Of fire and turmoil; or like thieves that hate

No law-lord save the posturing of desire

With genuflexions where dejections tire

The fig-leaf’s trophy with the fig-leaf’s weight.

Yes; they are subtle: and where no light is

These tread not openly, as heretofore,

With whisperings of that at odds with this

To veil their passing, where a broken door

Confronts the zenith, and Semiramis,

At one with Upsilon, exhorts no more.

PART ONE

PART ONE

THE BOOK OF OUTSET

THE BOOK OF OUTSET

“Wheresoever a Man Lives, There

Will be a Thornbush Near His Door.”

1. How the Tempter Came

How the Tempter Came

FOR some moments after he had materialized, and had become perceivable by human senses, the Sylan waited. He waited, looking down at the very busy, young, red-haired fellow who sat within arm’s reach at the writing-table. This boy, as yet, was so unhappily engrossed in literary composition as not to have noticed his ghostly visitant. So the Sylan waited....

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