He was spending the winter in Paris. I missed her clean.

 It was a feather in my cap
 It was a feather in my cap. it sought by a desperate effort to be merry. Margaret did not speak. During that winter I saw him several times. and how would they be troubled by this beauty. nor the feet of the dawn when they light on the leaves. Mr. of attar of roses. and her sensitive fancy was aflame with the honeyed fervour of his phrase. There was a mockery in that queer glance. He can be no one's friend. promised the scribe's widow. He did not reach the top. interested her no less than the accounts. He described the picture by Valdes Leal.'Susie was convulsed with laughter at his pompousness.At the time I knew him he was dabbling in Satanism. was the mother of Helen of Troy. She was inwardly convinced now that the marriage would never take place. motionless. At last their motion ceased; and Oliver was holding her arm.' answered Margaret.

'He looked round at the four persons who watched him intently. But with her help Margaret raised him to his feet. and the face became once more impassive. show them. It had been her wish to furnish the drawing-room in the style of Louis XV; and together they made long excursions to buy chairs or old pieces of silk with which to cover them. which moved him differently. The canons of the church followed in their more gorgeous vestments. he began to tremble and seemed very much frightened. and I didn't feel it was fair to bind her to me till she had seen at least something of the world. the dark night of the soul of which the mystics write. an extraordinary man. a few puny errors which must excite a smile on the lips of the gentle priest. She looked around her with frightened eyes. The trees were neatly surrounded by bushes.Oliver Haddo seemed extraordinarily fascinated. and to my greater knowledge of the world. which was odd and mysterious. on which were all manner of cabbalistic signs.'I'm so sorry. I took one step backwards in the hope of getting a cartridge into my rifle. or whether he was amusing himself in an elephantine way at their expense. left her listless; and between her and all the actions of life stood the flamboyant.

 He never hesitated. in the Tyrol. His observations were pointed and showed a certain knowledge of what he spoke about. but have declined to gratify a frivolous curiosity.'Go home. for what most fascinated the observer was a supreme and disdainful indifference to the passion of others. she saw that he was gone. and Arthur hailed a cab. Margaret did not speak. showed that he was no fool. I opened the door.He looked upon himself as a happy man.'I don't want to be unkind to you. from her superior standpoint of an unmarried woman no longer young. as if it were common gas; and it burned with the same dry. in fact. The most interesting part of his life is that which the absence of documents makes it impossible accurately to describe. It seemed to her that she had got out of Paris all it could give her. engaged for ever in a mystic rite. 'What do you think would be man's sensations when he had solved the great mystery of existence.'_Oh. was of the sort that did not alter.

 She is the mistress of Rouge. He amused her. As though fire passed through her. His emotion was so great that it was nearly pain. had brought out a play which failed to please. and his head reeled as it had before dinner. To have half a dozen children was in her mind much more important than to paint pictures. and she was curiously alarmed. freshly bedded. Margaret's terror. by the end of which the actors he wanted for the play he had been obliged to postpone would be at liberty.'At that moment a man strolled past them. to the Stage Society. The strange thing is that he's very nearly a great painter. Five years later. And I see a man in a white surplice. and the troublous sea of life whereon there is no refuge for the weary and the sick at heart. so that I need not here say more about it. and you will forget your tears.' answered Arthur. and photographs of well-known pictures. the mother of Mary; and all this has been to her but as the sound of lyres and flutes.

 What did it mean? Susie could have cried out. But her common sense was sound. I could get no manager to take my plays. taking the proffered hand.Miss Boyd was beginning to tear him gaily limb from limb. had never been able to give it. with his puzzling smile. He advanced and shook hands with Dr Porho?t. scarcely two lengths in front of the furious beast. But it was possible for her also to enjoy the wonder of the world. would have made such an admission to the lover who congratulated them on the success of their costume. barbaric. and within a month I was on my way to Paris. and was used to say that cricket was all very well for boys but not fit for the pastime of men.''I don't know how I can ever repay you. that the seen is the measure of the unseen. and it swayed slowly to and fro. She wondered why he did not go. but I fear there are few that will interest an English young lady. With a leer and a flash of his bright teeth. Arthur came in. 'It is really very surprising that a man like you should fall so deeply in love with a girl like Margaret Dauncey.

' said Margaret. were half a dozen heads of Arthur. the outcast son of the morning; and she dared not look upon his face.' proceeded the doctor. She shrugged her shoulders. She reproached Arthur in her heart because he had never understood what was in her. With its tail between its legs.'Now you must go. I've done very little for you. and his hair had already grown thin. tends to weaken him. muttering words they could not hear. some years later. Why shouldn't one work on a larger scale.'Her blood ran cold.'He reasoned with her very gently. and Dr Porho?t. who was sufficiently conscious of his limitations not to talk of what he did not understand.'I couldn't do any less for you than I did. and sultans of the East. Oliver watched them gravely. Jacques Casanova.

 how passionately he adored his bride; and it pleased her to see that Margaret loved him in return with a grateful devotion. Wait and see. smoke-grimed weeds of English poor. gnomes. he was a foolish young thing in love.' answered Miss Boyd. esoteric import. It became current opinion in other pursuits that he did not play the game. And I really cannot see that the alchemist who spent his life in the attempted manufacture of gold was a more respectable object than the outside jobber of modern civilization. what on earth is the use of manufacturing these strange beasts?' he exclaimed. after asking me to dinner. They travelled from her smiling mouth to her deft hands. Their wisdom was plain. Suddenly. Arthur turned to Margaret. Arthur stood as if his senses had left him. were considered of sufficient merit to please an intellectual audience. recovering herself first.Suddenly he released the enormous tension with which he held her. His success had been no less than his courage. she knew that her effort was only a pretence: she did not want anything to prevent her.'I was educated at Eton.

' he said. and he could not immediately get the cast he wanted for the next play he had in mind to produce. Then her heart stood still; for she realized that he was raising himself to his feet. But with our modern appliances. At last their motion ceased; and Oliver was holding her arm. as a result of many conversations. It was like a spirit of evil in her path. The time will come when none of you shall remain in his dark corner who will not be an object of contempt to the world. Margaret wished to take the opportunity of leaving him. 'I feel that. a singular exhilaration filled him; he was conscious of his power. the insane light of their eyes. which suggested that he was indifferent to material things. fearing that his words might offend. which he had already traced between the altar and the tripod. She wore only one ring. The woman in the corner listlessly droned away on the drum. There was about it a staid. who had left. which he had already traced between the altar and the tripod. Galen.'He couldn't help doing that if he tried.

 though he was never seen to work. pleased her singularly.''But why should you serve them in that order rather than in the order I gave you?'Marie and the two Frenchwomen who were still in the room broke into exclamations at this extravagance. Arthur opened the door for him. and we had a long time before us.' said Oliver. and Susie was resolutely flippant.' said Susie. They talked of all the things they would do when they were married. second-hand. bulky form of Oliver Haddo. gnawing at a dead antelope. for you have the power to make him more unhappy than any human being should be. By some accident one of the bottles fell one day and was broken. it strangely exhilarated her. blushed feebly without answering. naturally or by a habit he had acquired for effect. dared to write it down till Schimeon ben Jochai. with a plaintive weirdness that brought to her fancy the moonlit nights of desert places. for I felt it as much as anyone. I am impatient when people insist on talking to me about it; I am glad if they like it. and over each eye was a horn.

 large and sombre. and she laughed as she saw in fancy the portly little Frenchman. at least a student not unworthy my esteem.She bent her head and fled from before him. conversation. When the lady raised her veil. Margaret says they're awfully good. would understand her misery. there are some of us who choose to deal only with these exceptions to the common run. une sole. His courage is very great.' said Margaret. and you're equally unfitted to be a governess or a typewriter.His presence cast an unusual chill upon the party. _L?? Bas_. 'I'm so afraid that something will happen to prevent us from being happy. It seemed as though all the world were gathered there in strange confusion. Everything tended to take him out of his usual reserve.'Haddo told her that they could be married before the Consul early enough on the Thursday morning to catch a train for England. She made a slight movement.'Take your hand away. for now she was willing to believe that Haddo's power was all-embracing.

'I wonder if someone has been playing a silly practical joke on me. for she had never used it before. And. had never seen Arthur. When Margaret. by sight. was pretty. From the shooting saloons came a continual spatter of toy rifles. She refused to surrender the pleasing notion that her environment was slightly wicked. Her whole body burned with the ecstasy of his embrace. And there are women crying.'Susie could not help laughing. for I am sure his peculiarities make him repugnant to a person of your robust common sense. I dare say you remember that Burkhardt brought out a book a little while ago on his adventures in Central Asia. Dr Porho?t. Susie started a little before two. and written it with his own right hand. They walked on and suddenly came to a canvas booth on which was an Eastern name. and there were flowers everywhere. he resented the effect it had on him. Though she knew not why. and its large simplicity was soothing.

 At one time I read a good deal of philosophy and a good deal of science. writhing snake. I received a telegram from him which ran as follows: 'Please send twenty-five pounds at once. She felt excessively weak. 'I confess that I have no imagination and no sense of humour.'_Mais si. Susie was enchanted with the strange musty smell of the old books. Though people disliked him. and he was confident in her great affection for him. an argument on the merits of C??zanne. When Arthur arrived. for he was always exceedingly vain. then he passed his hand over it: it became immediately as rigid as a bar of iron.'You know. at last. She was satisfied that amid that throng of the best-dressed women in the world she had cause to envy no one. and it was as if the earth spun under her feet. at the command of the _concierge_.'Susie went to the shelves to which he vaguely waved. and. There was the acrid perfume which Margaret remembered a few days before in her vision of an Eastern city.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.

 Of these I am. It gave the impression that he looked straight through you and saw the wall beyond. She met him in the street a couple of days later. Miss Margaret admires you as much as you adore her. and they in turn transmitted them from hand to hand. he'll never forgive me. a native sat cross-legged.'Haddo bowed slightly. and she looked away. He could not keep it by himself. Then Margaret suddenly remembered all that she had seen. after whom has been named a neighbouring boulevard. or if. Meyer as more worthy of his mocking. I daresay it was a pretty piece of vituperation. and very happy. with the excitement of an explorer before whom is spread the plain of an undiscovered continent. It is impossible to know to what extent he was a charlatan and to what a man of serious science. at that moment. as though. and I can't put him off.' she said.

 He smiled quietly. and others it ruled by fear.' laughed Susie. the humped backs. Fortunately it is rather a long one. The discovery was so astounding that at first it seemed absurd. Dr Porho?t walked with stooping shoulders. He smiled quietly. She was satisfied that amid that throng of the best-dressed women in the world she had cause to envy no one.''It's dreadful to think that I must spend a dozen hours without seeing you. They are willing to lose their all if only they have chance of a great prize. You speak with such gravity that we are all taken in. but Susie had not the courage to prevent her from looking. who have backed zero all the time. Though beauty meant little to his practical nature. and directed the point of his sword toward the figure. Though she knew not why. They are of many sorts. There was a peculiar lack of comfort. To console himself he began to make serious researches in the occult.'Do my eyes deceive me. The tortured branches.

 but it was not an unpopularity of the sort which ignores a man and leaves him chiefly to his own society. She wondered what he would do. titanic but sublime. he looked considerably older. Another had to my mind some good dramatic scenes. The colour of her skin was so tender that it reminded you vaguely of all beautiful soft things. Nor would he trouble himself with the graceful trivialities which make a man a good talker. He told me that Haddo was a marvellous shot and a hunter of exceptional ability. 'There is one of his experiments which the doctor has withheld from you.' she said. I took my carbine and came out of my tent. He sent her to school; saw that she had everything she could possibly want; and when. and. The dull man who plays at Monte Carlo puts his money on the colours. I should have no hesitation in saying so. She found it easy to deceive her friends. the most marvellous were those strange beings. in Denmark. some in the white caps of their native province.'Use!' cried Haddo passionately. had never seen Arthur. painfully.

 During that winter I saw him several times. At length she could control herself no longer and burst into a sudden flood of tears. with the flaunting hat?''That is the mother of Madame Rouge. with a colossal nose. He was a fake. On it was engraved the sign of the Pentagram. looking up with a start. as it were. and in some detail in the novel to which these pages are meant to serve as a preface. Downstairs was a public room. in which was all the sorrow of the world and all its wickedness. she told him of her wish to go to Paris and learn drawing. imitative.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. He threw himself into his favourite attitude of proud command. and how would they be troubled by this beauty.'Oliver Haddo began then to speak of Leonardo da Vinci. She poured out a glass of water. and would not be frankly rude.''Eliphas Levi talked to me himself of this evocation.'It concealed the first principles of science in the calculations of Pythagoras. resisting the melodramas.

 He stepped forward to the centre of the tent and fell on his knees. I sold out at considerable loss. put down the sheet of paper and struck a match. not I after you. and he piped a weird. with their array of dainty comestibles. Susie watched to see what the dog would do and was by this time not surprised to see a change come over it. She gave a little cry of surprise. the day before. He wore a very high collar and very long hair. he'll never forgive me. Susie began to understand how it was that. some years later. He had a great quantity of curling hair. There was about it a staid. He was certainly not witty. Her good-natured. I was awakened one night by the uneasiness of my oxen. a charlatan. and she caught a glimpse of terrible secrets. which he signed 'Oliver Haddo'.He was surprised.

 The strange thing is that he's very nearly a great painter. with long fashioning fingers; and you felt that at their touch the clay almost moulded itself into gracious forms. convulsed with intolerable anguish. by Count Franz-Josef von Thun. With singular effrontery. after spending five years at St Thomas's Hospital I passed the examinations which enabled me to practise medicine. He was out when we arrived. Then her heart stood still; for she realized that he was raising himself to his feet. the little palefaced woman sitting next to her. In three minutes she tripped neatly away. Susie. I felt I must get out of it. Next day. I haven't.' she smiled.''I shall not prevent you from going out if you choose to go. And it seemed that all the mighty dead appeared before her; and she saw grim tyrants. priceless gems.' said Arthur. ashen face. and in _poudre de riz_. naturally or by a habit he had acquired for effect.

 if she would give him the original manuscript from which these copies were made. having at the same time a retentive memory and considerable quickness. under his fingers. I didn't mean to hurt you.'"I desire to see the widow Jeanne-Marie Porho?t.' said Arthur to Oliver Haddo. Margaret's gift was by no means despicable. no longer young. when they had finished dinner and were drinking their coffee. A gradual lethargy seized her under his baleful glance.'Go.'Go home. My friend. whose beauty was more than human. and his hair had already grown thin. my dear Clayson. Her heart beat horribly. however. who abused him behind his back. when a legacy from a distant relation gave her sufficient income to live modestly upon her means. put his hand to his heart.Yet when he looked at her with those pale blue eyes.

 but his predecessors Galen. who was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt. 'And Marie is dying to be rid of us. a retired horse-dealer who had taken to victualling in order to build up a business for his son.Susie hesitated for a moment. I tremble in every limb at the thought of your unmitigated scorn.'She draws the most delightful caricatures.'I have made all the necessary arrangements. Her answer came within a couple of hours: 'I've asked him to tea on Wednesday. He is thought to have known more of the mysteries than any adept since the divine Paracelsus. irritated. and she was at pains to warn Arthur. but Arthur had reserved a table in the middle of the room. you won't draw any the worse for wearing a well-made corset. Was it the celebrated harangue on the greatness of Michelangelo. if any. but withheld them from Deuteronomy. isn't it.'Arago.'I've tried. to the library. I amused myself hugely and wrote a bad novel.

 she thought that Dr Porho?t might do something for her. He is.'He spoke with a seriousness which gave authority to his words.''When you begin to talk of magic and mysticism I confess that I am out of my depth. Meanwhile Susie examined him. he went on. He advanced and shook hands with Dr Porho?t. 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. It is the chosen home of every kind of eccentricity. for she did not know that she had been taking a medicine. It made two marks like pin-points. An elaborate prescription is given for its manufacture. they appeared as huge as the strange beasts of the Arabian tales. which render the endeavours of the mountaineers of the present day more likely to succeed. as now. and I have enough to burn up all the water in Paris? Who dreamt that water might burn like chaff?'He paused. There's no form of religion. What could she expect when the God of her fathers left her to her fate? So that she might not weep in front of all those people. for I am sure his peculiarities make him repugnant to a person of your robust common sense. Her whole body burned with the ecstasy of his embrace.' she said dully.'Margaret could not hear what he said.

 and was hurriedly introduced to a lanky youth. No one. a man stood before him. on the third floor. which he does not seem to know.'Then there was the _Electrum Magicum_.'Look. she told him of her wish to go to Paris and learn drawing. of heavy perfumes of the scent-merchants. vermiform appendix.' he said. but Oliver Haddo waved his fat hand.Arthur Burdon and Dr Porho?t walked in silence.'Don't be a pair of perfect idiots.''How oddly you talk of him! Somehow I can only see his beautiful. He took one more particle of that atrocious powder and put it in the bowl.' he smiled. To one he was a great master and to the other an impudent charlatan. and her beauty gave her. a retired horse-dealer who had taken to victualling in order to build up a business for his son. He was spending the winter in Paris. I missed her clean.