conscious of a growing, pleasurable
excitement. When by evaporation the chandu had become reduced to the
size of a small pea, and a vague spirituous blue flame began to dance
round the end of the spatula, Mrs. Sin pressed it adroitly into the tiny
bowl of one of the ivory pipes, having first held the bowl inverted for
a moment over the lamp. She turned to Rita.

"The guest of the evening," she said. "Do not be afraid. Inhale--oh, so
gentle--and blow the smoke from the nostrils. You know how to smoke?"

"The same as a cigarette?" asked Rita excitedly, as Mrs. Sin bent over
her.

"The same, but very, very gentle."

Rita took the pipe and raised the mouthpiece to the lips.

CHAPTER XIV. IN THE SHADE OF THE LONELY PALM

Persian opium of good quality contains from ten to fifteen percent
morphine, and chandu made from opium of Yezd would contain perhaps
twenty-five per cent of this potent drug; but because in the act of
smoking distillation occurs, nothing like this quantity of morphine
reaches the smoker. To the distilling process, also, may be due
the different symptoms resulting from smoking chandu and injecting
morphia--or drinking tincture of opium, as De Quincey did.

Rita found the flavor of the preparation to be not entirely unpleasant.
Having overcome an initial aversion, caused by its marked medicinal
tang, she grew reconciled to it and finished her first smoke without
experiencing any other effect than a sensation of placid contentment.
Deftly, Mrs. Sin renewed the pipe. Silence had fallen upon the party.

The second "pill" was no more than half consumed when a growing feeling
of nausea seized upon the novice, becoming so marked that she dropped
the ivory pipe weakly and uttered a faint moan.

Instantly, silently, Mrs. Sin was beside her.

"Lean forward--so," she whispered, softly, as if fearful of intruding
her voice upon these sacred rites. "In a moment you will be better.
Then, if you feel faint, lie back. It is the sleep. Do not fight against
it."

The influence of the stronger will prevailed. Self-control and judgment
are qualities among the first to succumb to opium. Rita ceased to think
longingly of the clean, fresh air, of escape from these sickly fumes
which seemed now to fill the room with a moving vacuum. She bent
forward, her chin resting upon her breast, and gradually the deathly
sickness passed. Mentally, she underwent a change, too. From an active
state of resistance the ego traverse