n the
devotees of the poppy.

Drug-takers form a kind of brotherhood, and outside the charmed
circle they are secretive as members of the Mafia, the Camorra, or the
Catouse-Menegant.

In this secrecy, which, indeed, is a recognized symptom of drug mania,
lay Kazmah's security. Rita experienced no desire to peer behind the
veil which, literally and metaphorically, he had placed between himself
and the world. At first she had been vaguely curious, and had questioned
Sir Lucien and others, but nobody seemed to know the real identity of
Kazmah, and nobody seemed to care provided that he continued to
supply drugs. They all led secret, veiled lives, these slaves of the
laboratory, and that Kazmah should do likewise did not surprise them. He
had excellent reasons.

During this early stage of faint curiosity she had suggested to Sir
Lucien that for Kazmah to conduct a dream-reading business seemed to be
to add to the likelihood of police interference.

The baronet had smiled sardonically.

"It is an additional safeguard," he had assured her. "It corresponds to
the method of a notorious Paris assassin who was very generally
regarded by the police as a cunning pickpocket. Kazmah's business of
'dreamreading' does not actually come within the Act. He is clever
enough for that. Remember, he does not profess to tell fortunes. It also
enables him to balk idle curiosity."

At the time of her marriage Rita was hopelessly in the toils, and
had been really panic-stricken at the prospect--once so golden--of a
protracted sojourn abroad. The war, which rendered travel impossible,
she regarded rather in the light of a heaven-sent boon. Irvin, though
personally favoring a quiet ceremony, recognized that Rita cherished
a desire to quit theatreland in a chariot of fire, and accordingly the
wedding was on a scale of magnificence which outshone that of any other
celebrated during the season. Even the lugubrious Mr. Esden, who gave
his daughter away, was seen to smile twice. Mrs. Esden moved in a
rarified atmosphere of gratified ambition and parental pride, which no
doubt closely resembled that which the angels breathe.

It was during the early days of her married life, and while Sir Lucien
was still abroad, that Rita began to experience difficulty in obtaining
the drugs which she required. She had lost touch to a certain extent
with her former associates; but she had retained her maid, Nina, and the
girl regularly went to Kazmah's and ret