Diary of a Drug Fiend

266 The Diary of a Drug Fiend of keeping each other up to the mark in the matter of recording the facts. I discovered what had amused King Lamus on the first occasion. I was conscious of a distinct shade of annoyance at having to get up and make a little cross. It had never occurred to me to break my word. There was a fascination in watching the record. The drive was a revelation. It was like coming out of a charnel house into the fresh air. A keen cold wind beat against our faces, almost blinding us. It was not until we reached the inn that we re- membered that we had come out without any heroin. Lamus was immediately all sympathy when he heard of our plight. He offered to go out and get some immediately; but Lala protested that she was dying of hunger, and she was sure that lunch would restore our strength just as well, and King Lamus could go out immediately we were finished eating. We agreed. We could hardly do anything else. As a matter of fact, the fresh air had excited in us both a very keen appetite. The meal did us a lot of good, and at its conclusion our host slipped out unostenta- tiously and returned in ten minutes with a little packet of powder. It struck me as very extraordinary that he should have been able to procure it at so remote a place without a prescription. But Lou’s eyes were fixed on him with an expression of delighted curiosity. I felt as though somehow or other she had divined the secret. She seemed intensely amused at my perplexity, and stroked my hair in her most patronising manner. “You poor brainless creature,” she seemed to be saying with her finger-tips Well, we all had heroin with our second cup of coffee, and my spirits rose immediately. Lamus produced two little note books which he had bought in the village, so that we might record our doses while we were-out and copy them on our charts when we got back.