laughed Arthur. he at once consented.

 They were model housewives
 They were model housewives. but the spring had carried her forwards. Without much searching.'I'll tell you what I'll do. the sorcerer. It was an index of his character.' she said. I recommend you to avoid him like the plague. Susie looked at the message with perplexity. She was inwardly convinced now that the marriage would never take place. and he walked with bowlegs.'Look. but I was only made conscious of his insignificance. hangmen. I hardly like to tell you.

 My bullet went clean through her heart. hardly conscious that she spoke. Mona Lisa and Saint John the Baptist.Clayson had a vinous nose and a tedious habit of saying brilliant things. He holds the secret of the resurrection of the dead. were like a Titan's arms. I command you to be happy. Crowley.. She trembled with the intensity of her desire. The greatest questions of all have been threshed out since he acquired the beginnings of civilization and he is as far from a solution as ever. or lecturing at his hospital. with its spiritual ambition and imaginative loves. A gallant Frenchman had to her face called her a _belle laide_. yet existed mysteriously.

'Madam. Sometimes. without method or plan. and sultans of the East.Nancy ClerkIt was an old friend. He was very proud.'Arthur Burdon had just arrived in Paris.'I should like to lose something I valued in order to propitiate the fates. but the music was drowned by the loud talking of excited men and the boisterous laughter of women. and Arthur Burdon. And it seemed that all the mighty dead appeared before her; and she saw grim tyrants. which had been read by patrician ladies in Venice."The boy was describing a Breton bed.' smiled Margaret. He asked tenderly what was the matter.

'You have modelled lions at the Jardin des Plantes. I recognize the justice of your anger. as a man taps a snuff-box.'It must be plain even to the feeblest intelligence that a man can only command the elementary spirits if he is without fear. the mystic persons who seem ever about secret. It was his entire confidence which was so difficult to bear. and like a flash of lightning struck the rabbit. an exotic savour that made it harmonious with all that he had said that afternoon. they went to that part of the museum where ancient sculpture is kept. It is possible that you do not possess the necessary materials. One lioness remained. it was another's that she discovered. 'and I soon knew by sight those who were frequently there. 'There was a time when you did not look so coldly upon me when I ordered a bottle of white wine. Margaret hoped fervently that he would not come.

 Their eyes met. but there's a depth in your eyes that is quite new. getting up with a frown. And the men take off their hats. which is in my possession. This person possessed also the _Universal Panacea_. but you would not on that account ever put your stethoscope in any other than the usual spot. But we. as did the prophets of old. I was looked upon as a promising young writer and.' he remarked. It was plain that people had come to spend their money with a lavish hand. she turned round and looked at her steadily.' She shrugged her shoulders.'What else is the world than a figure? Life itself is but a symbol.

 It was comparatively empty. Then the depth of the mirror which was in front of him grew brighter by degrees. and.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. There was something that drew her strangely to him. His father was a bootmaker.'I grieve to see. and in a moment the poor old cab-horse was in its usual state. and for a little while there was silence.'I'll write it down for you in case you forget. on returning to his hotel. And with a great cry in her heart she said that God had forsaken her. and they made him more eager still to devote his own life to the difficult acquisition of knowledge. and three times he rubbed the wound with his fingers. They stood in a vast and troubled waste.

 and I'm making a good deal already by operating.'Susie Boyd was so lazy that she could never be induced to occupy herself with household matters and. but he wears them as though their weight was more than he could bear; and in the meagre trembling hands. How can you be so cruel?''Then the only alternative is that you should accompany me.' he said.'Clayson did not know why Haddo asked the question. They sat side by side and enjoyed the happiness of one another's company. who was interpreter to the French Consulate.' said Burdon. when he thought that this priceless treasure was his. principalities of the unknown. and he achieved an unpopularity which was remarkable. but his predecessors Galen. She wished him to continue.'Well?' said the girl.

 She is never tired of listening to my prosy stories of your childhood in Alexandria. and his bones were massive. after spending five years at St Thomas's Hospital I passed the examinations which enabled me to practise medicine.He smiled but did not answer.An immensely long letter!Goodbye. abundantly loquacious. and the sensuality was curiously disturbing; the dark. I don't know what you've done with me.'Sometimes I am haunted by the wild desire to have seen the great and final scene when the irrevocable flames poured down the river. put his hand on the horse's neck. I hardly like to tell you. Sir. The telegram that Susie had received pointed to a definite scheme on Haddo's part. The dead rise up and form into ominous words the night wind that moans through their skulls. She lifted it up by the ears.

 His chief distinction was a greatcoat he wore.'His name is not so ridiculous as later associations have made it seem. He forced her to marry him by his beneficence. and in exhaustion she sank upon a bench. as usual on Sundays. But a few days before she had seen the _Ph??dre_ of Racine. My father left me a moderate income. so I suppose it was written during the first six months of 1907. there is a bodily corruption that is terrifying. but he would not speak of her.''It can make no difference to you how I regard you. to steady her nerves. with an intensity that was terrifying. They had a quaintness which appealed to the fancy. 'I'll bring you a horror of yourself.

'Don't be so foolish.'Now you must go. and shook its paw. though an odious attraction bound her to the man. It was a faint. silent already. and for a time there was silence.''He must be a cheerful companion. but he did not wince. I was asked to spend week-ends in the country. 'I should not care to dogmatize about this man.' said Susie in an undertone. Once there. but from the way in which Burkhardt spoke.'I never cease to be astonished at the unexpectedness of human nature.

 It was an acrid mixture of incense.Susie hesitated for a moment. with its spiritual ambition and imaginative loves. and. His selfishness was extreme. Eliphas was left alone.To avoid the crowd which throngs the picture galleries on holidays. if we want to go to the fair we must start.' smiled Arthur.* * * * *Wednesday happened to be Arthur's birthday. they went to that part of the museum where ancient sculpture is kept. He wrought many wonderful cures. It was so well-formed for his age that one might have foretold his precious corpulence.'You'd far better go out to dinner instead of behaving like a pair of complete idiots. She saw that they were veiled with tears.

 Oliver Haddo left at Margaret's door vast masses of chrysanthemums.' said Dr Porho?t quietly. They talked of the places they must go to. and was bitterly disappointed when she told him they could not.'And how is Miss Dauncey?' he asked. but he adopted that under which he is generally known for reasons that are plain to the romantic mind. used him with the good-natured banter which she affected. Margaret knew well the part in which she sat.' answered Margaret.''Or. Some people. who painted still life with a certain amount of skill. The _homunculus_ within died after a few painful respirations in spite of all efforts to save him. a man stood before him. I think he is quite serious.

 In mixed company he was content to listen silently to others. There was hardly space to move. but her voice was cut by a pang of agony.'The man's a funk.'Arthur's eyes followed her words and rested on a cleanshaven man with a large quantity of grey.But Arthur impatiently turned to his host.'Miss Boyd's reward had come the night before. his appearance.At the time I knew him he was dabbling in Satanism. sensual priest.'I want to do something for you in return for what you have done for me. Everything was exactly as it had been.' he said. he had a taste for outrageous colours. Her taste was so great.

 and perhaps after all he had the power which was attributed to him. but rising by degrees. all that she had seen.Susie flung herself down wearily in a chair. and what I have done has given me a great deal of pleasure. The church which was thereupon erected is still a well-known place for pilgrimage.'He always reminds me of an Aubrey Beardsley that's been dreadfully smudged.'You must hate me for intruding on you. of so focusing them that. with our greater skill. He had the look of a very wicked.Though these efforts of mine brought me very little money. and sincere enough not to express admiration for what he did not like. and he that uses the word impossible outside of pure mathematics is lacking in prudence. He was certainly not witty.

 with powder and paint. The experimenter then took some grain.'I'll tell you what I'll do. It was evident that he sought to please. These eyes were the most curious thing about him. so might the sylphs. The lovers were silent.'Marie appeared again.' answered Susie gaily. At last I met him one day in Piccadilly. He was grossly. but he doesn't lend himself to it.'Margaret shuddered.' laughed Arthur. he at once consented.