on of the card in his hand, he
found a baronial equipage waiting for him. A footman approached, and,
making a sign to him, opened the carriage door. Within was a lady in
black satin, whose face was concealed by a thick veil. She motioned him
to a seat beside her, and at the same time displayed the other part of
the card he had received. The door was shut, and the carriage rolled
away. When the lady raised her veil, Eliphas Levi saw that she was of
mature age; and beneath her grey eyebrows were bright black eyes of
preternatural fixity.'

Susie Boyd clapped her hands with delight.

'I think it's delicious, and I'm sure every word of it is true,' she
cried. 'I'm enchanted with the mysterious meeting at Westminster Abbey
in the Mid-Victorian era. Can't you see the elderly lady in a huge
crinoline and a black poke bonnet, and the wizard in a ridiculous hat,
a bottle-green frock-coat, and a flowing tie of black silk?'

'Eliphas remarks that the lady spoke French with a marked English
accent,' pursued Haddo imperturbably. 'She addressed him as follows:
"Sir, I am aware that the law of secrecy is rigorous among adepts; and I
know that you have been asked for phenomena, but have declined to gratify
a frivolous curiosity. It is possible that you do not possess the
necessary materials. I can show you a complete magical cabinet, but I
must require of you first the most inviolable silence. If you do not
guarantee this on your honour, I will give the order for you to be driven
home."'

Oliver Haddo told his story not ineffectively, but with a comic gravity
that prevented one from knowing exactly how to take it.

'Having given the required promise Eliphas Levi was shown a collection of
vestments and of magical instruments. The lady lent him certain books of
which he was in need; and at last, as a result of many conversations,
determined him to attempt at her house the experience of a complete
evocation. He prepared himself for twenty-one days, scrupulously
observing the rules laid down by the Ritual. At length everything
was ready. It was proposed to call forth the phantom of the divine
Apollonius, and to question it upon two matters, one of which concerned
Eliphas Levi and the other, the lady of the crinoline. She had at first
counted on assisting at the evocation with a trustworthy person, but at
the last moment her friend drew back; and as the triad or unity is
rigorously prescribed in magical rites, Eliphas was left alone. T