Pagina 276 de 657

"So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here

a few hours, three pipes, four pipes-I forget how many. But I'll

go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate-poor little Kate. Give

me your hand! Have you a cab?"

"Yes, I have one waiting."

"Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I

owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself."

I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of

sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying

fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed

the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my

skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look

back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I

glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my

side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very

wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between

his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his

fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my

self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of

astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him

but I.