Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 14317-h.htm or 14317-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/3/1/14317/14317-h/14317-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/3/1/14317/14317-h.zip) THE SORCERY CLUB by ELLIOTT O'DONNELL Author of _Byways of Ghostland_, _Werwolves_, _Dreams and Their Meanings_, _Some Haunted Houses of England and Wales_, _Scottish Ghost Tales_, _Haunted Houses of London_, etc., etc. London William Rider & Son, Limited 8 Paternoster Row, E.C. 1912 [Illustration: "FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE KEEP OFF!" KELSON SHRIEKED] CONTENTS I HOW THEY FIRST HEARD OF ATLANTIS II THE BLACK ART OF ATLANTIS III LEARNING TO SIN IV THE TESTS V THE INITIATION VI THE FIRST POWER VII SAN FRANCISCO LADIES AND DIVINATION VIII TWO DREAMS IX LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT X HOW THE DREAMS WERE INTERPRETED XI LEON HAMAR CALLS ON THE MARTINS XII THE GREAT CHALLENGE XIII THE MODERN SORCERY CO. LTD. GIVE A GRATIS PERFORMANCE XIV SHIEL TO THE RESCUE XV HOW HAMAR, CURTIS AND KELSON ENTERED THE ASTRAL PLANE XVI HAMAR MAKES ADVANCES XVII THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE XVIII STAGE THREE XIX A SERIES OF MISADVENTURES XX THE STAGE OF HAUNTINGS XXI THE SELLING OF SPELLS XXII THE PERSECUTION OF THE MARTINS XXIII LOVE XXIV THE SUBPOENA XXV CURTIS IN A NEW RÔLE XXVI IN HYDE PARK AT NIGHT XXVII THE RIGHT GIRL TO MARRY XXVIII WHOM WILL HE MARRY? XXIX THE END AND 'THE BEYOND' LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE KEEP OFF," KELSON SHRIEKED (frontispiece) THE INITIATION THEY GAZED FASCINATED THE ROOM FILLED WITH LUMINOUS, STRIPED FIGURES CHAPTER I HOW THEY FIRST HEARD OF ATLANTIS Rain is responsible for a great deal more than the mere growth of vegetables--it is a controller, if a somewhat capricious controller, of man's destiny. It was mainly, if not entirely, owing to rain that the French lost the Battle of Agincourt; whilst, if I mistake not, Confucius alone knows how many victories have been snatched from the Chinese by the same factor.