h
in all the hideous majesty of AEnothea, the undulating priestess of the
Abominable Shape. His nerves macerated by this sinful apparition, Baldur
struggled to resist her mute command. What was it? He saw her wish
streaming from her eyes. Despair! Despair! Despair! There is no hope for
thee, wretched earthworm! No abode but the abysmal House of Satan!
Despair, and you will be welcomed! By a violent act of volition, set in
motion by his fingers fumbling a small gold cross he wore as a
watch-guard, the heady fumes of the orgy dissipated....

He was sitting facing the bowl, and over it with her calm, confidential
gaze was the figure of Lilith Whistler.

"Have I proved to you that perfume is the art of arts?" she demanded. He
rushed from the room and was shaking the grilled gate in the hallway
like a caged maniac, when with a pitying smile she released him. He
reached the street at a bound....

* * * * *

... "the evil of perfume, I repeat, was one against which the venerable
Fathers of the Church warned the faithful." The preacher's voice had
sagged to a monotone. Baldur lifted his eyes in dismay. Near him sat the
same woman, and she still stared at him as if to rebuke him for his
abstraction. About her hovered the odour of iris. Had it been only a
disturbing dream? Intoxicated by his escape from damnation, from the
last of the Deadly Arts, he bowed his head in grateful prayer. What
ecstasy to be once more in the arms of Mother Church! There, dipped in
her lustral waters, and there alone would he find solace for his barren
heart, pardon for his insane pride of intellect, and protection from the
demons that waylaid his sluggish soul. The sermon ended as it began:--

"And the Seven Deadly Sins, beloved brethren, are: Pride, Covetousness,
Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Envy, Sloth. _Oremus!_"

"Amen," fervently responded Baldur the Immoralist.

III

THE PURSE OF AHOLIBAH

Lo, this is that Aholibah
Whose name was blown among strange seas....

--SWINBURNE.

I

THE AVIARY

When the last breakfast guests had gone the waiters of the cafe began
their most disagreeable daily task. All the silver was assembled on one
of the long tables in an inner room, where, as at a solemn conclave, the
servants took their seats, and, presided over by the major-domo of the
establishment, they polished the knives and forks, spoons, and
sugar-tongs, filled the salt-cellars