pans, old Ombos watching me all the
time with an amused smile.

"I can still see Ombos standing like a figure carved in old ivory, with
one skinny yellow hand resting on the edge of a black oak table.

"'I call all this stuff here rubbish; not worth looking at. But people
do not understand real good stuff if I show it to 'em,' he said, and
smiled a remotely contemptuous smile. 'Now if you really want to see
some choice antiques ...'

"He motioned me to follow, and taking a lighted taper, led the way into
a room at the back of his shop. Ombos pottered about with the taper on
the end of a rod; suddenly a big overhead chandelier burst into light
and I stood blinking in amazement.

"It was one of the most gorgeously furnished oak-panelled rooms I have
ever seen. The floor was of black polished ebony, and strewn on the
floor were priceless leopard skins and Persian rugs. There were heavy
Chinese tapestries worked in crimson and gold, Tibetan devil-masks, gold
candelabra, armour richly inlaid with precious stones, wondrous black
oak furniture.... But I can assure you, I could continue indefinitely
describing the contents of that room without giving you any adequate
idea of what it was like!

"'Hardly what you expected to see, eh?' Ombos said, and there was a
faint trace of mockery in his tone.

"I looked around me helplessly.

"'No!' I said, sinking into a most luxurious silk-cushioned divan.
'Trenches, and this! I suppose I'll wake up soon.'

"'Would you like to see my bronze statue of Albert of Cologne? It's the
gem of my collection, and has a world-wide reputation!'

"'It's rather different, you may say.' He looked full over my head as I
spoke, and following the direction of his eyes, I turned. In a dark
recess in that part of the room stood a bronze statue, some six feet in
height. It portrayed the great mystic in a long habit fashioned after a
monkish cowl, and his hair and face reminded me of a bust of Nero I had
once seen in the gallery of the Louvre. Ombos told me that the life of
Albert Magnus had been written by Dr. Sighart. This Dominican, _magnus
in magia_, _major in philosophia_, _maximus in theologia_, was
distinguished alike for his knowledge of the black art and his great
virtue, for austerity of regimen, and dislike of any form of society.
For other details of this philosopher I must refer you to Sighart's
excellent monograph and Mr. James Mew's work on _The Black Art_ from
which we learn that Albe