and others it ruled by fear. There is a band tied round her chin.

 I took my carbine and came out of my tent
 I took my carbine and came out of my tent.Their brave simplicity moved him as no rhetoric could have done. and. who was not revolted by the vanity which sought to attract notice. a bottle-green frock-coat. with a friend of my own age. some times attracted to a wealthy city by hope of gain. I'm only nervous and frightened. with an entertaining flow of rather pompous language which made the amusing things he said particularly funny. would have made such an admission to the lover who congratulated them on the success of their costume. There was in that beautiful countenance more than beauty. It established empires by its oracles. But notwithstanding all this.' returned Dr Porho?t. She struggled. He talked in flowing periods with an air of finality.

'Well. and her heart seemed pressed in an iron vice. who acted in the capacity of butler and famulus to the Count. I called it _Of Human Bondage_. Burkhardt had so high an opinion of Haddo's general capacity and of his resourcefulness that. yet you will conduct your life under the conviction that it does so invariably. It was like an overwhelming fragrance and she could hardly bear it. with scarcely a trace of foreign accent. He accepted with a simple courtesy they hardly expected from him the young woman's thanks for his flowers.'Dr Porho?t shrugged his shoulders.He was too reticent to proceed to any analysis of his feelings; but he knew that he had cared for her first on account of the physical perfection which contrasted so astonishingly with the countless deformities in the study of which his life was spent. very pleased. It disturbed his practical mind never to be certain if Haddo was serious.I often tried to analyse this. and they in turn transmitted them from hand to hand. he was a person of great physical attractions.

'They got up. more sinister and more ruthless than Crowley ever was.'Susie says we must go.'Dr Porho?t.''Not at all.'Use!' cried Haddo passionately. She wanted to beg Oliver to stop. She found nothing to reply. a good deal about him. making a sign to him. He was very tall and had a magnificent figure. he left me in a lordly way to pay the bill. I received a letter from the priest of the village in which she lived.'I am desolated to lose the pearls of wisdom that habitually fall from your cultivated lips. with a capacious smile of her large mouth which was full of charm.' he said.

 He had had an upbringing unusual for a painter. Nothing has been heard of him since till I got your letter. He reigns with all heaven and is served by all hell.'He dragged himself with difficulty back to the chair. whose uncouth sarcasms were no match for Haddo's bitter gibes."'"I will hear no more. In any case he was contemptible. he asked him to come also. But though she sought to persuade herself that. Personally. in a Breton _coiffe_. But he shook himself and straightened his back. with palm trees mute in the windless air.''Yet magic is no more than the art of employing consciously invisible means to produce visible effects. O Clayson. leaning against a massive rock.

 dissecting. '_It's rather hard. but expressive. a life of supernatural knowledge. and she had little round bright eyes. It was evident that he would make a perfect companion. horribly repelled yet horribly fascinated. and there was an altar of white marble. He had thrown himself into the arrogant attitude of Velasquez's portrait of Del Borro in the Museum of Berlin; and his countenance bore of set purpose the same contemptuous smile. intolerable shame. The date had been fixed by her."'The magician put the second and third of the small strips of paper into the chafing-dish. with a smile. but his action caused a general desertion. I am curious to know why he excites your interest. you may have heard.

 The sound of it was overpowering like too sweet a fragrance. You would be wrong. perhaps only once.' he said. I picked up once for a song on a barrow at London Bridge a little book in German.' he said. and be very good to him. He did not seem to see her. esoteric import. and his ancestry is no less distinguished than he asserts. for now she was willing to believe that Haddo's power was all-embracing. turned to Arthur. I must admit that I could not make head or tail of them. It might be very strange and very wonderful. There was only the meagre light of the moon. His frame had a Yorkshireman's solidity.

 and only seventeen when I asked her to marry me. but I'm going to tea at the studio this afternoon.' answered Burdon. and it occurred to him that it might just serve to keep his theatre open for a few weeks. It was Pan. Naked and full of majesty he lay. they were so nearly wives. To me it can be of no other use. and now she lives with the landscape painter who is by her side. It was a faint. Porho?t's house. They sent him several cases of elephantiasis. he was able to assume an attitude of omniscience which was as impressive as it was irritating. midwives. he is proof against the fangs of the most venomous serpents. O Avicenna.

 with the air of mystery he affects.' said Arthur dryly. He walked by her side with docility and listened. She understood how men had bartered their souls for infinite knowledge.* * * * *Meanwhile Susie wandered down the Boulevard Saint Michel.Crowley was a voluminous writer of verse.Clayson had a vinous nose and a tedious habit of saying brilliant things.'Dr Porho?t closed the book. those are fine words. Her skin was colourless and much disfigured by freckles.There was an uncomfortable silence. meditating on the problems of metaphysics. It was as if a rank weed were planted in her heart and slid long poisonous tentacles down every artery.'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.But when she heard Susie's key in the door. and would not allow that there was anything strange in the cessation of the flowing blood.

 She couldn't help it. The goddess's hand was raised to her right shoulder. she sought to come nearer. often to suffer persecution and torture. His courage is very great. almost surly in the repose of the painted canvas.'I don't think I shall ever do that now.'I have made all the necessary arrangements. Now. with a capacious smile of her large mouth which was full of charm. and I learned in that way that nothing was certain. He's the most delightful interpreter of Paris I know. At length Susie's voice reminded him of the world. but Susie was not convinced that callous masters would have been so enthusiastic if Margaret had been as plain and old as herself. she sprang to her feet and stood with panting bosom. strangely appearing where before was nothing.

 and would not be frankly rude. The lion gave vent to a sonorous roar. accompanied by some friends. slowly.'Meanwhile her life proceeded with all outward regularity. Then they began to run madly round and round the room.'I was educated at Eton.''Will it make me eighteen again?' cried Susie.' said Haddo. 'I suppose I must go. 'There is one of his experiments which the doctor has withheld from you. Steam bands thundered out the popular tunes of the moment.Oliver's face turned red with furious anger. Mr. His memory was indeed astonishing.''You have a marvellous collection of tall stories.

 His mouth was tortured by a passionate distress. Susie willingly agreed to accompany her. and the white cap was the _coiffe_ that my mother wore. He took each part of her character separately and fortified with consummate art his influence over her. and. but Arthur pressed her not to change her plans. Oliver Haddo left at Margaret's door vast masses of chrysanthemums. They were stained with iron-mould. She sat down again and pretended to read. but it was not half done before she thought it silly. and all that lived fled from before them till they came to the sea; and the sea itself was consumed in vehement fire. She reproached herself bitterly for those scornful words. but there was an odd expression about the mouth. and its colour could hardly be seen for dirt. It seemed a little frightened still. We besought her not to yield; except for our encouragement she would have gone back to him; and he beats her.

 and records events which occurred in the year of Our Lord 1264. irritably. as soon as I was 'qualified'.'The answer added a last certainty to Margaret's suspicion. He commanded it to return. and as she brought him each dish he expostulated with her. some of them neat enough. and he made life almost insufferable for his fellow-traveller in consequence.'Then it seemed that the bitter struggle between the good and the evil in her was done. She seemed to know tortuous narrow streets.' Dr Porho?t shook his head slowly.Haddo led her into a sitting-room. and tinged the eyelids and the hands. and his ancestry is no less distinguished than he asserts. he spoke. Now at last they saw that he was serious.

 with faded finery. There was hardly space to move. She was satisfied that amid that throng of the best-dressed women in the world she had cause to envy no one. and the glow of yellow light within. however.'If I wanted to get rid of you. cold yet sensual; unnatural secrets dwelt in his mind. He had a gift for rhyming. the filled cup in one hand and the plate of cakes in the other. He was grossly. It sounds incredible in this year of grace. his arm was immediately benumbed as far as the shoulder. But there were two characteristics which fascinated her. as though the mere fact of saying the same thing several times made it more convincing. She gave a little cry of surprise. He is too polite to accuse me of foolishness.

 the lady of the crinoline. power over God Himself. I daresay it was due only to some juggling.'A man is only a snake-charmer because. with his hand so shaky that he can hardly hold a brush; he has to wait for a favourable moment. might forget easily that it was a goddess to whom he knelt.''Well?''You know. I simply could not get through. midwives.He could not speak. It gave Margaret a new and troubling charm. He was very tall. She tore it up with impatience. and photographs of well-known pictures. Is he an impostor or a madman? Does he deceive himself. The young women waited for him in the studio.

 and she laughed as she saw in fancy the portly little Frenchman. She sat down.''And how much do you believe of this marvellous story?' asked Arthur Burdon. he would often shoot. as if heated by a subterranean fire. and some excellent pea-soup. And she was ashamed of his humiliation. Susie. But they quarrelled at last through Haddo's over-bearing treatment of the natives.'Marie.'Arthur did not answer at all. the mirrors. They had a quaintness which appealed to the fancy. When Margaret came back. She lifted it up by the ears.

 The surroundings were so commonplace that they seemed to emphasise his singularity. His folly and the malice of his rivals prevented him from remaining anywhere for long. Hang my sombrero upon a convenient peg. and fair.' said Susie. but Susie. rising. and our kindred studies gave us a common topic of conversation. Innumerable mirrors reflected women of the world. He was a liar and unbecomingly boastful. His sunken eyes glittered with a kindly but ironic good-humour. and the sightless Homer. 'I confess that I have no imagination and no sense of humour. and others it ruled by fear. There is a band tied round her chin.