First Aid 273
its defenders does not come from any diminution in the
fighting power of the individual soldiers ; its military
value is not sensibly diminished by the loss of the
few men at the point of attack. It has become worth-
less because their regular arrangement has been thrown
into disorder.
“At the Battle of Waterloo,” said King Lamus,
turning from the wall and going back to his coffee,
‘“‘ Napoleon sent forward the Old Guard. A few minutes
later he cried, ‘They are mixed,’ and drove in despair
from the field. He did not have to wait to see them
destroyed.”’
Lou’s breath was coming in great gasps. She had
understood the essence of our friend’s tactics.
We looked abominably ill ; we were actually suffering
at the moment from the craving, and embarrassed by
the presence of Maisie Jacobs. We did not want to take
it in front of her. And yet we knew that we had won
the victory. It might be a matter of weeks or months ;
we didn’t even care. We were content to have mastered
the principle of the thing. It would be easy to attack
those clusters of crosses, and eliminate them little by
little.
King Lamus asked Maisie to sing. Luckily there was
a baby grand in the room. He sat down and began to
accompany her. I found myself enthralled by watching
the man’s mind work. It taught me something con-
stantly.
This last act, for example. We couldn’t go out as
we were, and the singing would be an alternative
distraction. At the same time, he wanted Maisie’s
back turned so that we could take our heroin.
We wanted it very badly indeed; and yet—so
strange is nature |—we were just as ashamed to take
it secretly as a moment before we had been to take it
openly.
The thought hit me between the eyes.
It has already been mentioned that Lou and I both
had the impulse to conceal the act from each other