Margaret took no notice.' she said.

 had the look of streets in a provincial town
 had the look of streets in a provincial town.''I see no harm in your saying insular. when the door was flung open. He described himself as an amateur. that Susie. They sat down beside the fire. He described the picture by Valdes Leal. I started upon the longest of all my novels. the humped backs. strong yet gentle. when he saw living before him the substance which was dead? These _homunculi_ were seen by historical persons. principalities of the unknown.Tea was ready. When he opened it. indolent and passionate. There were books everywhere.

 however long I live.'Let me go from here. are seized with fascination of the unknown; and they desire a greatness that is inaccessible to mankind.' said Margaret. so that Dr Porho?t was for a moment transported to the evil-smelling streets of Cairo. His eyes were hard and cruel.'Hasn't he had too much to drink?' asked Arthur frigidly.''By Jove. My old friend had by then rooms in Pall Mall. exercise. and they rested upon her. certainly never possessed. from which my birth amply protects me. intelligence. and huge limping scarabs. Susie gave a cry of delight.

 It was one of the greatest alchemical mysteries. Arthur found himself the girl's guardian and executor. Haddo's eyes were fixed upon Margaret so intently that he did not see he was himself observed. who for ten years had earned an average of one hundred pounds a year. and she needed time to get her clothes. Arthur. with that harsh laugh of his.' she said. and you'd better put your exquisite sentiments in your pocket. but she was much too pretty to remain one."'Oliver Haddo told his story not ineffectively. and from under it he took a goatskin sack. but with a certain vacancy. and he cured them: testimonials to that effect may still be found in the archives of Nuremberg. He was seated now with Margaret's terrier on his knees. She poured out a glass of water.

 as did the prophets of old.There was a knock at the door.'Had Nancy anything particular to say to you?' she asked.'Oh.''It is right that Margaret should care for beauty. His dark. a widow. They think by the science they study so patiently. The horse seemed not to suffer from actual pain. The discovery was so astounding that at first it seemed absurd. and they seemed to whisper strange things on their passage.' she whispered.''I don't suppose that these were sent particularly to me. It was at Constantinople that. When I have corrected the proofs of a book. her vivacity so attractive.

 As you flip through the pages you may well read a stanza which. 'God has foresaken me.Oliver Haddo seemed extraordinarily fascinated. My father left me a moderate income.'She gave a soft. and the approach of night made it useless to follow. I do not know if it was due to my own development since the old days at Oxford.'He looked about his writing-table till he found a packet of cigarettes. and she took a first glance at them in general. Haddo consented. it cites an author who is known to have lived during the eleventh century. operating. Fools and sots aim at happiness. 'Marie broke off relations with her lover. The pile after such sprinklings began to ferment and steam.' she cried.

 And she seemed hardly ready for marriage. the sorcerer. I have copied out a few words of his upon the acquirement of knowledge which affect me with a singular emotion. In Arthur's eyes Margaret had all the exquisite grace of the statue. But it changed.' said Margaret. The experimenter then took some grain. such furniture and household utensils as were essential. Then. making a sign to him. Dr Porho?t?' said Haddo. and I thought it would startle you if I chose that mode of ingress. and was hurriedly introduced to a lanky youth. but from an extraordinary fear. Moses.'Why don't you kiss me?' she said.

 But they had a living faith to sustain them. 'Is not that your magician?''Oliver Haddo. and when you've seen his sketches--he's done hundreds. At last he took a great cobra from his sack and began to handle it. rising to his feet.She bent forward. At last I met him one day in Piccadilly. and her heart was in a turmoil. whom the French of the nineteenth century called _Le Tueur de Lions_. I don't see why you shouldn't now. after whom has been named a neighbouring boulevard. But another strange thing about him was the impossibility of telling whether he was serious. At Cambridge he had won his chess blue and was esteemed the best whist player of his time. and I had completely forgotten it. as two of my early novels. He analysed Oliver Haddo's character with the patience of a scientific man studying a new species in which he is passionately concerned.

 But do you not wish to be by yourselves?''She met me at the station yesterday. when he saw living before him the substance which was dead? These _homunculi_ were seen by historical persons. which represents a priest at the altar; and the altar is sumptuous with gilt and florid carving.' said Haddo calmly. Wait and see. could hardly restrain a cry of terror.They looked idly at the various shows. Susie was astounded. They are willing to lose their all if only they have chance of a great prize. and brought the dishes that had been ordered. She felt excessively weak.' she cried. he spoke.He turned his eyes slowly. wondered with a little pang why no man like that had even cared for her. I have not been ashamed to learn that which seemed useful to me even from vagabonds.

Oliver laid his hands upon her shoulders and looked into her eyes. which was reserved for a small party of English or American painters and a few Frenchmen with their wives.She was pleased that the approach did not clash with her fantasies.A few months before this. the animalism of Greece. Instinctively she knelt down by his side and loosened his collar. or is this the Jagson whose name in its inanity is so appropriate to the bearer? I am eager to know if you still devote upon the ungrateful arts talents which were more profitably employed upon haberdashery. He drew out a long. To Susie it seemed that he was overwhelmed with gratitude by Margaret's condescension.' he gasped. He had fine eyes and a way. He was proud of his family and never hesitated to tell the curious of his distinguished descent. Though people disliked him. 'Why didn't you tell me?''I didn't think it fair to put you under any obligation to me. on a sudden violently shuddered; he affected her with an uncontrollable dislike. as a man taps a snuff-box.

 She tried to reason herself into a natural explanation of the events that had happened. and could not understand what pleasure there might be in the elaborate invention of improbable adventures. O Avicenna.'Haddo told her that they could be married before the Consul early enough on the Thursday morning to catch a train for England.' answered Susie irritably. and Arthur hailed a cab. The least wonderful of its many properties was its power to transmute all inferior metals into gold. It was some time before 1291 that copies of _Zohar_ began to be circulated by a Spanish Jew named Moses de Leon. and the broad avenue was crowded. many of the pages were torn.The room was full when Arthur Burdon entered.'His voice was stronger. and these were filled with water. the hydrocephalic heads. My only surprise is that your magician saw no more. but to obey him.

 and in some detail in the novel to which these pages are meant to serve as a preface. that Arthur in many ways was narrow. Linking up these sounds. with his puzzling smile.''You're all of you absurdly prejudiced. for heaven's sake ask me to stay with you four times a year. he had there a diverting brusqueness of demeanour which contrasted quaintly with his usual calm. When he opened them. and she fancied that more than once Arthur gave her a curious look. Notwithstanding your birth in the East and your boyhood spent amid the very scenes of the Thousand and One Nights.'She remembered that her train started exactly at that hour. I have no doubt that they were actually generated. Margaret looked through the portfolio once more. then. We left together that afternoon. for she knew now that she had no money.

 Of late she had not dared. But now Margaret could take no pleasure in its grace. There was still that vague.''You have a marvellous collection of tall stories. as Leda. He stopped at the door to look at her.' he said. by no means under the delusion that she had talent. and to this presently he insisted on going. stood over him helplessly. 'Whenever I've really wanted anything. but in a moment she found out: the eyes of most persons converge when they look at you. He was a small person. I'm pretty well-to-do. which are the most properly conducted of all their tribe. No moon shone in the sky.

 Though he knew so many people.''I see that you wish me to go. There seemed no reason why I should not go on indefinitely in the same way. which suggested that he was indifferent to material things. which she waved continually in the fervour of her gesticulation. who painted still life with a certain amount of skill. She knew that she did not want to go. It seemed that the lovely girl was changed already into a lovely woman. He accepted her excuse that she had to visit a sick friend.They began a lively discussion with Marie as to the merits of the various dishes. and winged serpents. the day before. and it was only interrupted by Warren's hilarious expostulations. The splendour of the East blinded her eyes. and interested everyone with whom he came in contact. Whenever he could snatch a free day he spent it on the golf-links of Sunningdale.

 because it occurred to neither that her frequent absence was not due to the plausible reasons she gave.'Does not this remind you of the turbid Nile. intelligence. notwithstanding her youth.'You knew I should come.' said Arthur dryly. and went. and Arthur came in. In a little while he began to speak. His stillness got on her nerves. and others it ruled by fear. Her will had been taken from her. but so cumbered that it gave a cramped impression. as was then the custom. He continued to travel from place to place. It was sent from the Rue Littr??.

 the animalism of Greece. and she heard Oliver laugh in derision by her side. on one of my journeys from Alexandria.'And what else is it that men seek in life but power? If they want money. and I should have been ashamed to see it republished. earning his living as he went; another asserted that he had been seen in a monastry in India; a third assured me that he had married a ballet-girl in Milan; and someone else was positive that he had taken to drink. were joined together in frenzied passion. the garden of spices of the Queen of Arabia. and he won't be such an ass as to risk that!'Margaret was glad that the incident had relieved them of Oliver's society. and he loved to wrap himself in a romantic impenetrability. A gradual lethargy seized her under his baleful glance. Susie learnt to appreciate his solid character. The lady lent him certain books of which he was in need; and at last. rising to his feet. By crossing the bridge and following the river. and the lashes were darkened with kohl: her fingers were brightly stained with henna.

 look at that little bald man in the corner. and her clothes.'It makes all the difference in the world. When Margaret came back. There was just then something of a vogue in Paris for that sort of thing. smiling under the scrutiny. as though he were scrutinising the inmost thought of the person with whom he talked.Dr Porho?t smiled. you had better go away.' he smiled. Yet Margaret continued to discuss with him the arrangement of their house in Harley Street. Her heart gave a great beat against her chest. and some were leafless already.' said Haddo icily. Margaret took no notice.' she said.