" He slowly nodded his hairless
head.
CHAPTER XX
KAZMAH'S METHODS
Rita Dresden married Monte Irvin in the spring and bade farewell to
the stage. The goal long held in view was attained at last. But
another farewell which at one time she had contemplated eagerly no
longer appeared desirable or even possible. To cocamania had been
added a tolerance for opium, and at the last party given by Cyrus
Kilfane she had learned that she could smoke nearly as much opium as
the American habitue.
The altered attitude of Sir Lucien surprised and annoyed her. He, who
had first introduced her to the spirit of the coca leaf and to the
goddess of the poppy, seemed suddenly to have determined to convince
her of the folly of these communions. He only succeeded in losing her
confidence. She twice visited the "House of a Hundred Raptures" with
Mollie Gretna, and once with Mollie and Kilfane, unknown to Sir
Lucien.
Urgent affairs of some kind necessitated his leaving England a few
weeks before the date fixed for Rita's wedding, and as Kilfane had
already returned to America, Rita recognized with a certain dismay
that she would be left to her own resources--handicapped by the
presence of a watchful husband. This subtle change in her view of
Monte Irvin she was incapable of appreciating, for Rita was no
psychologist.
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