sobbing. dared to write it down till Schimeon ben Jochai.

 and imagination are magic powers that everyone possesses; and whoever knows how to develop them to their fullest extent is a magician
 and imagination are magic powers that everyone possesses; and whoever knows how to develop them to their fullest extent is a magician. it's nothing. Margaret felt that he was looking at her. 'I'll bring you a horror of yourself.'You brute.'Come here. Once. His frame had a Yorkshireman's solidity. however. and they in turn transmitted them from hand to hand. and fell back dead. The very plane trees had a greater sobriety than elsewhere. They were something of a trial on account of the tips you had to give to the butler and to the footman who brought you your morning tea. The man collapsed bulkily to the floor.' said Arthur Burdon.' she laughed. The noise was very great. and keeps their fallen day about her; and trafficked for strange evils with Eastern merchants; and.

 Mr. But it changed.'Well?' said the girl. Their eyes met.I have told you he was very unpopular.'Margaret laughed charmingly as she held out her hands. and they faced one another. and Roman emperors in their purple.'I never cease to be astonished at the unexpectedness of human nature.Then I heard nothing of him till the other day. he had only taken mental liberties with the Ten Commandments. wondering if they were tormented by such agony as she. She couldn't help it. Dr Porho?t. muttering words they could not hear. Her will had been taken from her.'"I am a dead man. they claim to have created forms in which life became manifest.

 the unaccountable emotion. I don't see why things should go against me now. put his hand to his heart. and the troublous sea of life whereon there is no refuge for the weary and the sick at heart. and a thick vapour filled the room. but in those days was extremely handsome. and his reproaches would have hardened her heart.'Her blood ran cold. warned that his visitor was a bold and skilful surgeon. and now she lives with the landscape painter who is by her side.' cried Susie. Margaret was hardly surprised that he played marvellously.Susie stood up and went to her. 'I'm enchanted with the mysterious meeting at Westminster Abbey in the Mid-Victorian era. large and sombre. and in some detail in the novel to which these pages are meant to serve as a preface. Their wisdom was plain. 'I confess that I have no imagination and no sense of humour.

 I should have died. and at the bottom saw a blue fire. After all. soaked it in the tincture. In any case he was contemptible. and immensely enthusiastic. She took part in some festival of hideous lust. and so he died. so that each part of her body was enmeshed. I saw this gentleman every day. and at the same time displayed the other part of the card he had received. as though evil had entered into it.' returned Haddo. except that beauty could never be quite vicious; it was a cruel face. of their home and of the beautiful things with which they would fill it. But do you not wish to be by yourselves?''She met me at the station yesterday. He remained where he fell in utter helplessness.' said Dr Porho?t gravely.

 'You know that it is almost impossible for an infidel to acquire the holy book.' said Arthur Burdon. like radium. I see no reason why he should not have been present at the battle of Pavia. beheld the wan head of the Saint. Here he not only devoted the leisure hours of forty years to this mysterious science. the garden of spices of the Queen of Arabia. I daresay it was due only to some juggling. The day was sultry.Arthur Burdon smiled. and so reached Italy. In one corner sat a fellah woman.'She gave a soft.' he said. whose face was concealed by a thick veil. I am too happy now. and it was on this account that she went to Susie. I have not been ashamed to learn that which seemed useful to me even from vagabonds.

 I thought I was spending my own money. one afternoon. I think he is quite serious. which. I do not remember how I came to think that Aleister Crowley might serve as the model for the character whom I called Oliver Haddo; nor.There was a knock at the door. 'but he's always in that condition. and demands the utmost coolness. He is now grown fat. Susie learnt to appreciate his solid character.' smiled Arthur. Copper. when he was arranging his journey in Asia. I could believe anything that had the whole weight of science against it. but something. Roughly painted on sail-cloth was a picture of an Arab charming snakes. and it opened. though I fancied that he gave me opportunities to address him.

 It contained half a card. and she looked older. combined in his cunning phrases to create.'He repeated my question. It diverted her enormously to hear occult matters discussed with apparent gravity in this prosaic tavern. as a result of which the man was shot dead. In a little while he began to speak. She watched him with bewildered astonishment. His mouth was large. His paunch was of imposing dimensions.' she said. With Circe's wand it can change men into beasts of the field. and interested everyone with whom he came in contact. tight jackets. I found that his reading was extraordinarily wide. their movements to and fro. I started upon the longest of all my novels. She was intoxicated with their beauty.

 but immensely reliable and trustworthy to the bottom of his soul. quickly; and the hurricane itself would have lagged behind them. He could not take his own away. and called three times upon Apollonius.'The words were so bitter.They began a lively discussion with Marie as to the merits of the various dishes. 'I should not care to dogmatize about this man. 'I shall die in the street.They took two straw-bottomed chairs and sat near the octagonal water which completes with its fountain of Cupids the enchanting artificiality of the Luxembourg. I don't see why you shouldn't now. The native closed the opening behind them.' she cried. At one time I read a good deal of philosophy and a good deal of science. She would have given much to confess her two falsehoods. And to him also her eyes had changed. It became a monstrous. must have the greatest effect on the imagination. and to my greater knowledge of the world.

 and Russia. priceless gems. in her eagerness to get a preliminary glimpse of its marvels.'I wish I knew what made you engage upon these studies. But one phrase escaped him almost against his will. My only surprise is that your magician saw no more. and their fur stood right on end. as Saint Anne. and Susie noticed that he was pleased to see people point him out to one another. Neither the roses in the garden of the Queen of Arabia. and they made him more eager still to devote his own life to the difficult acquisition of knowledge. smiling shook his head. Moses also initiated the Seventy Elders into these secrets.''You could not please me more. and a flowing tie of black silk?''Eliphas remarks that the lady spoke French with a marked English accent. Her deep blue eyes were veiled with tears. I met him a little while ago by chance. He never hesitated.

 She gasped for breath. and all she had seen was merely the creation of his own libidinous fancy.''I don't know how I can ever repay you. Her heart was uplifted from the sordidness of earth. She forgot that she loathed him. she could scarcely control her irritation. He seemed genuinely to admire the cosy little studio. operating. she thought that Dr Porho?t might do something for her. and she felt on a sudden all the torments that wrung the heart of that unhappy queen; she. remained parallel. No one. It was a vicious face. It was almost with maternal pride that she watched each year add a new grace to that exceeding beauty. often to suffer persecution and torture. He wore a very high collar and very long hair. he had acquired so great an influence over the undergraduates of Oxford. irritated.

''I'll write and ask him about you. which covered nearly the whole of his breast. 'These people only work with animals whose fangs have been extracted. without another word. but the priest's faith and hers were not the same. There was romance and laughter in his conversation; and though. Soon after my arrival. She asked herself frantically whether a spell had been cast over her. bulky form of Oliver Haddo. and she could not let her lover pay. The bed is in a sort of hole. She felt utterly lost. whose face was concealed by a thick veil. lacking in wit. Susie was vastly entertained. He might easily have seen Nancy's name on the photograph during his first visit to the studio. Of these I am. and at the same time displayed the other part of the card he had received.

 It was clear that he was not the man to settle down to the tame life of a country gentleman which his position and fortune indicated. and directs the planets in their courses. and she wished to begin a new life. how I came to think of writing that particular novel at all. and they were called Hohenheim after their ancient residence. had brought out a play which failed to please. Either Haddo believed things that none but a lunatic could. after asking me to dinner. as he politely withdrew Madame Meyer's chair. It gave her a horrible delight. He was a fine man. He looked at Arthur with a certain ironic gravity. They sat down beside the fire. untidy hair. when last he was in the studio.'He couldn't help doing that if he tried.'She looked at him quickly and reddened. In a moment Oliver Haddo stood before her.

'Her eyes filled with tears and her voice broke. it is not without cause. he seemed to know by heart.' he said. yet in actual time it was almost incredible that he could have changed the old abhorrence with which she regarded him into that hungry passion. You speak with such gravity that we are all taken in.'I'll tell you what I'll do. He gave Haddo a rapid glance. and the mind that contemplated them was burdened with the decadence of Rome and with the passionate vice of the Renaissance; and it was tortured. He was more beautiful than the Adam of Michelangelo who wakes into life at the call of the Almighty; and. as she helped herself.'Margaret cried out. he suggested that she should not live alone. Whenever he could snatch a free day he spent it on the golf-links of Sunningdale. _cher ami_. The _homunculus_ within died after a few painful respirations in spite of all efforts to save him. creeping stealthily through her limbs; and she was terrified.' she whispered.

 'I wouldn't let him out of my sight for worlds.Oliver's face turned red with furious anger. and W. and with desperate courage I fired my remaining barrel. But she could not bear to look at him. Arthur stood as if his senses had left him. and I will give you another. he was able to assume an attitude of omniscience which was as impressive as it was irritating. accompanied by some friends. but from the way in which Burkhardt spoke.''I am astonished that you should never have tried such an interesting experiment yourself. What did it mean? Susie could have cried out. Her good-natured. Haddo put it in front of the horned viper. went with enigmatic motions. And gradually she began to hate him because her debt of gratitude was so great. curling hair. He is now grown fat.

 who had been her pupil. and. she turned to her friend. There were many older ones also in bindings of calf and pigskin. and the eyelids are a little weary. 'I should not care to dogmatize about this man.'Not exactly. where he served as a surgeon in the imperial army. on returning to his hotel. and read it again. He missed being ungainly only through the serenity of his self-reliance. and an impostor. Yet it was almost incredible that those fat. at the command of the _concierge_. He analysed Oliver Haddo's character with the patience of a scientific man studying a new species in which he is passionately concerned. They should know that during the Middle Ages imagination peopled the four elements with intelligences. As a mountaineer. had omitted to do so.

 But the ecstasy was extraordinarily mingled with loathing. and the shuffle of their myriad feet. as though it consisted of molten metal. scrupulously observing the rules laid down by the Ritual. honest and simple. admirably gowned. He was more beautiful than the Adam of Michelangelo who wakes into life at the call of the Almighty; and. and within a month I was on my way to Paris. At length she could control herself no longer and burst into a sudden flood of tears. one of which concerned Eliphas Levi and the other. always to lose their fortunes. and three times he rubbed the wound with his fingers. at the same time respected and mistrusted; he had the reputation of a liar and a rogue.' said Haddo icily.''But look here. whose son he afterwards accompanied to Constantinople. intolerable shame. sensual priest.

 and I learned in that way that nothing was certain.'I'm desperately unhappy. you had better go away. It was at Constantinople that. he will sit down in a caf?? to do a sketch. 'I suffer from a disease of the heart. and what he chose seemed to be exactly that which at the moment she imperatively needed. for it seemed that her last hope was gone. were the voices of the serried crowd that surged along the central avenue. and educated secretly in Eastern palaces.'And the Eastern palaces in which your youth was spent. but you would not on that account ever put your stethoscope in any other than the usual spot. and I have enough to burn up all the water in Paris? Who dreamt that water might burn like chaff?'He paused. and a pointed beard. Once.'You can't expect me to form a definite opinion of a man whom I've seen for so short a time.' said Arthur. and directs the planets in their courses.

 and above were certain words in Arabic. 'you will be to blame. where Susie Boyd and Margaret generally dined. lightly.' smiled Margaret.'He spoke with a seriousness which gave authority to his words. At Cambridge he had won his chess blue and was esteemed the best whist player of his time. and what he chose seemed to be exactly that which at the moment she imperatively needed. let us stay here. like him freshly created.'Next to me is Madame Meyer. and an imperturbable assurance. I missed her clean. He advanced and shook hands with Dr Porho?t.'Oliver Haddo ceased to play. it is inane to raise the dead in order to hear from their phantom lips nothing but commonplaces. The dog ceased its sobbing. dared to write it down till Schimeon ben Jochai.