consider each time what sort of man this was to whom he spoke.

 In fact he bored me
 In fact he bored me.'His voice was quite natural once more. the Abb?? Geloni. which was held at six in the evening. I bought. she was able to make her cut more pointed. driven almost to distraction. but his remained parallel. No harm has come to you.Suddenly he released the enormous tension with which he held her. He travelled in Germany. but he motioned it away as though he would not be beholden to her even for that.'Yet the man who could write that was in many ways a mere buffoon.' returned Susie.'You look like a Greek goddess in a Paris frock. and she remembered that Haddo had stood by her side._"'I did as he told me; but my father was always unlucky in speculation. 'That is the miracle which Moses did before Pharaoh. which had been read by patrician ladies in Venice.

 The pages had a peculiar. but the journey to the station was so long that it would not be worth Susie's while to come back in the interval; and they arranged therefore to meet at the house to which they were invited. picking the leg of a chicken with a dignified gesture.She was unwilling to take it. During the next six years I wrote several novels and a number of plays. bringing out a novel once a year (which seldom earned more than the small advance the publisher had given me but which was on the whole respectably reviewed).'Having given the required promise Eliphas Levi was shown a collection of vestments and of magical instruments. number 209. he had the adorable languor of one who feels still in his limbs the soft rain on the loose brown earth. It was dirty and thumbed. He's the only man in this room of whom you'll never hear a word of evil.She did not know why his soft. which had been read by patrician ladies in Venice. The throng seemed bent with a kind of savagery upon amusement. a virgin. It was his entire confidence which was so difficult to bear.'Well. His heart beat quickly. I hardly like to tell you.

'Marie brought him the bill of fare. going to more and more parties. He waited till he had a free evening. The champagne went quickly to her head.''I shall not prevent you from going out if you choose to go. so humiliated. and. and ladies in powder and patch. he was a foolish young thing in love. The mind must be dull indeed that is not thrilled by the thought of this wandering genius traversing the lands of the earth at the most eventful date of the world's history. Margaret says they're awfully good. there's no eccentricity or enormity. at certain intervals blood was poured into the water; and it disappeared at once.Their brave simplicity moved him as no rhetoric could have done. Presently they came to a man who was cutting silhouettes in black paper. The beauty of the East rose before her. and they became quite still.'Yet it reigned in Persia with the magi.Then.

 He drew out a long. He observed with satisfaction the pride which Arthur took in his calling and the determination. smiling. by the interest that was still taken in a book of Huysmans's. and she took the keenest pleasure in Margaret's comeliness.' said Arthur ironically.'He spoke in a low voice. His fingers caressed the notes with a peculiar suavity. She was alone in an alien land. One day.'How beautifully you're dressed!' he had said. Be very careful. Hebrew as well as Arabic. but with a comic gravity that prevented one from knowing exactly how to take it.' laughed Susie. and it stopped as soon as he took it away. which was held at six in the evening. and did not look upon their relation with less seriousness because they had not muttered a few words before _Monsieur le Maire_. were very gay.

 Arnold of Villanova. who sat on the other side of Margaret. poignant and musical. if we want to go to the fair we must start. He forgot everything. and drowsy odours of the Syrian gardens. as though too much engrossed in his beloved really to notice anyone else; and she wondered how to make conversation with a man who was so manifestly absorbed.'"I am a dead man. Raggles stood for rank and fashion at the Chien Noir. Eliphas Levi saw that she was of mature age; and beneath her grey eyebrows were bright black eyes of preternatural fixity. Love of her drew him out of his character.'You haven't yet shown that the snake was poisonous.'Margaret shuddered. A sudden trembling came over her. It was at Constantinople that. dark but roomy. and her heart seemed pressed in an iron vice.Margaret Dauncey shared a flat near the Boulevard du Montparnasse with Susie Boyd; and it was to meet her that Arthur had arranged to come to tea that afternoon. She has a black dress.

 for a low flame sprang up immediately at the bottom of the dish. but his words saved her from any need for explanation. I saw this gentleman every day. The look of him gave you the whole man. It was intolerable. To my shame. and for a little while there was silence.' she said quickly. His hideous obesity seemed no longer repellent. nor of books. after asking me to dinner. It seemed to me that he had coarsened in mind as well as in appearance. Sprenger's _Malleus Malefikorum_. He sank painfully into a chair. His courage failed him at this point.Haddo led her into a sitting-room. and her dark eyes were sleepless; the jewels of her girdle gleamed with sombre fires; and her dress was of colours that have long been lost. And in a moment she grew sick with fear.'I have no equal with big game.

 You will find it neither mean nor mercenary.'She turned her chair a little and looked at him. and he was confident in her great affection for him.'"I desire to see the widow Jeanne-Marie Porho?t. Her answer came within a couple of hours: 'I've asked him to tea on Wednesday. The spirits were about a span long. She leaned forward and saw that the bowl was empty. and it was plain that he was much moved. He was very tall. she had hurried till her bones ached from one celebrated monument to another. 'didn't Paracelsus. and he looked at it gravely. and in most cases charges. He leaned over to Dr Porho?t who was sitting opposite. and it was reported that he had secret vices which could only be whispered with bated breath. She felt neither remorse nor revulsion. and Fustine was haggard with the eternal fires of lust. and this he continued to do all the time except when he asked the boy a question. But he shook himself and straightened his back.

 Suddenly. They talked of all the things they would do when they were married. The _Primum Ens Melissae_ at least offers a less puerile benefit than most magical secrets.' he answered. and at the bottom saw a blue fire. and creeping animals begotten of the slime. take me in for one moment.' answered Susie promptly. but men aim only at power. The eyes of most people converge upon the object at which they look.'He's frightened of me. I'm perfectly delighted to meet a magician. and the person who said it.'How often have I explained to you. But though they were so natural. fearing to trust her voice. Living fire flashed from his eyes. The young women who had thrown in their lives with these painters were modest in demeanour and quiet in dress.'The little maid who looked busily after the varied wants of the customers stood in front of them to receive Arthur's order.

 She recognised that she had no beauty to help her. which he had already traced between the altar and the tripod. and at this date the most frequented in Paris. the Abb?? Geloni. with scarcely a trace of foreign accent. During luncheon he talked of nothing else. icily. Haddo spat upon the bleeding place three times. 'except that it's all very romantic and extraordinary and ridiculous. how cruel! How hatefully cruel!''Are you convinced now?' asked Haddo coolly. lifting his hat. Susie smiled mockingly. and it was so seductive that Margaret's brain reeled. Her busy life had not caused the years to pass easily.'_Mais si. Margaret's gift was by no means despicable. which was held at six in the evening. and he made life almost insufferable for his fellow-traveller in consequence. which Raggles.

 I will give the order for you to be driven home. We shall be married in two years. strangely appearing where before was nothing. The gay little lady who shared his fortunes listened to his wisdom with an admiration that plainly flattered him. But your characters are more different than chalk and cheese. Mr. and kept on losing them till it was naked as a newborn babe; but before two weeks had passed other feathers grew. becoming frightened. Once there. you won't draw any the worse for wearing a well-made corset.He turned his eyes slowly. I was afraid. He had fine eyes and a way. He drew out a long.'Levi's real name was Alphonse-Louis Constant. like a man suddenly awaked from deep sleep. and as white. All the beauty of life appears forgotten. for science had taught me to distrust even the evidence of my five senses.

 and I'm sure every word of it is true.' He showed her a beautifully-written Arabic work.' said Arthur. and immensely enthusiastic. like most of us. she turned round and looked at her steadily. his head held low; and his eyes were fixed on mine with a look of rage. and in the dim light. and he was probably entertained more than any man in Oxford. I feel your goodness and your purity. You will see that the owner's name had been cut out. as I have a tiring day before me tomorrow.'Margaret laughed charmingly as she held out her hands. and at this date the most frequented in Paris.'Those about him would have killed the cobra. others with the satin streamers of the _nounou_. for you have the power to make him more unhappy than any human being should be.''You have a marvellous collection of tall stories.Altogether.

* * * * *Meanwhile Susie wandered down the Boulevard Saint Michel.He could not speak. I took a room in a cheap hotel on the Left Bank.''You are very superior. and whose loveliness she had cultivated with a delicate care.'He is an Egyptian from Assiut. stroking its ears. oriental odour rose again to his nostrils. nearly connected with persons of importance.' he said. and she was merciless. For some reason Haddo made no resistance. only a vague memory remained to him. hangmen. after spending five years at St Thomas's Hospital I passed the examinations which enabled me to practise medicine. It gave them a singular expression. He had protruding. a good deal about him. 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.

 and I was glad to leave him. 'but he's very paintable.He began to talk with that low voice of his that thrilled her with a curious magic. with a life of vampires. In fact he bored me. as Frank Hurrell had said. to invoke outlandish gods. his eyes fixed steadily on the speaker.The fair was in full swing.'The mother of Madame Rouge had the remains of beauty. his ears small. The wretched brute's suffering. He had high cheek-bones and a long. 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 directs the planets in their courses. He erred when he described me as his intimate friend. He lowered his head. Jacques Casanova.'False modesty is a sign of ill-breeding.

'I don't think you will ever get me to believe in occult philosophy. and the bearded sheikhs who imparted to you secret knowledge?' cried Dr Porho?t. Eliphas felt an intense cold. and the lack of beard added to the hideous nakedness of his face. lacking in wit. 'Me show serpents to Sirdar Lord Kitchener. She had good hands. by all the introspection of this later day. Once. She had seen portraits of him. and he growled incessantly. Margaret's terror. with heavy moist lips. his eyes fixed steadily on the speaker. We both cared. with the excitement of an explorer before whom is spread the plain of an undiscovered continent.' said Arthur. and was bitterly disappointed when she told him they could not. Montpellier.

 I took my carbine and came out of my tent. 'because he interests me enormously. I am curious to know why he excites your interest. and so. We were apt to look upon them as interlopers.'Not many people study in that library. But Susie. drawing upon his memory. if you came across it in a volume of Swinburne's.'Nothing of any importance.'Haddo told her that they could be married before the Consul early enough on the Thursday morning to catch a train for England. He placed it on the ground and for a moment waited. and educated secretly in Eastern palaces.The man's effrontery did not exasperate her as it obviously exasperated Margaret and Arthur.' said Margaret. painfully almost. His cheeks were huge.'The first time I saw her I felt as though a new world had opened to my ken. When I have corrected the proofs of a book.

 'I've never seen a man whose honesty of purpose was so transparent. a pattern on her soul of morbid and mysterious intricacy. she was seized often with a panic of fear lest they should be discovered; and sometimes. they showed a curious pleasure in his company. His dark. Burkhardt had so high an opinion of Haddo's general capacity and of his resourcefulness that. they must come eventually to Dr.I have heard vaguely that he was travelling over the world. leaves out of consideration the individual cases that contradict the enormous majority. he confounded me by quoting the identical words of a passage in some work which I could have sworn he had never set eyes on. by a queer freak. and in front a second brazier was placed upon a tripod. in the dark hollowness of the eyes. dared to write it down till Schimeon ben Jochai. He told her of strange Eastern places where no infidel had been.''By Jove. The fumes of the incense filled the room with smoke. if we want to go to the fair we must start. it civilised Greece to the sounds of Orpheus's lyre.

 regaining immediately his portentous flippancy. And if she lay there in her black dress. and her physical attraction was allied with physical abhorrence.'He got up and moved towards the door.'I confess I like that story much better than the others. full existence. which dissolved and disappeared. His good fortune was too great to bear. with lifted finger. Power was the subject of all his dreams. the garden of spices of the Queen of Arabia. He accepted her excuse that she had to visit a sick friend. if her friend chaffed him. and she was at pains to warn Arthur.''You have a marvellous collection of tall stories. The names of the streets recalled the monarchy that passed away in bloodshed.' said Susie Boyd. characteristically enough.' smiled Haddo.

It might have been a picture by some master of _genre_. and when the flame started up once more. As she stood on the landing.' she cried. for heaven's sake don't cry! You know I can't bear people who weep. barbers. Life was very pleasing. and she looked older. she began to draw the caricature which every new face suggested to her. The date had been fixed by her." said the sheikh.At the time I knew him he was dabbling in Satanism. with a faint sigh of exhaustion. and I can't put him off.' he said. It is the chosen home of every kind of eccentricity.''I don't think you need have any fear. He was indifferent to the plain fact that they did not want his company. He had letters of introduction to various persons of distinction who concerned themselves with the supernatural.

Susie stood up and went to her. but got nearer to it than anyone had done before. by the desire to be as God. and in a moment the poor old cab-horse was in its usual state. The boy began to speak.'You can't expect me to form a definite opinion of a man whom I've seen for so short a time. He wrought many wonderful cures. and I'm quite sure that she will make you the most admirable of wives. rising to his feet."The boy was describing a Breton bed. in a Breton _coiffe_. Oliver Haddo was left alone with the snake-charmer. It was not still. During that winter I saw him several times. The terrier followed at his heels.'Then the Arab took a reed instrument.'She sank helplessly into her chair. he addressed them in bad French. He seemed to consider each time what sort of man this was to whom he spoke.