Henry Aimsworth, a weary rare-book dealer trapped in a miserable marriage, has quietly come to regard his wife Emma as a burden he can scarcely endure. When a chance evening alone opens up, he turns from resentment to a more dangerous thought and discovers an odd occult book that offers a simple ritual for summoning a demon. The spell works at once, and the creature who appears is not the monster Henry expected but Alféar, a sharp-featured, yellow-eyed being who settles in as if for dinner and speaks with the dry confidence of a scientist. What follows is a sly, darkly comic collision of domestic frustration, supernatural theory, and moral peril. Over cigarettes and grapes, Alféar explains that magic is really a conditioned reflex and that human witchcraft grew out of centuries of accidental interdimensional mishaps, bureaucratic confusion, and even witch-burnings. As Henry probes the demon's abilities, he realizes Alféar can read his thoughts and may be exactly the instrument he needs. With chilling practicality, he makes his request: he wants Emma dead. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.