Laughing Torso

BACK. TO PARIS AND CELEBRITIES
in the temple had to write their diary every day
and everyone else was allowed to read it. The
climate and the bad food nearly killed Cecil and
Mary, and when they came back to Paris they looked
like two ghosts and were hardly recognizable.
Crowley came to Paris from time to time. He
gave the appearance of being quite bald, with the ex-
ception of a small bunch of hairs on top of his head,
which he twiddled into a point. He shaved the
back of his head and appeared entirely bald. One
fete day I was sitting at the Rotonde and a most
extraordinary spectacle appeared. It wore a mag-
nificent and very expensive grey velours hat.
Underneath, sticking out on each side was a mop
of black frizzy hair and the face was heavily and
very badly painted. This I recognized as Crowley.
He said, " I am going to Montmartre and I don't
know of any suitable cafes to visit." I could not
think of any where he would not cause a sensation,
but I suspected that that was exactly what he
wanted. I told him the names of a few suitable
places and he disappeared. I never saw him in this
disguise again and did not dare enquire whether he
had a successful evening or not. He appeared some-
times in a kilt and got howled down by the Ameri-
cans, who were rude enough to sing Harry Lauder's
songs at him. He had a passion for dressing up.
One day the Countess A., a Frenchwoman, asked
me to lunch. I had been to her home several times
before and we were becoming very friendly. She
spoke excellent English and had heard about
Crowley* She was most anxious to meet him. I