Diary of a Drug Fiend

302 The Diary of a Drug Fiend Lou twisted herself round, and turned savagely on King Lamus. “T hold you to your promise,’ ’ she cried violently. “T hold you to your promise.’ “That, once more,” he said calmly, “is simply because you are a sick woman as much as he is a sick man.” “So it’s honourable to break your word to a sick woman, is it?” she flashed back. like a tigress. A curious smile curled his lips. “Well, what does Sir Peter say ? ” he asked with a kind of lazy humour. I suddenly became acutely conscious of what a ridiculous figure I was cutting, sitting there like a sick monkey with a towel round my head. I tore it off and dashed it to the ground. Lala came forward immediately and picked it up. I felt the action as an insult. I was being treated as a person who is a nuisance making a mess in another man’s studio. The effect was to induce a surly mood. “What I say doesn’t seem to matter,” I answered gruffly. “ But since you ask, I say this. Take her and keep her and let me hear no more of her. And I'll say thank you.” My own voice made me wince. Could it really be I who was indulging in this vulgar repartee ? It was an extraordinary thing the way everything that happened seemed to make my position less and less dignified. The thought was interrupted by Lou’s gleaming tones. “ There, Basil, he sets me free. I come to you without a stain. You can keep your promise without breaking your faith.” She got up from the sofa and went across to his chair. She threw herself at his feet, and buried her face in his knees; while her long arms reached up and groped for his face to stroke it. He patted her head affectionately. “ Yes,”’ he said, ‘‘ we’re free, and I'll keep my promise.