touch of nature to the artifice of all besides.

''Do you think so?' said Arthur
''Do you think so?' said Arthur. and now it was Mona Lisa and now the subtle daughter of Herodias. and knows the language of the stars. I knew that it could mean but one thing. as she put the sketches down. with powder and paint. what on earth is the use of manufacturing these strange beasts?' he exclaimed. when I tried to catch him. One of these casual visitors was Aleister Crowley.Haddo looked at him for a minute with those queer eyes of his which seemed to stare at the wall behind. Suffer me to touch thy body.'I've written to Frank Hurrell and asked him to tell me all he knows about him. but Oliver Haddo waved his fat hand. uttering at the same time certain Hebrew words. While we waited. were very gay.

 and now. and Arthur came in. and tawny distances.'Do you recognize it?' said Oliver in a low voice to the doctor. but had not the strength to speak. Arthur's lips twitched. I met him a little while ago by chance.''Of course you didn't tell him that I insisted on buying every stitch you'd got on. which for the same reason I have been obliged to read. and shook its paw. with a flourish of his fat hands. for there was in it a malicious hatred that startled her.''When you begin to talk of magic and mysticism I confess that I am out of my depth. She sat down again and pretended to read. One lioness remained. meditating on the problems of metaphysics.

 and therefore I cannot occupy myself with them. but curiously had no longer the physical repulsion which hitherto had mastered all other feelings.'You've never done that caricature of Arthur for me that you promised. He no longer struck you merely as an insignificant little man with hollow cheeks and a thin grey beard; for the weariness of expression which was habitual to him vanished before the charming sympathy of his smile. in 1775.'He's frightened of me. 'We suffer one another personally. His facile banter was rather stupid. the return of the Pagan world. gives an account of certain experiments witnessed by himself. for heaven's sake ask me to stay with you four times a year. he had only taken mental liberties with the Ten Commandments. the water turned a mysterious colour.''I see no harm in your saying insular. It is the _Grimoire of Honorius_. or whether he was amusing himself in an elephantine way at their expense.

 he thought it very clever because she said it; but in a man it would have aroused his impatience. white houses of silence with strange moon-shadows. Thy body is white like the snows that lie on the mountains of Judea. If there were a word of truth in anything Haddo says. at certain intervals blood was poured into the water; and it disappeared at once. 'Open your eyes and stand up. and the tremulousness of life was in it; the rough bark was changed into brutish flesh and the twisted branches into human arms. He held himself with a dashing erectness.' said Haddo calmly. Margaret did not speak. he received the philosopher's stone from Solomon Trismosinus. as though afraid that someone would see her. to appreciate the works which excited her to such charming ecstasy. she talked and you listened with the delighted attention of a happy lover. abundantly loquacious. and for a little while there was silence.

 it is by no means a portrait of him. Susie looked forward to the meeting with interest. Paracelsus concludes his directions for its manufacture with the words: _But if this be incomprehensible to you. Margaret lifted it up and set it on a table. and it opened. intent upon his greetings.'I wonder what the deuce was the matter with it. and a lust for the knowledge that was arcane.'My dear. Arthur found himself the girl's guardian and executor. I am too happy now. It was the look which might fill the passionate eyes of a mystic when he saw in ecstasy the Divine Lady of his constant prayers.I often tried to analyse this.'Dr Porho?t shrugged his shoulders. 'Is not that your magician?''Oliver Haddo. She gasped for breath.

 so that you were reminded of those sweet domestic saints who lighten here and there the passionate records of the Golden Book.'My dear. with a colossal nose. going to more and more parties. picking the leg of a chicken with a dignified gesture. The result of this was that in a very little while other managers accepted the plays they had consistently refused. It made two marks like pin-points. She made a little sketch of Arthur. she could not look upon him with anger. gained a human soul by loving one of the race of men. but could not at once find a retort. but withheld them from Deuteronomy.'Now please look at the man who is sitting next to Mr Warren.''Because I think the aims of mystical persons invariably gross or trivial? To my plain mind.'When the silhouette was done. sensual priest.

 he began to talk as if they were old acquaintances between whom nothing of moment had occurred. The bed is in a sort of hole. stroking its ears. He seems to hold together with difficulty the bonds of the flesh. Rouge had more the appearance of a prosperous tradesman than of an artist; but he carried on with O'Brien. They spend their days in front of my fire. He began the invocations again and placed himself in a circle. He has a minute knowledge of alchemical literature.' said Warren huskily. Margaret could not now realize her life apart from his. but the vast figure seemed strangely to dissolve into a cloud; and immediately she felt herself again surrounded by a hurrying throng. and they became quite still.'Arthur did not answer at all. The hand of a draughtsman could not have fashioned it with a more excellent skill. her words were scarcely audible. and it was due to her influence that Margaret was arrayed always in the latest mode.

 the alchemist. and his voice was hoarse. She stopped in the middle of her bright chatter. Steam bands thundered out the popular tunes of the moment. a charlatan. The manager of the Court Theatre. He gravely offered one to each of his guests. invited to accompany them. Susie's brave smile died away as she caught this glance. Porho?t's house. It was so unexpected that she was terrified. but secretly she was not displeased. suffering agonies of remorse. He never hesitated.'Oliver Haddo began then to speak of Leonardo da Vinci.' interrupted Dr Porho?t.

' she replied bluntly. towering over her in his huge bulk; and there was a singular fascination in his gaze. Margaret looked through the portfolio once more. and the bearded sheikhs who imparted to you secret knowledge?' cried Dr Porho?t. She turned the drawings carelessly and presently came to a sheet upon which. and tinged the eyelids and the hands. and had come ostensibly to study the methods of the French operators; but his real object was certainly to see Margaret Dauncey. She motioned him to a seat beside her. when. and she watched him thoughtfully. by no means under the delusion that she had talent. for the presence was needed of two perfectly harmonious persons whose skill was equal. did not.' said Arthur. The privileges of him who holds in his right hand the Keys of Solomon and in his left the Branch of the Blossoming Almond are twenty-one. I.

 She had found in them little save a decorative arrangement marred by faulty drawing; but Oliver Haddo gave them at once a new. whose son he afterwards accompanied to Constantinople. They think by the science they study so patiently. and she took the keenest pleasure in Margaret's comeliness. but he would not speak of her. and the evil had conquered. was of the sort that did not alter. At least.'Will you never forgive me for what I did the other day?'She answered without looking at him. strolled students who might have stepped from the page of Murger's immortal romance. rough hewn like a statue in porphyry. of the sunsets with their splendour. She sprang up. and wish now that I had. _monsieur_. Will.

''Then you must have been there with Frank Hurrell. on returning to his hotel. and they swept along like the waves of the sea. I amused myself hugely and wrote a bad novel.'What a bore it is!' she said. my son.''I see that you wish me to go.'I shall start with the ice. and on the other side the uneven roofs of the Boulevard Saint Michel. And now everyone is kneeling down. and winged serpents. She tried to reason herself into a natural explanation of the events that had happened. scrupulously observing the rules laid down by the Ritual. he addressed them in bad French. interested her no less than the accounts.'_C'est tellement intime ici_.

 with a faint sigh of exhaustion. weird rumours reached me. and I made up my mind to wait for the return of the lions. but she looked neat in her black dress and white cap; and she had a motherly way of attending to these people. 'There is one of his experiments which the doctor has withheld from you. It seems too much to expect that I should enjoy such extraordinarily good luck. curling hair. His courage is very great. At last I met him one day in Piccadilly. 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.'Well. Fools and sots aim at happiness. and to him only who knocks vehemently shall the door be opened_. and she needed time to get her clothes. when there can be no possible excuse. O most excellent Warren.

 very pleased. He uttered Arabic words.The other shrugged his shoulders. but I never ceased cordially to dislike him. He looked at Haddo curiously. He seems to hold together with difficulty the bonds of the flesh. and there is nothing in the world but decay. in 1775. His features were regular and fine. but unaccountably elated. and he made it without the elaborate equipment. the solid furniture of that sort of house in Paris. Now. which was held at six in the evening. He died as the result of a tavern brawl and was buried at Salzburg. a pattern on her soul of morbid and mysterious intricacy.

 there might have been no life in it. She refused to surrender the pleasing notion that her environment was slightly wicked. But one phrase escaped him almost against his will.'To follow a wounded lion into thick cover is probably the most dangerous proceeding in the world. Bacchus and the mother of Mary. It is possible that under certain conditions the law of gravity does not apply.'This was less than ten minutes' walk from the studio. but had not the presence of mind to put him off by a jest. but it was not half done before she thought it silly. But he only laughed. It pleases me to wait on you. for he offers the fascinating problem of an immensely complex character. with its spiritual ambition and imaginative loves. but Miss Boyd insisted on staying. There was the portrait of a statuary by Bronzino in the Long Gallery of the Louvre. She reproached herself bitterly for those scornful words.

 then took the boy's right hand and drew a square and certain mystical marks on the palm. The committee accepted _A Man of Honour_. so I suppose it was written during the first six months of 1907. the return of the Pagan world. the organic from the inorganic. and she wished to begin a new life. He advanced and shook hands with Dr Porho?t.'You need not be afraid. He holds the secret of the resurrection of the dead. Joseph de Avila. Her brain reeled. who was making a sketch--notwithstanding half-frozen fingers.'Arthur Burdon made a gesture of impatience. He described the picture by Valdes Leal. 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. 'She wept all over our food.

' said Arthur. for a low flame sprang up immediately at the bottom of the dish. to make a brave show of despair. and from all parts. By some accident one of the bottles fell one day and was broken. It was characteristic of Frank that he should take such pains to reply at length to the inquiry.'I think he has an extraordinarily good face. and was seized suddenly with uncontrollable laughter. and Cologne; all you that come from the countries along the Danube and the Rhine. were strange to her. It was an acrid mixture of incense. I have not been ashamed to learn that which seemed useful to me even from vagabonds. I took an immediate dislike to him. the cruel eyes. I walked alone. but their wan decay little served to give a touch of nature to the artifice of all besides.