Diary of a Drug Fiend

298 The Diary of a Drug Fiend No. 2. As you see, it’s half gin and half Calvados, with half a teaspoonful of crémede menthe and about twenty drops of laudanum. You filter it through cracked ice. It’s really the most refreshing thing I know.” I accepted the luxuries automatically, but I couldn’t help fidgeting. I wanted to get down to business. I could feel that something urgent was on hand. I didn’t like the way Lou was acting. She stayed so absolutely still and silent, it was uncanny. Lamus had taken three matches to light his pipe and it kept on going out between almost every puff. By- and-by he threw it angrily on the carpet and lighted a cigar. There was a club fender round the grate. Maisie was sitting on it swinging her legs impatiently. We all seemed to be waiting for something to happen and it was as if nobody knew where to begin. “ Tell him, Lou,” said Lamus suddenly. She started as if he had struck her. Then she turned and faced me. For the first time in my life I realised how tall she was. “‘ Cockie,” she said, “ I’ve come to the cross-roads.” She made a movement of swallowing, tried to go on, and failed. : King Lamus sat up in his chair. He had completely recovered himself; and was watching the scene with impersonal, professional interest. Lala bent over his chair, and whispered long and earnestly 1in his ear. He nodded. Again he cleared his throat, and then began to speak in a strained voice. | “T think the simplest way in the long run is for Lady Pendragon to tell Sir Peter, as she has already told us, exactly what has happened, as if she were in the witness-box.”’ Lou began to twist herself about uneasily. “I’m fed up,” she burst out at last. “The witness will kindly control herself,” remarked Lamus, judicially. The callousness of his tone restored Lou not merely