Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-22
CHAPTER VII.

. 1t was chill November afternoon In the
same year and Lily was seated in her pri-
vate room at Thurso House, writing busily
and fiercely, as if to absorb herself in
what she was doing. Her secretary, to
whom she had dictated replies to some fif-
ty letters less private than those she was
herself engaged on had just left her, but
this pile which stood by her on her table
she felt she had better answer herself.
The room where she sat was one of her
own private suite. which she occupied when,
as now, she had come hurriedly to London,
meaning only to stop day or two and do
some necessary business, and 1t was not
worth while to open the whole house. There
was a bed room and bath room belonging
to it. and another small sitting room. where
she had her meals. Before that she had
been paying visits for a month since she
came down from Scotland, and Thurso had,
as far as she knew, been doing the same
though in other houses, and this week
she had been here ten days now-they were
to have entertained at their house In Nor
folk. But the party had had to be put off
For on her arrival suddenly at Thurso
House. she had found that her husband
was already here-he had been here for
a fortnight alone. just with his valet and
a couple of maid-servants, one to cook,
one to clean up. He had excused himself
and had come here to live in the hell-para-
disc of opium. Lady Thurso had tele-
graped for Maud, who was more use than
anybody else with her brother, and the two
had been here now for ten days.
Since last June the habit had gained on
him with awful strides; for a few months
efforts to throw 1t off. He had seen doc
tors, he had done all that there lay in
bis power to do. But with fearful rapidity
2 sort of atrophy of his will had set In.
to be a free man again, and though his
will had so completely been dominated by
the drug, 1t had left the calculating schem-
Ing part of his brain untouched and in Or
der to obtain the drug since the chemists
with whom he habitually dealed had been
ordered not to give 1t to him, he had gone
to others. Then, about month ago, he
had made what seemed to be the very last
effort of his will. and in Lily's presence
had burned the prescription which enabled
him to obtain II. But three days had not
elapsed after that before he himself forged
another. and Lord Thurso, calling sudden
ly at some big pharmacy, in great pain,
with prescription bearing an eminent doc
tors name. was naturally not refused the
dark blue bottle with It's poison label.
Yet, busily as Lady Thurso dealed with
her correspondence, striving, since at the
moment she could do nothing for her hus-
band, to occupy her mind anyhow rather |
of what was going on, she was alert for |
the interruption she expected. For this
morning Thurso had suddenly collapsed
and for an hour two they thought he
was dying. But the doctors had pulled him
round out OF immediate danger and Sir
James Sanderson, after an hours absence,
had come back again and was with him
now. He had promised to make his report
to Lady Thurso before he left the house
Her pen went rapidly from top to bottom
of the paper, and envelope after envelope
Joined the letters already written. Awful
as the present was. yet in a sense, now
that crisis like this had come it was
more bearable In thought than those grow
Ing anXieties and torments she had suf-
fered In the past. For with the growth OF
the habit his moral perception, like his
will, had seemed to leave him. He had
conceived wholly baseless suspicious against
his wife; he had uttered them: he had
forbidden the house to Count Villars He
had spied on her, he had opened her let
tiers, both those which she wrote and those
which she received-he who few months