'You never saw a man who looked
less like a magician. His face beamed with good-nature, and he wore a
long grey beard, which covered nearly the whole of his breast. He was of
a short and very corpulent figure.'
'The practice of black arts evidently disposes to obesity,' said Arthur,
icily.
Susie noticed that this time Oliver Haddo made no sign that the taunt
moved him. His unwinking, straight eyes remained upon Arthur without
expression.
'Levi's real name was Alphonse-Louis Constant, but he adopted that under
which he is generally known for reasons that are plain to the romantic
mind. His father was a bootmaker. He was destined for the priesthood, but
fell in love with a damsel fair and married her. The union was unhappy.
A fate befell him which has been the lot of greater men than he, and his
wife presently abandoned the marital roof with her lover. To console
himself he began to make serious researches in the occult, and in due
course published a vast number of mystical works dealing with magic in
all its branches.
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