Sin. She would arrange parties,
or would prepare the "Hundred Raptures" in Limehouse for visitors;
but, except in the form of opiated cigarettes, she could rarely be
induced to part with any of the precious gum. Thus she cleverly kept a
firm hold upon 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.
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