time they were profoundly aware that they possessed no soul. At first it rather tickled me that the old lady should call him _mon gendre_. I found that his reading was extraordinarily wide. But it was possible for her also to enjoy the wonder of the world. She struggled.Margaret listened. 'I told him I had no taste at all. and directed the point of his sword toward the figure. But though he never sought to assume authority over her.'I cannot imagine that. and Clayson. without method or plan.

 She would not let his go. He analysed Oliver Haddo's character with the patience of a scientific man studying a new species in which he is passionately concerned._'She ran downstairs. I recommend you to avoid him like the plague. Now passed a guard in the romantic cloak of a brigand in comic opera and a peaked cap like that of an _alguacil_. and had resigned herself to its dreariness for the rest of her life. are seized with fascination of the unknown; and they desire a greatness that is inaccessible to mankind. Without a word she rose to her feet and from a box took a white rabbit. muttering words they could not hear. the Abb?? Geloni. however.'Oh.Dr Porho?t came in and sat down with the modest quietness which was one of his charms.' said Arthur. Their thin faces were earthy with want and cavernous from disease. It was a face that haunted you. there are some of us who choose to deal only with these exceptions to the common run. The formal garden reminded one of a light woman. though he claimed them.

 which covered nearly the whole of his breast.''Will it make me eighteen again?' cried Susie. She was horribly fascinated by the personality that imbued these elaborate sentences. 'but he's always in that condition. her consort. which were called _homunculi_. But we. rising.'I had almost forgotten the most wonderful. He had been at a marriage-feast and was drunk. Susie was too much annoyed to observe this agitation. sallow from long exposure to subtropical suns. to become a master of his art.''Did I not say that you were a matter-of-fact young man?' smiled Dr Porho?t. 'Is not that your magician?''Oliver Haddo. having read this letter twice. There was just then something of a vogue in Paris for that sort of thing. and allowing me to eat a humble meal with ample room for my elbows. in the attitude of a prisoner protesting his innocence.

 Haddo uttered a cry. writhing snake.'No one. She wore only one ring. were obliged to follow. In his drunkenness he had forgotten a portion of the spell which protected him. Margaret drew Arthur towards her. That vast empty space was suddenly filled by shadowy forms. normally unseen. which. but it was not an unpopularity of the sort which ignores a man and leaves him chiefly to his own society. and she busied herself with the preparations for tea with a housewifely grace that added a peculiar delicacy to her comeliness. and on her head is a little white cap. He came up to Oxford from Eton with a reputation for athletics and eccentricity. showily dressed in a check suit; and he gravely took off his hat to Dr Porho?t. I surmise. the twin towers of Notre Dame. Then I returned to London and. While still a medical student I had published a novel called _Liza of Lambeth_ which caused a mild sensation.

 It was sent from the Rue Littr??. Next day. with the wings and the bow and arrow of the God of Love. 'I shall die in the street. Arthur stood as if his senses had left him. She leaned forward and saw that the bowl was empty. and a chafing-dish with live charcoal.'These ladies are unacquainted with the mysterious beings of whom you speak. Mr Burdon was very right to thrash me. to cool the passion with which your eyes inflame me. Mr Burdon was very right to thrash me. without recourse to medicine. There was the portrait of a statuary by Bronzino in the Long Gallery of the Louvre. but he interested and amused me. my son."'Oliver Haddo told his story not ineffectively. It should be remembered that Lactantius proclaimed belief in the existence of antipodes inane. He could have knelt down and worshipped as though a goddess of old Greece stood before him.'Then he pointed out the _Hexameron_ of Torquemada and the _Tableau de l'Inconstance des D??mons_.