urned with the little flasks of
perfume. When an accredited representative was sent upon such a mission,
Kazmah dispatched the drugs disguised in a scent flask; but on each
successive occasion that Nina went to him the prices increased,
and finally became so exorbitant that even Rita grew astonished and
dismayed.

She mentioned the matter to another habitue, a lady of title addicted to
the use of the hypodermic syringe, and learned that she (Rita) was being
charged nearly twice as much as her friend.

"I should bring the man to his senses, dear," said her ladyship. "I know
a doctor who will be only too glad to supply you. When I say a doctor,
he is no longer recognized by the B.M.A., but he's none the less clever
and kind for all that."

To the clever and kind medical man Rita repaired on the following
day, bearing a written introduction from her friend. The discredited
physician supplied her for a short time, charging only moderate fees.
Then, suddenly, this second source of supply was closed. The man
declared that he was being watched by the police, and that he dared not
continue to supply her with cocaine and veronal. His shifty eyes gave
the lie to his words, but he was firm in his resolution, whatever may
have led him to it, and Rita was driven back to Kazmah. His charges
had become more exorbitant than ever, but her need was imperative.
Nevertheless, she endeavored to find another drug dealer, and after a
time was again successful.

At a certain supper club she was introduced to a suave little man, quite
palpably an uninterned alien, who smilingly offered to provide her
with any drug to be found in the British Pharmacopeia, at most moderate
charges. With this little German-Jew villain she made a pact, reflecting
that, provided that his wares were of good quality, she had triumphed
over Kazmah.

The craving for chandu seized her sometimes and refused to be exorcised
by morphia, laudanum, or any other form of opium; but she had not
dared to spend a night at the "House of a Hundred Raptures" since her
marriage. Her new German friend volunteered to supply the necessary gum,
outfit, and to provide an apartment where she might safely indulge in
smoking. She declined--at first. But finally, on Mollie Gretna's return
from France, where she had been acting as a nurse, Rita and Mollie
accepted the suave alien's invitation to spend an evening in his private
opium divan.

Many thousands of careers were wrecked by the