Diary of a Drug Fiend

At Telepylus 317 broken. But Lamus had already left the table. Athena explained that the theory of meals in the Abbey was that they were deplorable interruptions to work, and that ‘‘ Will ’’ was said before beginning to eat in order to emphasise the fact that the only excuse for eating was that it was necessary to keep one’s body in con- dition to assist one in the performance of the Great Work, whatever that might be in any particular case. When any one had finished he or she got up and went away without ceremony, the interruption being over. Lamus now came out of the house in a flannel shirt and buckskin riding breeches. He sat down and began to drink his coffee and Benedictine. He was smoking a thin, black cigar, so strong that its very appearance was alarming. “IT hope you'll excuse me this afternoon,” he said, “ T have to go and inspect the other houses. This house is the antechamber, so to speak, where we receive strangers. In the other houses, various courses of training are carried on according to the Wills of their inhabitants. You will sleep here, of course, and con- sidering the reason for which you have come—No, Dionysus, this isn’t the time to say ‘He shall fall down into the pit called Because, and there he shall perish with the dogs of Reason’—I will sleep down here for the present instead of in my lonely little tower, as I usually do.” We noticed that Cypris and the boys had slipped away quietly; but Athena sat engrossed in studying us, ** In the absence of Lala,’ he said, ‘‘ Sister Athena is our chief psychologist. You will find her knowledge very useful to you and your work. I will leave her to talk things over with you for the next couple of hours. But, of course, the first thing is to get you rested from your journey.” He got up and walked off round the corner of the house. We didn’t feel that we needed rest, we were much too interested by the atmosphere of the place.