That Rita was in desperate trouble
of some kind her husband had not failed to perceive, and her reticence
had quite naturally led him to a certain conclusion. He had sought to
win her confidence by every conceivable means and had failed. At last
had come doubt--and the hateful interview with Spinker.
As Rita turned in at the doorway below Margaret's flat, then, Brisley
was lighting a cigarette in the shelter of a porch nearly opposite,
and Gunn was not far away.
Margaret immediately perceived that her friend's condition was
alarming. But she realized that whatever the cause to which it might
be due, it gave her the opportunity for which she had been waiting.
She wrote a prescription containing one grain of cocaine, but declined
firmly to issue others unless Rita authorized her, in writing, to
undertake a cure of the drug habit.
Rita's disjointed statements pointed to a conspiracy of some kind on
the part of those who had been supplying her with drugs, but Margaret
knew from experience that to exhibit curiosity in regard to the matter
would be merely to provoke evasions.
A hopeless day and a pain-racked, sleepless night found Kazmah's
unhappy victim in the mood for any measure, however desperate, which
should promise even temporary relief.
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