It
was said that Haddo had magical powers of extraordinary character, and
the tired imagination of those pleasure-seekers was tickled by his talk
of black art. Some even asserted that the blasphemous ceremonies of the
Black Mass had been celebrated in the house of a Polish Prince. People
babbled of satanism and of necromancy. Haddo was thought to be immersed
in occult studies for the performance of a magical operation; and some
said that he was occupied with the Magnum Opus, the greatest and most
fantastic of alchemical experiments. Gradually these stories were
narrowed down to the monstrous assertion that he was attempting to create
living beings. He had explained at length to somebody that magical
receipts existed for the manufacture of _homunculi_.
Haddo was known generally by the name he was pleased to give himself.
The Brother of the Shadow; but most people used it in derision, for
it contrasted absurdly with his astonishing bulk. They were amused or
outraged by his vanity, but they could not help talking about him, and
Susie knew well enough by now that nothing pleased him more.
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