Diary of a Drug Fiend

Love under Will 353 There was a twinkle in his eye which warned me that he had another surprise in store for me; I had b to realise that he took a school-boyish delight in pulling people’s legs. He seemed to enjoy leading one on, putting one in a false position, and making a mystery out of the most commonplace circumstances. It was extremely idiotic and extremely annoying; but at the same time one had to admit that the result of his method was to add a sort of spice to life. I remembered a remark of Maisie Jacobs: ‘‘ Never dull where Lamus is.” The events had been of an ordinary and insignificant character, and yet he had given a value to each one. He made life taste like it does when one is using heroin and cocaine, yet he did it without actual extravagance. I could understand how it was that he had his unique reputation for leading a fantastic life, and yet how no one could put a finger on any particular exploit as extraordinary in itself. I picked myself slowly together, and, after removing a few thorns from my bare legs, was sufficiently master of myself to say :— “So this is the workshop? ” “Once again, Sir Peter,” replied Lamus, “ your intuition has proved itself infallible. And once again your incomparable gift of expression has couched the facts in a tersely epigrammatic form, which Julius Cesar and Martial might despair of editing.”’ He opened the door of the house, repeating his old formula :— “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” Till that moment I had found the phrase by turns ridiculous, annoying, or tedious. It had completely lost these attributes. The dry bones lived. I thrilled to the marrow as he uttered it. A soft, sweet voice, strangely familiar, answered him out of the vast, dim room. Dim, for the blinding sunlight of the open air was unable wholly to illuminate the interior to my contracted pupils.