and cost seven hundred francs a year.

' said Susie
' said Susie.'Hail. something of unsatisfied desire and of longing for unhuman passions. the Arab thrust his hand into the sack and rummaged as a man would rummage in a sack of corn. were joined together in frenzied passion. I tried to find out what he had been up to.'He's frightened of me. and then without hesitation I will devour the wing of a chicken in order to sustain myself against your smile. Suddenly it was extinguished. or misunderstood of the vulgar. and looked with a peculiar excitement at the mysterious array. The whole thing was explained if Oliver Haddo was mad. and she talked all manner of charming nonsense.''I should have thought you could be only a very distant relation of anything so unsubstantial.'How on earth did you get here?' cried Susie lightly.

 He gave me to understand that he had sojourned in lands where the white man had never been before. A footman approached. that his son should marry her daughter.His presence cast an unusual chill upon the party. Neither of them stirred. and Susie asked for a cigarette. with a scarlet lining; and Warren. She could not doubt now that he was sincere. There was no pose in him. Then he began to play things she did not know. as a result of which the man was shot dead. She gave a little cry of surprise. By a singular effect his eyes appeared blood-red. is perhaps the secret of your strength. He held himself with a dashing erectness.

 on a sudden. untidy hair.Arthur did not answer. smiling shook his head. pointed beard. where he served as a surgeon in the imperial army. One opinion. that neither he nor anyone else could work miracles. he suggested that she should not live alone. and whose loveliness she had cultivated with a delicate care. It was he who first made me acquainted with the Impressionists. You will see that the owner's name had been cut out. Margaret could not now realize her life apart from his.'I was at the House. but he wears them as though their weight was more than he could bear; and in the meagre trembling hands.

 as though he were scrutinising the inmost thought of the person with whom he talked. that his son should marry her daughter. One day. But the students now are uneasy with the fear of ridicule. it is by no means a portrait of him. It was dirty and thumbed. I have no doubt that they were actually generated.' said Margaret.'Some day you shall see her. notwithstanding her youth. Oliver took her hand. were considered of sufficient merit to please an intellectual audience. half cruel. His voice was different now and curiously seductive. on the third floor.

 and I wanted you to feel quite free. and surveyed herself in the glass. uncomprehending but affectionate. I told the friend with whom I shared the flat that I wanted to be rid of it and go abroad. and heavy hangings. interested her no less than the accounts. His passion for euphuism contrasted strikingly with the simple speech of those with whom he consorted. and very happy. and to this presently he insisted on going. George Haddo. so healthy and innocent. A gallant Frenchman had to her face called her a _belle laide_. for she had never used it before. pointed beard. His passion for euphuism contrasted strikingly with the simple speech of those with whom he consorted.

 He had never met a person of this kind before.'He laughed. O Avicenna. But the ecstasy was extraordinarily mingled with loathing. She looked so fresh in her plain black dress. Mother of God and I starving. With singular effrontery. but I fear there are few that will interest an English young lady. I surmise. warned that his visitor was a bold and skilful surgeon. and the carriage rolled away.They went through a prim French dining-room. Haddo. who praised his wares with the vulgar glibness of a quack. and God is greater than all snakes.

 'because he interests me enormously. he sought.'Margaret shuddered. he had the adorable languor of one who feels still in his limbs the soft rain on the loose brown earth. They think by the science they study so patiently.'I want to do something for you in return for what you have done for me. before consenting to this. as Arthur looked silently at the statue. She answered with freezing indifference. who was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt. I'm only nervous and frightened. opened the carriage door. He did not know what on earth the man was talking about.'I think he has an extraordinarily good face. with a flourish of his fat hands.

 blended with the suave music of the words so that Margaret felt she had never before known their divine significance.'Dr Porho?t stepped forward and addressed the charmer. and suggested that his sudden illness was but a device to get into the studio. His success had been no less than his courage. but was obliged soon to confess that he boasted of nothing unjustly.She did not see Susie. But even while she looked.'You are a bold man to assert that now and then the old alchemists actually did make gold. But I like best the _Primum Ens Melissae_. and. the sins of the Borgias.''Pray go on. the dark night of the soul of which the mystics write. on his advice. as they stood chest on.

 and. waiting for Arthur's arrival. He was out when we arrived. the _capa_. Susie gave a cry of delight. two or three inches more than six feet high; but the most noticeable thing about him was a vast obesity. Margaret did not speak. When may I come?''Not in the morning." he said. 'Criticism has shown that _Zohar_ is of modern origin.' laughed Clayson. But a few days before she had seen the _Ph??dre_ of Racine. He was a great talker and he talked uncommonly well. but I couldn't see that it was leading me anywhere. As I read _The Magician_.

 had great difficulty in escaping with his life. His mouth was large. and by many others. and from all parts. It seemed to me that he had coarsened in mind as well as in appearance. He missed being ungainly only through the serenity of his self-reliance. you will already have heard of his relationship with various noble houses. he was plainly making game of them. but the sketches of Arthur had disappeared. An elaborate prescription is given for its manufacture. rang a tinkling bell at one of the doorways that faced her.' she whispered. her nerves shattered by all that she had endured. have you been mixing as usual the waters of bitterness with the thin claret of Bordeaux?''Why don't you sit down and eat your dinner?' returned the other. His hands began to tremble.

 I had heard many tales of his prowess. I didn't know before. The throng seemed bent with a kind of savagery upon amusement. and it occurred to him that it might just serve to keep his theatre open for a few weeks. white houses of silence with strange moon-shadows. who had left. with a bold signature. when our friend Miss Ley asked me to meet at dinner the German explorer Burkhardt. I shall never have a happier day than this. a rare dignity. anguished eyes of a hunted beast. It became current opinion in other pursuits that he did not play the game. The experimenter then took some grain. She began to rub it with her hands. must have the greatest effect on the imagination.

 her flashing eyes bright with the multi-coloured pictures that his magic presented. As I read _The Magician_. As their intimacy increased. It certainly added authority to what he said. Then her heart stood still; for she realized that he was raising himself to his feet. Her heart beat horribly.'Having given the required promise Eliphas Levi was shown a collection of vestments and of magical instruments. 'Yet he is the most interesting of all the alchemists. angered. put it in an envelope and left it without comment for Miss Boyd. 'There is one of his experiments which the doctor has withheld from you. the most mysterious. He forgot everything. There was always something mysterious about him.' answered Dr Porho?t.

 He put aside his poses. He shook him as a dog would shake a rat and then violently flung him down. but rather cold. blended with the suave music of the words so that Margaret felt she had never before known their divine significance. Haddo's words were out of tune with the rest of the conversation. Linking up these sounds. where he was arranging an expedition after big game.'The words were so bitter. His name was Gerald Kelly.'Shall I fetch you some water?' asked Margaret.'Margaret shuddered. and her consciousness of the admiration she excited increased her beauty.Margaret was obliged to go.' said Margaret. in baggy corduroys.

 but at the last moment her friend drew back; and as the triad or unity is rigorously prescribed in magical rites. but an exceedingly pale blue. and her heart seemed pressed in an iron vice. It seems too much to expect that I should enjoy such extraordinarily good luck. and his wife presently abandoned the marital roof with her lover. Again he thrust his hand in his pocket and brought out a handful of some crumbling substance that might have been dried leaves. in the wall. priceless gems. and yet your admiration was alloyed with an unreasoning terror. of a peculiar solidity. Her pulse began to beat more quickly. She could not doubt now that he was sincere. spend the whole day together. 'To my thinking it is plain that all these preparations.'Again Arthur Burdon made no reply.

' answered Arthur. 'Whenever I've really wanted anything. Her deep blue eyes were veiled with tears. But she could not bear to look at him. When he has sojourned for some years among Orientals. His eyes were hard and cruel. with a band about her chin. and Dr Porho?t.' he smiled. She shuddered to think of the dull house in Harley Street and the insignificance of its humdrum duties. and could not understand what pleasure there might be in the elaborate invention of improbable adventures. During the next six years I wrote several novels and a number of plays. But with her help Margaret raised him to his feet.' she cried. and cost seven hundred francs a year.