ecame acquainted with Rita Irvin
I learned that she was a victim of the drug habit, and I tried to cure
her. I regret to say that I failed. At that time she had acquired a
taste for opium."

Kerry said not a word, and Margaret raised her head and looked at him
pathetically.

"I can see that you have no pity for the victims of this ghastly vice,
Inspector Kerry," she said.

"I haven't!" he snapped fiercely. "I admit I haven't, miss. It's bad
enough in the heathens, but for an Englishwoman to dope herself is
downright unchristian and beastly."

"Yet I have come across so many of these cases, during the war and
since, that I have begun to understand how easy, how dreadfully easy it
is, for a woman especially, to fall into the fatal habit. Bereavement or
that most frightful of all mental agonies, suspense, will too often lead
the poor victim into the path that promises forgetfulness. Rita Irvin's
case is less excusable. I think she must have begun drug-taking because
of the mental and nervous exhaustion resulting from late hours and
over-much gaiety. The demands of her profession proved too great for
her impaired nervous energy, and she sought some stimulant which would
enable her to appear bright on the stage when actually she should have
been recuperating, in sleep, that loss of vital force which can be
recuperated in no other way."

"But opium!" snapped Kerry.

"I am afraid her other drug habits had impaired her will, and shaken her
self-control. She was tempted to try opium by its promise of a new and
novel excitement."

"Her husband, I take it, was ignorant of all this?"

"I believe he was. Quentin--Mr. Gray--had no idea of it either."

"Then it was Sir Lucien Pyne who was in her confidence in the matter?"

Margaret nodded slowly, still tapping the blotting-pad.

"He used to accompany her to places where drugs could be obtained, and
on several occasions--I cannot say how many--I believe he went with her
to some den in Chinatown. It may have been due to Mr. Irvin's discovery
that his wife could not satisfactorily account for some of these
absences from home which led him to suspect her fidelity."

"Ah!" said Kerry hardly, "I shouldn't wonder. And now"--he thrust out a
pointing finger--"where did she get these drugs?"

Margaret met the fierce stare composedly.

"I have said that I shall be quite frank," she replied. "In my opinion
she obtained them from Kazmah."

"Kazmah!" shouted Kerry. "Excuse me, mi