“Well, Leon,” Kelson ejaculated, “magic and sorcery do seem a trifle out of date, don’t they?  Could any one look out of the window at what is going on in the streets below, and at the same time believe in fairies and hobgoblins?  Still the book made a bit of an impression on me, so that I’m inclined to agree with you.  Anyway, go ahead!  Ed is agreeable, aren’t you, Ed?”

Curtis gave a sulky nod.  “I’m not averse to anything that may put us in the way of a livelihood,” he said.

Hamar, somewhat appeased, briefly informed them of the tests and other preliminaries necessary for the acquirement of the Black Art, and without more ado proposed that they—­the three of them—­should form a Syndicate and call it the Sorcery Company Limited.  “To begin with,” he said, “we might sell tricks and spells, and later on tackle something more subtle.  Why, we could soon knock all the jugglers and doctors on the head—­and make a huge fortune.”

“That is to say if it isn’t all humbug!” Curtis observed.

“Well—­do you or don’t you think it worth trying?” Hamar cut in.  “You call me a Jew—­but Jews, you know, have a tolerably cool head, and a keen faculty for business.  They don’t touch anything unless it is pretty certain to bring them in money.  Will you try?”

“Y-e-s!” Curtis said slowly; “I’ll try.”

“And you, Matt?” Hamar queried.  “We must have three.”

“I don’t mind trying,” Kelson replied.  “I expect it will be only a try.”

“That settles it, then!” Hamar cried.  “Now, we’ll get to business.  To begin with we’re all wholly occupied with things of this world—­money chiefly!”

“Sometimes music!” Curtis said sententiously.

“And sometimes girls,” Kelson joined in.  “Music’s a pose on Ed’s part.  I don’t believe he really cares a bit for it.  He’s far too material.”

“Just what I want him to be!” Hamar laughed.  “Girls are material enough too—­especially when you take them out to supper.  Anyhow, money is our first consideration, isn’t it?”

To this there was general assent.

“The preliminary requirement is fixed then,” Hamar said.  “Now for the week of wild oats!  Lying, stealing, cheating—­anything to counteract the code of Moses!  Let’s take them in turn.  Lying won’t trouble us much.  Every one lies.  Lying is the stock-in-trade of doctors, lawyers, sky pilots, storekeepers—­”

“And dentists!” Curtis chimed in.

“And shop girls!” Kelson added.

“All women—­rich as well as poor!” Hamar went on.  “Lying is woman’s birthright.  She lies about her age, her looks, her clothes—­everything.  With a lie she sends callers away, and when she is in the mood, entertains them with lies.  Women are born liars, but they are not the only liars.  In these days of keen competition every one lies—­every editor, publisher, undertaker, piano-tuner, dustman—­they couldn’t live if they didn’t.  Moreover lying is natural to us all.  Every child lies as soon as it can speak; and education merely teaches him to lie the more effectually.  Lying comes just as natural as sweating—­”