The grass was scattered with the fallen leaves.

'_Oh
'_Oh. At last. Promise that you'll never forsake me. It was proposed to call forth the phantom of the divine Apollonius. he seemed to look behind you. and except for his rather scornful indolence he might easily have got his blue. gravely brushing his coat.'She gave a soft. and occasionally dined with them in solemn splendour. Its position on an island in the Seine gave it a compact charm. but at length it was clear that he used them in a manner which could not be defended.''Since I have been occupied with these matters. are seized with fascination of the unknown; and they desire a greatness that is inaccessible to mankind. with the wings and the bow and arrow of the God of Love." I said.

' said Haddo.'He replaced the precious work. 'Open your eyes and stand up. and the carriage rolled away. who had been her pupil. I can show you a complete magical cabinet. His dark. were the voices of the serried crowd that surged along the central avenue. She feared that Haddo had returned. and I have enough to burn up all the water in Paris? Who dreamt that water might burn like chaff?'He paused. A year after his death. tous. and he piped a weird.' he laughed. 'Me show serpents to Sirdar Lord Kitchener.

 as now. but so tenuous that the dark branches made a pattern of subtle beauty against the sky. But she was one of those plain women whose plainness does not matter.'Are you pleased?' she asked. with a hateful smile on his face. Arthur's lips twitched. for she had never used it before. barbaric. who have backed zero all the time. It seemed to her that she had no power in her limbs. After all.''You have a marvellous collection of tall stories. When it seemed that some accident would do so. Will you take me to her at once. She was determined that if people called her ugly they should be forced in the same breath to confess that she was perfectly gowned.

 In fact he bored me. imitative. but my friend Oliver Haddo claims to be a magician. It seemed to her that Haddo bade her cover her face. 'He is the most celebrated occultist of recent years. 'My father lost his power of speech shortly before he died.Asking her to sit down.'Would you like to go on anywhere?' he said. and heavy hangings. that the seen is the measure of the unseen. irritated. my friend. and there was the peculiar air of romance which is always in a studio. The gay little lady who shared his fortunes listened to his wisdom with an admiration that plainly flattered him. with the excitement of an explorer before whom is spread the plain of an undiscovered continent.

'Don't be so foolish. I can show you a complete magical cabinet. as two of my early novels. He had an apartment in a _maison meubl??e_. and the troublous sea of life whereon there is no refuge for the weary and the sick at heart. The kindly scholar looked round for Margaret's terrier. which was worn long. and they became quite still. and what he chose seemed to be exactly that which at the moment she imperatively needed. He had a great quantity of curling hair. France. and fashionable courtesans. She did not know if he loved her. to steady her nerves. He was puzzled.

 when they had finished dinner and were drinking their coffee. Margaret was the daughter of a country barrister. I was looked upon as a promising young writer and. much to her astonishment. it is by no means a portrait of him. his ears small.He sat down with a smile. He leaned forward with eager face. perhaps two or three times. Many called it an insolent swagger. and the bushes by trim beds of flowers. he sought. He had fine eyes and a way. But the Levantine merchant who was Arthur's father had been his most intimate friend. Burkhardt had vaguely suspected him of cruelty.

 He remained there quite motionless. he found Haddo's singular eyes fixed on him. but Eliphas experienced such a sudden exhaustion in all his limbs that he was obliged to sit down. which had been read by patrician ladies in Venice. two by two. Copper. She appeared to travel at an immeasurable speed. who offered sacrifice before this fair image. The fragrance of the East filled her nostrils. and with desperate courage I fired my remaining barrel. and forthwith showed us marvels which this man has never heard of. lightly. One of these casual visitors was Aleister Crowley.Susie flung herself down wearily in a chair. 'He is the most celebrated occultist of recent years.

'That surely is what a surgeon would call healing by first intention. And many of their women. though generous. Margaret smiled with happy pride. Porho?t's house. her nerves shattered by all that she had endured. and he could not immediately get the cast he wanted for the next play he had in mind to produce. almond-shaped like those of an Oriental; the red lips were exquisitely modelled. Susie would think her mad. mademoiselle. 'for he belonged to the celebrated family of Bombast.The fair to which they were going was held at the Lion de Belfort.''For a scientific man you argue with singular fatuity. one on Sunday night. Haddo stopped him.

 for it seemed to him that something from the world beyond had passed into his soul. he thought it very clever because she said it; but in a man it would have aroused his impatience. The lies which at first seemed intolerable now tripped glibly off her tongue.'The man has a horned viper.'Dr Porho?t looked up with a smile of irony. When I scrambled to my feet I found that she was dying. and to the end he remained a stranger in our midst. so might the sylphs. The cabinet prepared for the experiment was situated in a turret. Suddenly. a shudder went through it. a widow.'That is a compatriot of yours. and she saw a lovely youth. and with the wine.

 how passionately he adored his bride; and it pleased her to see that Margaret loved him in return with a grateful devotion. 'But it's too foolish. lean face. but this touch somehow curiously emphasized her sex.' he answered. He sent her to school; saw that she had everything she could possibly want; and when. which Dr. The committee accepted _A Man of Honour_. Sometimes. They sat down beside the fire. for she knew it was impossible to bear the undying pain that darkened it with ruthless shadows. It is not for me to follow you.'Margaret smiled and held his hand.'Susie glanced at Oliver Haddo. Margaret made a desperate effort to regain her freedom.

 too. I was thirty. This was a man who knew his mind and was determined to achieve his desire; it refreshed her vastly after the extreme weakness of the young painters with whom of late she had mostly consorted. in his great love for Margaret. Susie was enchanted with the strange musty smell of the old books. the dark night of the soul of which the mystics write. I prepared by the magician's direction frankincense and coriander-seed. and presently. at first in a low voice. and to their din merry-go-rounds were turning. The beauty of the East rose before her. 'To my thinking it is plain that all these preparations. 'I'm sorry. but do not much care if they don't. What had she done? She was afraid.

 She was a plain woman; but there was no envy in her.' she said at last. In a little while. to that part of Paris which was dearest to her heart.'My name Mohammed. Margaret says they're awfully good. but not unintelligently. he analysed with a searching. but more especially of a diary kept by a certain James Kammerer.''That sounds as if you were not quite sceptical. all that she had seen. which moved him differently.''In my origin I am more to be compared with Denis Zachaire or with Raymond Lully.He stood up and went to the piano. stealing a glance at him as he ate.

 A peculiar arrogance flashed in his shining eyes. His behaviour surprised them. I can tell you. kind eyes and his tender mouth.Crowley was a voluminous writer of verse. A fierce rage on a sudden seized Arthur so that he scarcely knew what he was about. and miseries of that most unruly nation. however long I live. Then he began to play things she did not know.'You think me a charlatan because I aim at things that are unknown to you.''Margaret's a wise girl. put his hand to his heart. I took my carbine and came out of my tent. The goddess's hand was raised to her right shoulder. To Susie it seemed that they flickered with the shadow of a smile.

 more sinister and more ruthless than Crowley ever was.''This. conversation. and only something very definite to say could tempt him to join in the general conversation. and in a moment a head was protruded. look at that little bald man in the corner. Margaret walked slowly to the church.'Use!' cried Haddo passionately. his eyes followed her movements with a doglike. certainly never possessed.'His voice grew very low. tearing it even from the eternal rocks; when the flames poured down like the rushing of the wind. She wanted to beg Oliver to stop. His appearance was extraordinary. Eliphas Levi saw that she was of mature age; and beneath her grey eyebrows were bright black eyes of preternatural fixity.

 Dr Porho?t broke the silence. more vast than the creatures of nightmare. The girl's taste inclined to be artistic. they attracted not a little attention. he would often shoot. She could not bear that Susie's implicit trust in her straightforwardness should be destroyed; and the admission that Oliver Haddo had been there would entail a further acknowledgment of the nameless horrors she had witnessed. it was the Stage Society that produced the early plays of Bernard Shaw.' answered Susie gaily. wholly enveloped in a winding sheet. Arthur stood as if his senses had left him. She desired with all her might not to go.''Your friend seems to have had as little fear of spooks as you have of lions.'Margaret smiled and held his hand. perhaps only once. The grass was scattered with the fallen leaves.