nsely moved by Arthur's appeal. At last he shrugged his
shoulders.

'After all, if it is but a foolish mummery it can do no harm.'

'You will help me?' cried Arthur.

'If it can give you any peace or any satisfaction, I am willing to do
what I can. But I warn you to be prepared for a great disappointment.'

15

Arthur wished to set about the invocation then and there, but Dr Porhoet
said it was impossible. They were all exhausted after the long journey,
and it was necessary to get certain things together without which nothing
could be done. In his heart he thought that a night's rest would bring
Arthur to a more reasonable mind. When the light of day shone upon the
earth he would be ashamed of the desire which ran counter to all his
prepossessions. But Arthur remembered that on the next day it would be
exactly a week since Margaret's death, and it seemed to him that then
their spells might have a greater efficacy.

When they came down in the morning and greeted one another, it was plain
that none of them had slept.

'Are you still of the same purpose as last night?' asked Dr Porhoet
gravely.

'I am.'

The doctor hesitated nervously.

'It will be necessary, if you wish to follow out the rules of the old
necromancers, to fast through the whole day.'

'I am ready to do anything.'

'It will be no hardship to me,' said Susie, with a little hysterical
laugh. 'I feel I couldn't eat a thing if I tried.'

'I think the whole affair is sheer folly,' said Dr Porhoet.

'You promised me you would try.'

The day, the long summer day, passed slowly. There was a hard brilliancy
in the sky that reminded the Frenchman of those Egyptian heavens when
the earth seemed crushed beneath a bowl of molten fire. Arthur was too
restless to remain indoors and left the others to their own devices. He
walked without aim, as fast as he could go; he felt no weariness. The
burning sun beat down upon him, but he did not know it. The hours passed
with lagging feet. Susie lay on her bed and tried to read. Her nerves
were so taut that, when there was a sound in the courtyard of a pail
falling on the cobbles, she cried out in terror. The sun rose, and
presently her window was flooded with quivering rays of gold. It was
midday. The day passed, and it was afternoon. The evening came, but it
brought no freshness. Meanwhile Dr Porhoet sat in the little parlour,
with his head between his hands, trying by a great mental effort to bring
b