Lady Blythebury and I are friends, but we do not visit very often." "And that but secretly," he laughed, "when the lion is absent ?" She did not answer him, and he continued after a moment: "'Pon my life, the very mention of him seems to cast a cloud.

Let us draw a magic circle, and exclude him!" He waved his wand.

"You knew that I was a magician ?" There was a hint of something more than banter in his voice.

They had reached the end of the terrace, and were slowly descending the steps.
But at his last words, Lady Brooke stood suddenly still.
"I only believe in one sort of magic," she said, "and that is beyond the reach of all but fools." Her voice quivered with an almost passionate disdain.

She was suddenly aware of an intense burning misery that seemed to gnaw into her very soul.