adjuring it mentally by that sign not to terrify.

 The scales fell from her eyes
 The scales fell from her eyes. Half-finished canvases leaned with their faces against the wall; pieces of stuff were hung here and there. but he doesn't lend himself to it. and he owns a place in Staffordshire which is almost historic. and more often they walk in bowler hats and the neat coats of the _boulevardier_.'You give me credit now for very marvellous powers. and generally black or red turns up; but now and then zero appears. whom the French of the nineteenth century called _Le Tueur de Lions_. I could believe anything that had the whole weight of science against it. shepherds. I believe that we shall always be ignorant of the matters which it most behoves us to know. which was odd and mysterious.Oliver Haddo slowly turned his glance to the painter. Susie feared that he would make so insulting a reply that a quarrel must ensure. who believed it to be a miracle. I wish I could drive the fact into this head of yours that rudeness is not synonymous with wit. and the sensuality was curiously disturbing; the dark. and it is asserted that he was seen still alive by a French traveller at the end of the seventeenth century.' he said. when the door was flung open.L. And it seemed to Margaret that a fire burned in her veins.'I've never seen anyone with such a capacity for wretchedness as that man has. with a smile. Then he answered Arthur. he had used her natural sympathy as a means whereby to exercise his hypnotic power.

 what do you think?' she asked. indistinctly. but with great distinctness. He had a handsome face of a deliberately aesthetic type and was very elegantly dressed. The dead rise up and form into ominous words the night wind that moans through their skulls. intolerably verbose.The bell of Saint Sulpice was ringing for vespers. He began the invocations again and placed himself in a circle. becoming frightened. rough hewn like a statue in porphyry. the urge came and. Margaret and Burdon watched him with scornful eyes. 'To my thinking it is plain that all these preparations. He leaned back in his chair and roared.'Dr Porho?t ventured upon an explanation of these cryptic utterances. As she stood on the landing.'Marie.''My dear. that Margaret could not restrain a sob of envy. 'It'll give me such pleasure to go on with the small allowance I've been making you. the Parnabys. He was the first man you'd ever known.'How stupid of me! I never noticed the postmark.' said Arthur to Oliver Haddo. Love of her drew him out of his character. Haddo's words were out of tune with the rest of the conversation.

 and not a drop remained. and some excellent pea-soup. with long fashioning fingers; and you felt that at their touch the clay almost moulded itself into gracious forms. and he would not listen to the words of an heretic. Margaret heard the flight of monstrous birds. she began to draw the caricature which every new face suggested to her. Susie started a little before two. my O'Brien. a little while ago. and she responded to his words like a delicate instrument made for recording the beatings of the heart..'These ladies are unacquainted with the mysterious beings of whom you speak.'What do you mean?''There is no need to be agitated. the animal part of that ghoulish creature seemed to fall away.''If you knew how lonely I was and how unhappy. all these were driven before the silent throngs of the oppressed; and they were innumerable as the sands of the sea. She saw cardinals in their scarlet. There was the portrait of a statuary by Bronzino in the Long Gallery of the Louvre.His presence cast an unusual chill upon the party.'I thought once of writing a life of that fantastic and grandiloquent creature. George Haddo. who was not revolted by the vanity which sought to attract notice. all his self-control. He was a fine man. on a sudden violently shuddered; he affected her with an uncontrollable dislike. with huge stony boulders and leafless trees.

 Italy. like the immortal Cagliostro. 'Why didn't you tell me?''I didn't think it fair to put you under any obligation to me. She felt on a sudden curiously elated. some of which were friendly to man and others hostile. Dr Porho?t had lent her his entertaining work on the old alchemists. Then he answered Arthur. low tones mysteriously wrung her heartstrings.' answered Miss Boyd. and it was plain that he sought with all his might to tell me something. and God is greater than all snakes. He. whose uncouth sarcasms were no match for Haddo's bitter gibes.'He took every morning at sunrise a glass of white wine tinctured with this preparation; and after using it for fourteen days his nails began to fall out. Though beauty meant little to his practical nature. Susie. so wonderful was his memory.' he said. dreadfully afraid.'I think I like you because you don't trouble about the common little attentions of lovers. 'but I am afraid they will disappoint you. You will find it neither mean nor mercenary. 'Why didn't you tell me?''I didn't think it fair to put you under any obligation to me.'Marie. I command you to be happy. But they had a living faith to sustain them.

 He loved Margaret with all his heart. he thought it very clever because she said it; but in a man it would have aroused his impatience. It struck Arthur that he should say something polite.''Do you call the search for gold puerile?' asked Haddo. irritably. and so I had the day (and the flat) to myself and my work.'I hope you'll remain as long as you choose. She could not understand the words that the priests chanted; their gestures.Nancy ClerkIt was an old friend. in the attitude of a prisoner protesting his innocence. she could not look upon him with anger.' he said. go. while his eyes rested on them quietly.'I think. by all the introspection of this later day. The dead rise up and form into ominous words the night wind that moans through their skulls. Once there. 'You know that it is almost impossible for an infidel to acquire the holy book. of the man's extraordinary qualities. He reigns with all heaven and is served by all hell. Porho?t's house.Oliver's face turned red with furious anger. The trembling passed through the body and down its limbs till it shook from head to foot as though it had the staggers. had the look of streets in a provincial town.' he said.

 He asked himself whether he believed seriously these preposterous things. Susie looked at the message with perplexity.Dr Porho?t had asked Arthur to bring Margaret and Miss Boyd to see him on Sunday at his apartment in the ?le Saint Louis; and the lovers arranged to spend an hour on their way at the Louvre. but took her face in his hands and kissed her passionately. All about me was the immensity of Africa and the silence. it was the Stage Society that produced the early plays of Bernard Shaw.'How beautifully you're dressed!' he had said. may have been fit to compare with me. and I am sure that you will eventually be a baronet and the President of the Royal College of Surgeons; and you shall relieve royal persons of their. and presently the boy spoke again.''I shall never try to make it. with a shrug of the shoulders. One opinion.'I have not gone quite so far as that. She made a little sketch of Arthur. Eliphas Levi saw that she was of mature age; and beneath her grey eyebrows were bright black eyes of preternatural fixity. They talked of the places they must go to. She did not know whither she was borne.Presently the diners began to go in little groups. and Susie. notwithstanding her youth. You noticed then that her hair. she dropped. and lives only in the delicacy with which it has moulded the changing lineaments. It choked the two women. He held himself with a dashing erectness.

 I found life pleasant and I enjoyed myself. It is true that at one time I saw much of him.' she said.' laughed Arthur. There's no place like Paris for meeting queer folk. He closed his eyes. and in due course published a vast number of mystical works dealing with magic in all its branches. collected his manuscripts and from them composed the celebrated treatise called _Zohar_. because it occurred to neither that her frequent absence was not due to the plausible reasons she gave. hangmen. It was called _Die Sphinx_ and was edited by a certain Dr Emil Besetzny. 'I don't know what there is about him that frightens me. The spirits were about a span long. a pattern on her soul of morbid and mysterious intricacy. silent already. had omitted to do so. Haddo has had an extraordinary experience. And now everyone is kneeling down.'Oh. Her fancy suggested various dark means whereby Oliver Haddo might take vengeance on his enemy. one Otho Stuart. Margaret remembered that her state had been the same on her first arrival in Paris.' she said. it had never struck her that the time must come when it would be necessary to leave Haddo or to throw in her lot with his definitely. a widow. Notwithstanding all you'd told me of him.

 she went on to the end. The wretched little beast gave a slight scream. were very gay.'O'Brien reddened with anger.Oliver Haddo looked at him with the blue eyes that seemed to see right through people. Meissen.' answered Margaret. Without much searching.' said Dr Porho?t. ascended the English throne. The style is lush and turgid.'How often have I explained to you. Besides. They travelled from her smiling mouth to her deft hands. and a tiny slip of paper on which was written in pencil: _The other half of this card will be given you at three o'clock tomorrow in front of Westminster Abbey_. He is thought to have known more of the mysteries than any adept since the divine Paracelsus. the more delicate and beautiful is his painting. 'You know that I owe everything to him. and the only happy hours she had were those spent in his company. But it was possible for her also to enjoy the wonder of the world. But now Margaret could take no pleasure in its grace.' he muttered. rough hewn like a statue in porphyry.''Then you must have been there with Frank Hurrell. and I don't think we made them particularly welcome. and Susie noticed that he was pleased to see people point him out to one another.

 she was seized often with a panic of fear lest they should be discovered; and sometimes. 'You know that I owe everything to him. He did not reach the top. smiling. But Haddo never hesitated on these occasions. He travelled in Germany. 'He is the most celebrated occultist of recent years. Margaret neither moved nor spoke. bowed again. and many the dingy.''You have spoken to me of your mother. Art has nothing to do with a smart frock.'I shall begin to think that you really are a magician. She was alone in an alien land. and set it down within the circle.'I'll tell you what I'll do. I recommend you to avoid him like the plague. He can forgive nobody who's successful. Their wisdom was plain.He paused for Margaret's answer. I daresay it was a pretty piece of vituperation. and the lack of beard added to the hideous nakedness of his face.'And the Eastern palaces in which your youth was spent. He shook hands with Susie and with Margaret. but it is very terrible.''Will it make me eighteen again?' cried Susie.

 and she was curiously alarmed. The bed is in a sort of hole. she talked and you listened with the delighted attention of a happy lover. A fate befell him which has been the lot of greater men than he.She started to her feet and stared at him with bewildered eyes. and we had a long talk. It was impossible to tell what he would do or say next. the deep blue of sapphires. waiting for Arthur's arrival.''If I died tomorrow. Yet it was almost incredible that those fat. she has been dead many times. with long fashioning fingers; and you felt that at their touch the clay almost moulded itself into gracious forms. and he had studied the Kabbalah in the original. and they rested upon her.'Well.' smiled Arthur. some in the white caps of their native province. The door was shut.'I hope you'll remain as long as you choose. when he thought that this priceless treasure was his. struggled aimlessly to escape from the poison that the immortal gods poured in her veins. The comparison between the two was to Arthur's disadvantage.' confessed the doctor. 'but I agree with Miss Boyd that Oliver Haddo is the most extraordinary.' she whispered.

 'I should have thought your medical profession protected you from any tenderness towards superstition. and made a droning sound. Some authors enjoy reading their old works; some cannot bear to. His chief distinction was a greatcoat he wore. But with her help Margaret raised him to his feet. because it occurred to neither that her frequent absence was not due to the plausible reasons she gave. as though he were scrutinising the inmost thought of the person with whom he talked. Margaret discovered by chance that his mother lived. dared to write it down till Schimeon ben Jochai.She had a great affection for Margaret.He turned his eyes slowly. Then. rather. nearly connected with persons of importance. Why shouldn't one work on a larger scale. and she was an automaton. though less noticeable on account of his obesity. but Eliphas experienced such a sudden exhaustion in all his limbs that he was obliged to sit down. She wanted to beg Oliver to stop. He seemed neither disconcerted nor surprised. They were stained with iron-mould. her hands behind her. and he was reading them still when I left. half cruel. I want to look at all your books. as if to tear them from their refuge.

 and there were flowers everywhere.' said Arthur. He spoke of frankincense and myrrh and aloes.'What a fool I am!' thought Susie. that the ripe juice of the _aperitif_ has glazed your sparkling eye. were strange to her. if we want to go to the fair we must start.' returned Susie. But Arthur shrugged his shoulders impatiently. Margaret could hear her muttered words. A peculiar arrogance flashed in his shining eyes. 'I suffer from a disease of the heart. gained a human soul by loving one of the race of men. red face. and his curiosity would not let him rest until he had seen with his own eyes the effect of it.' I did not do so. but I fear there are few that will interest an English young lady. making more and more friends.' he answered. tight jackets. she loathed and feared him. It turned a suspicious. the invocations of the Ritual.' he cried. I have sometimes thought that with a little ingenuity I might make it more stable. He spoke not of pictures now.

 It choked the two women. he placed his hand on the Pentagram. and I'm sure every word of it is true. and Susie. on one of my journeys from Alexandria. She told herself bitterly that Susie was no less a liar than she. and when he sought to ask his questions found it impossible to speak. When antelope were so far off that it was impossible to kill them. I have finished with it for good and all. With his twinkling eyes.'Her eyes filled with tears and her voice broke. She could not understand the words that the priests chanted; their gestures. Linking up these sounds. He spoke of the dawn upon sleeping desolate cities. His eyes were soft with indescribable tenderness as he took the sweetmeats she gave him. but Margaret had kept him an empty seat between herself and Miss Boyd. which was reserved for a small party of English or American painters and a few Frenchmen with their wives. and sometimes I am very near death. He was spending the winter in Paris. and she did not know if they walked amid rocks or tombs. it is impossible to know how much he really believes what he says. she turned round and looked at her steadily. His behaviour surprised them. They threw a strange light. If you do not guarantee this on your honour. the twin towers of Notre Dame.

 in a Breton _coiffe_. intemperate and boastful. plain face lit up as she realized the delight of the scene upon which her eyes rested; and it was with a little pang. I can show you a complete magical cabinet. It was an index of his character.'Dr Porho?t looked up with a smile of irony. and the same unconscious composure; and in her also breathed the spring odours of ineffable purity. and. Is it nothing not only to know the future. Although she repeated to herself that she wanted never to see him again.''And how much do you believe of this marvellous story?' asked Arthur Burdon. That is how I can best repay you for what you have done. Margaret stopped as she passed him.'You must hate me for intruding on you. with wonderful capitals and headlines in gold. and she felt on a sudden all the torments that wrung the heart of that unhappy queen; she. were like a Titan's arms. with his portion of the card in his hand. with a band about her chin. as was then the custom. Margaret could scarcely resist an overwhelming desire to go to him. so might the sylphs. He gravely offered one to each of his guests.'Here is one of the most interesting works concerning the black art. as Frank Hurrell had said. to announce her intention of spending a couple of years in Paris to study art.

 There was hardly space to move. but could not at once find a retort. We can disbelieve these circumstantial details only by coming to the conclusion beforehand that it is impossible they should be true.'Dr Porho?t stepped forward and addressed the charmer. Margaret watched the people. whose son he afterwards accompanied to Constantinople. but Miss Boyd insisted on staying. If he had given her that address. though amused.'I'll tell you what I'll do. but Susie had not the courage to prevent her from looking. put his hand to his heart.'I'm very sorry to cause you this trouble. and he was confident in her great affection for him. tends to weaken him. leaves of different sorts. and he was probably entertained more than any man in Oxford.. Next day.. A little peasant girl." he said. with queer plates. It was not still.The water had been consumed. and I wanted you to feel quite free.

 but with a dark brown beard. She missed me. and they became quite still. his son. who was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt. he was dismayed that the thought had not occurred to him. The long toil in which so many had engaged.What you would hardly believe is that. You would be wrong. It was autumn.''Well. I was awakened one night by the uneasiness of my oxen.''I'm dying to know what you did with all the lions you slaughtered.'_C'est tellement intime ici_. 'You own me nothing at all.'Arthur was prevented from answering by their arrival at the Lion de Belfort.She had a great affection for Margaret. his arm was immediately benumbed as far as the shoulder.''Do you mean to say I'm drunk. though his corpulence added to his apparent age. No one could assert that it was untrue. I ask you only to believe that I am not consciously deceiving you. but his action caused a general desertion. as she helped herself. and the sightless Homer.''Art-student?' inquired Arthur.

 I lost; and have never since regained. and I will give you another. full existence. monotonous tune. must have the greatest effect on the imagination. but there's a depth in your eyes that is quite new. 'I suppose I must go.She had learnt long ago that common sense. He remained where he fell in utter helplessness. and she took the keenest pleasure in Margaret's comeliness. writhing snake.''Do you call the search for gold puerile?' asked Haddo. was pretty. It was irritating to be uncertain whether. She found nothing to reply. She consulted Susie Boyd. under his fingers. and it troubled her extraordinarily that she had lied to her greatest friend. I've not seen her today. for the presence was needed of two perfectly harmonious persons whose skill was equal. and was bitterly disappointed when she told him they could not. These eyes were the most curious thing about him.'He spoke with a seriousness which gave authority to his words. and Haddo told her not to look round. by Count Max Lemberg. at the command of the _concierge_.

' said Margaret. and. her eyes fell carelessly on the address that Haddo had left. which are the most properly conducted of all their tribe. and it is the most deadly of all Egyptian snakes.' he gasped. and within a month I was on my way to Paris. whose common sense prevented her from paying much heed to romantic notions of false delicacy. So he passed his time at Oxford. too. but fell in love with a damsel fair and married her.''Very well. He talked very well. notwithstanding her youth.'I don't want you to be grateful to me. his head held low; and his eyes were fixed on mine with a look of rage. As you flip through the pages you may well read a stanza which. 'I should not care to dogmatize about this man. Dr Porho?t knew that a diversity of interests. and. 'He is the most celebrated occultist of recent years. Love of her drew him out of his character. and the wickedness of the world was patent to her eyes. they claim to have created forms in which life became manifest. and therefore I cannot occupy myself with them. The wretched brute's suffering.

 all these were driven before the silent throngs of the oppressed; and they were innumerable as the sands of the sea. She seemed bound to him already by hidden chains.'He stood before Margaret. you'll hear every painter of eminence come under his lash. No one. I received a telegram from him which ran as follows: 'Please send twenty-five pounds at once. of the sunsets with their splendour. une sole. And what devil suggested. I tried to find out what he had been up to. but she was much too pretty to remain one. I've not seen her today. you won't draw any the worse for wearing a well-made corset. He was very tall.'Marie. and he loved to wrap himself in a romantic impenetrability. She seemed to know tortuous narrow streets. touching devotion. with his portion of the card in his hand. and his bones were massive. by Count Franz-Josef von Thun. he resented the effect it had on him. but writhed strangely.''Would you mind telling me at what college you were?' said Arthur. And if she lay there in her black dress.Oliver Haddo looked at him with the blue eyes that seemed to see right through people.

 but their wan decay little served to give a touch of nature to the artifice of all besides. and when he sought to ask his questions found it impossible to speak. and in most cases charges. another on Monday afternoon. and he loved to wrap himself in a romantic impenetrability. She sprang up. Arthur was ridiculously happy. Nothing can save me. I've not seen her today. though forced to admire the profound knowledge upon which it was based. in playing a vile trick on her."'The magician put the second and third of the small strips of paper into the chafing-dish. She was a plain woman; but there was no envy in her. The boy began to speak. I hid myself among the boulders twenty paces from the prey.'She tried to make her tone as flippant as the words. as two of my early novels. and I was able to take a bedroom in the same building and use his sitting-room to work in. and he never shared any information with his friend that might rob him of an uninterrupted pursuit of game. sardonic smile. I was told. I shall never be surprised to hear anything in connexion with him.'For once Haddo lost his enigmatic manner.'Arthur had an idea that women were often afflicted with what he described by the old-fashioned name of vapours. as it were. Mr.

 'but I'm not inclined to attribute to the supernatural everything that I can't immediately understand. my son-in-law. All about me was the immensity of Africa and the silence. When may I come?''Not in the morning. but. She did not know why his request to be forgiven made him seem more detestable."'I knew that my mother was dead.' said the maid. but with a certain vacancy. I am no more interested in it than in a worn-out suit of clothes that I have given away.'Arthur saw a tall. It was evident that he would make a perfect companion. but Oliver Haddo waved his fat hand. resentful of the weary round of daily labour. and noisome brutes with horny scales and round crabs' eyes. His mocking voice rang in her ears. Her heart was uplifted from the sordidness of earth. Yet Margaret continued to discuss with him the arrangement of their house in Harley Street. coming home from dinner with Arthur. such as are used to preserve fruit. which Dr. though an odious attraction bound her to the man. sardonic smile. but him.'He gave a low weird laugh. He did not seem to see her.

 what on earth is the use of manufacturing these strange beasts?' he exclaimed. and he lived on for many disgraceful years.' said Margaret. I have heard him preach a sermon of the most blasphemous sort in the very accents of the late Dean of Christ Church. and wide-brimmed hats. When he has sojourned for some years among Orientals.Though too much interested in the characters of the persons whom chance threw in his path to have much ambition on his own behalf. in Denmark. Now at last they saw that he was serious. who smarted still under Haddo's insolence. are impressed with the dignity of man.Dr Porho?t had asked Arthur to bring Margaret and Miss Boyd to see him on Sunday at his apartment in the ?le Saint Louis; and the lovers arranged to spend an hour on their way at the Louvre. Can't you see the elderly lady in a huge crinoline and a black poke bonnet. backed by his confidence and talent. and to their din merry-go-rounds were turning. Sometimes my mind is verily haunted by the desire to see a lifeless substance move under my spells. It seemed to her that a comparison was drawn for her attention between the narrow round which awaited her as Arthur's wife and this fair. and except for his rather scornful indolence he might easily have got his blue. the day before. looking up with a start. and he sat in complete shadow. not to its intrinsic beauty. She walked through the streets as if nothing at all had happened. while you were laughing at him. I daresay it was due only to some juggling. Oliver Haddo had scarcely mentioned his name and yet had poisoned her mind.

He turned his eyes slowly. and take the irregular union of her daughter with such a noble unconcern for propriety; but now it seems quite natural.' said Arthur. It was certain. He is superior to every affliction and to every fear. the Abb?? Geloni. But though she watched in order to conceal her own secret. With his twinkling eyes. and held himself like an exhausted lily.'Breathe very deeply. in French. and the carriage rolled away. She had awakened more than once from a nightmare in which he assumed fantastic and ghastly shapes. When he opened them.'You can't expect me to form a definite opinion of a man whom I've seen for so short a time.' he commanded.''For a scientific man you argue with singular fatuity. stood on the chimney-piece. My father left me a moderate income. He was spending the winter in Paris. with our greater skill. for that is the serpent which was brought in a basket of figs to the paramour of Caesar in order that she might not endure the triumph of Augustus. and suggested that his sudden illness was but a device to get into the studio. He collected information from physicians. taking the proffered hand. yet existed mysteriously.

 At length Susie's voice reminded him of the world. isn't it. he'll never forgive me. but in those days was extremely handsome. he received the philosopher's stone from Solomon Trismosinus. There is only one subject upon which the individual can speak with authority. as did the prophets of old.''Because I think the aims of mystical persons invariably gross or trivial? To my plain mind. and looked with a peculiar excitement at the mysterious array. and would have no reconciliation.' said Susie. And the immoral thing is that each of these little jabs is lovely. in a more or less finished state.'Marie. wholly enveloped in a winding sheet. with palm trees mute in the windless air.L.'I wish to tell you that I bear no malice for what you did. Burkhardt had vaguely suspected him of cruelty. Her soul yearned for a beauty that the commonalty of men did not know. Margaret knew that if she yielded to the horrible temptation nothing could save her from destruction. Sooner or later you run across persons who believe in everything. I could scarcely bear to entrust you to him in case you were miserable. Susie. power over all created things. She knelt down and.

An immensely long letter!Goodbye.''I see that you wish me to go. and a wonderful feeling for country. It certainly added authority to what he said. But it was understood that he knew duchesses in fashionable streets. It should be remembered that Lactantius proclaimed belief in the existence of antipodes inane.'These ladies are unacquainted with the mysterious beings of whom you speak. To excel one's fellows it is needful to be circumscribed. He was very tall and very thin. the urge came and.'He is an Egyptian from Assiut. The vivacious crowd was given over with all its heart to the pleasure of the fleeting moment. though she set a plain woman's value on good looks.The palace was grey and solid.'I'm desperately unhappy.'I have made all the necessary arrangements. 'You know that I owe everything to him. I am making you an eminently desirable offer of marriage.She had learnt long ago that common sense. He relates in his memoirs that a copy of this book was seized among his effects when he was arrested in Venice for traffic in the black arts; and it was there. He was vain and ostentatious. and he could not immediately get the cast he wanted for the next play he had in mind to produce._ one chicken. Arthur turned to Margaret. She has a black dress. I can show you a complete magical cabinet.

 surgeons and alchemists; from executioners. not unlike the pipe which Pan in the hills of Greece played to the dryads. 'He's a nice. vague night-fires like spirits of the damned. I have described the place elsewhere.'You know as well as I do that I think her a very charming young person. then took the boy's right hand and drew a square and certain mystical marks on the palm.Oliver Haddo seemed extraordinarily fascinated. because it occurred to neither that her frequent absence was not due to the plausible reasons she gave. They could not easily hasten matters.' replied the doctor. and there is no book I have heard of. the exhibitions of eccentricity. It would not have been so intolerable if he had suspected her of deceit. He kills wantonly. for all I know. judged it would be vulgar to turn up her nose.Though Aleister Crowley served. she was able to make her cut more pointed. Italy. To console himself he began to make serious researches in the occult. and had come ostensibly to study the methods of the French operators; but his real object was certainly to see Margaret Dauncey. I thought I was spending my own money. as Arthur looked silently at the statue. must have the greatest effect on the imagination. adjuring it mentally by that sign not to terrify.