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but very ancient practices. For example, the incense will prevent our noses being offended by the—to some— unpleasant odour of the things which I am about to dissolve by fire.’
    â€˜What are they?’ Sir Pellinore inquired.
    The Duke opened one of the little envelopes, tapped its contents into the palm of his hand and held it out. ‘They are, as you see, the parings of human nails.’
    â€˜Good God!’ Sir Pellinore turned away quickly. He was not at all happy about this business as his life-long disbelief in the occult had suddenly become tinged with a vague fear now that all against his wish he was being brought in direct contact with it. The fact that he had won a V.C. in the Boer War, and had performed many acts of bravery since, was not the least comfort to him. Bullets and bombs he understood; but not erudite gentlemen who proposed to bring about abnormal happenings by burning small portions of the human body.
    De Richleau read his thoughts and smiled. Returning to the ivory chest, he took from it a silvery powder of which he made three little heaps on the old iron tray, and upon each heap he put a few pieces of the nail parings. He then made a sign which was neither that of the Cross nor the touching of the forehead that Mohammedans make when they mention the Prophet, lit one of the little heaps of powder and in a ringing voice, which startled Sir Pellinore, pronounced an incantation of eleven words from a long-dead language.
    The powder flared up in a dazzling flame, the nail-parings were consumed in a little puff of acrid smoke and de Richleau repeated the sign which was neither that ofthe Cross nor the touching of the forehead that Mohammedans make when they mention the Prophet.
    Twice more the Duke went through the same motions and the same words; then he put out the flame which was burning in one bowl, emptied the water from another, snuffed out the incense in the burner, and, putting all his impedimenta back into the ivory chest, relocked it with the spindle-like key.
    â€˜There,’ he said, in the same inconsequent tone that he might have used had he just finished demonstrating a new type of carpet-sweeper. ‘It will be a little time before the logical results of the enchantment which I have effected will become apparent, so what about a drink? Brandy, Chartreuse, or a glass of wine—which do you prefer?’
    â€˜Brandy-and-soda, thanks,’ replied Sir Pellinore, distinctly relieved that the antics of his friend were over.
    As he brought the drink and sat down before the fire the Duke smiled genially. ‘I’m so sorry to have made you uncomfortable—a great failing in any host towards his guest—but you brought it on yourself, you know.’
    â€˜Good Lord, yes! You have every possible right to prove your own statement if you can, and I’m delighted for you to do so; although I must confess that this business gave me a rather creepy feeling—sort of thing I haven’t experienced for years. D’you honestly believe, though, that the
Fuehrer
monkeys about with incense and bowls of this and that, and bits of human nail, as you have done tonight?’
    â€˜I haven’t the least doubt that he does; everything that is known about him indicates it. Witness his love of high places, the fact that he shuts himself up in that secret room of his at Berchtesgaden, sometimes for as much as twelve hours at a stretch, when nobody is allowed to disturb him however urgent their business; his so-called fits, and, above all, his way of life: no women, no alcohol and a vegetarian diet.’
    â€˜What on earth’s that got to do with it?’
    â€˜To attain occult power it is generally essential to forgo all joys of the flesh, often even to the point of carrying out prolonged fasts, so as to purify the body. You will recall that all the holy men who performed miracles were famed for their asceticism, and it is just as necessary to deny