But the effect of the drug habit was pointedly
illustrated by the fact that in a period of little more than six
months, from regarding Monte Irvin as a rock of refuge--a chance of
salvation--she had come to regard him in the light of an obstacle to
her indulgence. Not that her respect had diminished. She really loved
at last, and so well that the idea of discovery by this man whose
wholesomeness was the trait of character which most potently attracted
her, was too appalling to be contemplated. The chance of discovery
would be enhanced, she recognized, by the absence of her friends and
accomplices.
Of course she was acquainted with many other devotees. In fact, she
met so many of them that she had grown reconciled to her habits,
believing them to be common to all "smart" people--a part of the
Bohemian life. The truth of the matter was that she had become a
prominent member of a coterie closely knit and associated by a bond of
mutual vice--a kind of masonry whereof Kazmah of Bond Street was Grand
Master and Mrs. Sin Grand Mistress.
The relations existing between Kazmah and his clients were of a most
peculiar nature, too, and must have piqued the curiosity of anyone but
a drug-slave. Having seen him once, in his oracular cave, Rita had
been accepted as one of the initiated.
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