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  "'Are you preaching?' asked Athalie, raising her eyes from the Green God."]

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  _By_

  ROBERT W. CHAMBERS

  ILLUSTRATED BY

  EDMUND FREDERICK

  D. APPLETON AND COMPANY NEW YORK AND LONDON: MCMXIV

  COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY

  ROBERT W. CHAMBERS

  Copyright, 1913, by Harper's Bazaar, Inc. Copyright, 1914, by The Star Co.

  Printed in the United States of America

  TO PENELOPE SEARS DEBUTANTE

  _To rhyme your name With something lovely, fresh and young, And sing the same In measures heretofore unsung, Is far beyond me, I'm afraid; I'll not attempt it, dearest maid._

  _No, not in verse, Synthetic, stately, classic, chaste, Shall I rehearse-- Although in perfectly good taste-- A catalogue of every grace That you inherit from your race._

  _Gracious and kind, The gods your beauty gave to you, And with a mind These same kind gods endowed you, too; That charming union is, I fear, Somewhat uncommon on this sphere._

  _I have no doubt That scores of poets chant your fame; No doubt, about A million suitors press their claim; And fashion, elegance and wit Are at your feet inclined to sit._

  _Penelope, The fire-light flickers to and fro: In you I see The winsome child I used to know-- My little Maiden of Romance Still whirling in your Shadow Dance._

  _Though woman-grown, To my unreconciled surprise I gladly own The same light lies within your eyes-- The same sweet candour which beguiled Your rhymster when you were a child._

  _And so I come, With limping verse to you again, Amid the hum Of that young world wherein you reign-- Only a moment to appear And say: "Your rhymster loves you, dear."_

  _R. W. C._

  PREFACE

  Always animated by a desire to contribute in a small way towardscientific investigation, the author offers this humble volume to a moreserious audience than he has so far ventured to address.

  For all those who have outgrown the superficial amusement of merefiction this volume, replete with purpose, is written in hopes that itmay stimulate students to original research in certain obscure realms ofscience, the borderlands of which, hitherto, have been scarcely crossed.

  There is perhaps no division of science as important, none so littleunderstood, as the science of Crystal Gazing.

  A vast field of individual research opens before the earnest, patient,and sober minded investigator who shall study the subject and discoverthose occult laws which govern the intimate relations between crystals,playing cards, cigarettes, soiled pink wrappers, and the Police.

  Amor nihil est celerius!

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  "'Are you preaching?' asked Athalie, raising her eyes from the green god"

  "They inspected each other, apparently bereft of the power of speech"

  "The magnificent realism of it fascinated the Lady Alene"

  "'I am in possession of the dog and you merely claim possession'"

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