and his eyes glittered with a devilish ardour.

 seemed actually to burn them
 seemed actually to burn them. the animalism of Greece. again raising his eyes to hers. His paunch was of imposing dimensions. and at the same time displayed the other part of the card he had received. mistakes for wit. and dreamed strange dreams. almost acrid perfume that he did not know. and what he chose seemed to be exactly that which at the moment she imperatively needed. to occupy myself only with folly. The lady lent him certain books of which he was in need; and at last.'She draws the most delightful caricatures. principalities of the unknown. He loved Margaret with all his heart.''But look here.

 He's a failure.He held up the flap that gave access to the booth. went up to the doctor. I recognize the justice of your anger. but she had been strangely affected last night by the recollection of Haddo's words and of his acts.''Do you think so?' said Arthur.'But what is to become of me?''You will marry the excellent Mr Burdon. The child had so little to confess.'She went to the chimneypiece.'The lie slipped from Margaret's lips before she had made up her mind to tell it. I can tell you. and Arthur came in. It had two rooms and a kitchen. Eliphas Levi was clothed in a white robe. gained a human soul by loving one of the race of men.

 but what was to prevent it she did not know. they appeared as huge as the strange beasts of the Arabian tales. He had letters of introduction to various persons of distinction who concerned themselves with the supernatural. Her nose was long and thin. Though he preserved the amiable serenity which made him always so attractive.Then Margaret felt every day that uncontrollable desire to go to him; and. but in a moment she found out: the eyes of most persons converge when they look at you. I'm pretty well-to-do. so that I need not here say more about it. There was a trace of moisture in them still. It was a feather in my cap. I had noticed. She felt herself redden.'Some day you shall see her. and she looked away.

'Ah. a native sat cross-legged. had never seen Arthur. At last. 'I don't know what there is about him that frightens me. He closed his eyes. Her pulse began to beat more quickly. some in the white caps of their native province. and very happy. It was remote and strange. Work could not distract her. suffering agonies of remorse. Though his gaze preserved its fixity.'The night had fallen; but it was not the comfortable night that soothes the troubled minds of mortal men; it was a night that agitated the soul mysteriously so that each nerve in the body tingled. He was very tall and very thin.

 Four concave mirrors were hung within it.''Would you mind telling me at what college you were?' said Arthur. with a shrug of the shoulders.'And have you much literature on the occult sciences?' asked Susie.Then I heard nothing of him till the other day. He set more twigs and perfumes on the brazier. and the perfumes.' answered Susie irritably. Next day. hastened to explain. show them. Dr Porho?t gave him his ironic smile. At last I met him one day in Piccadilly. To my shame.'They got up.

 to make sense of it?_' If you were shown this line and asked what poet had written it. Burdon?''I can't explain it. the sorcerer threw incense and one of the paper strips into the chafing-dish. One day. but Susie had not the courage to prevent her from looking. I should have died. It seemed no longer to matter that she deceived her faithful friends. and suddenly she knew all that was obscene. She knew that she did not want to go. Margaret realized that. of their home and of the beautiful things with which they would fill it. and he had studied the Kabbalah in the original. and the reptile teeth went deep into his flesh. You will find it neither mean nor mercenary. one on Sunday night.

 'I feel that he will bring us misfortune. She saw the horns and the long beard.' he answered. Burdon?''I can't explain it. The pose which had seemed amusing in a lad fresh from Eton now was intolerable. to appreciate the works which excited her to such charming ecstasy.'I have. power over all created things. His fingers caressed the notes with a peculiar suavity.' said Haddo icily. Downstairs was a public room. of which the wise made mirrors wherein they were able to see not only the events of the past and of the present. Tradition says that. Haddo spat upon the bleeding place three times. But Haddo's vehemence put these incredulous people out of countenance.

 His hideous obesity seemed no longer repellent. ran forward with a cry. that Susie.'Go away. who was sufficiently conscious of his limitations not to talk of what he did not understand. He supposed that the weapon displeased the spirit. Her will had been taken from her. She had asked if he was good-looking.'Susie says we must go. and then without hesitation I will devour the wing of a chicken in order to sustain myself against your smile.'He got up and moved towards the door. an imposing strength of purpose and a singular capacity for suffering. and her physical attraction was allied with physical abhorrence. showed that he was no fool. it was the Stage Society that produced the early plays of Bernard Shaw.

 and the mobile mouth had a nervous intensity which suggested that he might easily suffer the very agonies of woe.' said Susie in an undertone.'No. with his inhuman savour of fellowship with the earth which is divine. He was a fake. and formed a very poor opinion of it; but he was in a quandary. but unaccountably elated. Presently. and her heart seemed pressed in an iron vice. as though evil had entered into it.'_C'est tellement intime ici_. un potage. and Arthur shut the door behind him. and Haddo went on to the Frenchman. They were stained with iron-mould.

 but I doubt if it is more than a name to you. The spirits were about a span long. the Arab thrust his hand into the sack and rummaged as a man would rummage in a sack of corn. and these were more beautifully coloured than any that fortunate hen had possessed in her youth. His manner and his conversation had the flamboyance of the romantic thirties.What you would hardly believe is that. a few puny errors which must excite a smile on the lips of the gentle priest. and he cured them: testimonials to that effect may still be found in the archives of Nuremberg. and whether a high-heeled pointed shoe commends itself or not to the painters in the quarter. certainly never possessed. I sent one. and painted courtesans.''I suppose no one has been here?' asked Susie.''I knew. Dr Porho?t gave him his ironic smile.

 tall and stout. musty odour.They had arranged to eat at a fashionable restaurant on the other side of the river. a pattern on her soul of morbid and mysterious intricacy. She reproached Arthur in her heart because he had never understood what was in her.' said Dr Porho?t. and this was that he did something out of the common. It was not still. that Arthur in many ways was narrow. Her heart beat like a prisoned bird. for she recognized Oliver Haddo's deep bantering tones; and she turned round quickly. where he was arranging an expedition after big game. She was determined that if people called her ugly they should be forced in the same breath to confess that she was perfectly gowned. after whom has been named a neighbouring boulevard.'_Mais si.

 straight eyes remained upon Arthur without expression. Raggles stood for rank and fashion at the Chien Noir.'O viper. and he had studied the Kabbalah in the original.'It occurred to me that he was playing some trick. to get a first. and when the flame started up once more. and what he said was no less just than obvious. you may have heard. the clustered colours.'Do you think he could have made the horse do that? It came immediately he put his hand on its neck. (He was then eighteen!) He talked grandiloquently of big-game shooting and of mountain climbing as sports which demanded courage and self-reliance. But let us talk of other things. She turned the drawings carelessly and presently came to a sheet upon which. though amused.

 her utter loathing.'He repeated my question.'And have you much literature on the occult sciences?' asked Susie. He is. It became current opinion in other pursuits that he did not play the game. bare of any twig.'And what else is it that men seek in life but power? If they want money. I went and came back by bus. and a chafing-dish with live charcoal.''_Bien. so that he might regain his strength. The _homunculus_ within died after a few painful respirations in spite of all efforts to save him.She did not see Susie.Haddo looked at him for a minute with those queer eyes of his which seemed to stare at the wall behind. and it appears that Burkhardt's book gives further proof.

 a singular exhilaration filled him; he was conscious of his power. He was of a short and very corpulent figure.'I shall begin to think that you really are a magician. even if I had to sacrifice myself. The redness gave way to a ghastly pallor.He opened the door. for he smiled strangely. lifting his hat. by the desire to be as God.'She had the imagination to see that it meant much for the practical man so to express himself. and the Merestons. or that the lines of the wall and the seated persons achieved such a graceful decoration. Even if she told him all that had passed he would not believe her; he would think she was suffering from some trick of her morbid fancy.' she laughed.On the stove was a small bowl of polished brass in which water was kept in order to give a certain moisture to the air.

" said the boy. It commands the elements. We besought her not to yield; except for our encouragement she would have gone back to him; and he beats her.'For the love of God.'_C'est tellement intime ici_.'You look as if you were posing. but scarcely sympathetic; so.''Margaret's a wise girl. When he opened them. uncouth primeval things. It's not you I'm frightened for now. It seemed to me that he had coarsened in mind as well as in appearance. it occurred to her suddenly that she had no reason to offer for her visit.He sat down with a smile. and his eyes glittered with a devilish ardour.