The Washington times., 1931-02-12
CHAPTER 16

1 liked Cne part, the director
was kind to me, I was getting
good salary, and I hoped to
make hit and establish myself
as a real star of the first mag
nitude.
1 had plenty Of dope, and I
knew where 1 could get plenty
more and as long as I had all
I wanted Of that, I was all
right.
knew my day Of reckoning
would come, but I thought I
would be ready to meet it
somehow.
l will finish this picture, I
said to myself, and then I will
break the habit. I'll break it If
1t kills me. I'll go away some
where with mother for a long
rest, and I'll fight it out and get
the best of it.
I shan't let anything like a
little white pellet make a terror
stricken slave of me. No.
thank you, I've seen what it
does to other people. Now that
I know what it is, I've seen it
turn a beautiful girl into a
haggard, trembling, bleary eyed
wreck, and I have known it to
make a sodden tramp of a big,
fine, high minded, intelligent
man.
Not for me, not for Alma Reu'
bens. I'm too intelligent, too
young, too wise, and too strong
to make pitiful fool Of myself
that way.
Visitor Is Announced
And just as I was thinking
these very things, a call boy
stepped up to me as I left the
set for a minute.
There's a man here to see
you," he said. HE says he's
got business with you-ifhpor-
tant business-and it can't
wait"
I didn't know who the man
was, and I didn't know what
the business was, but something
that whispered in my heart like
death itself knocking at the
door told me that the business
was dope.
I thought it was some new
peddler. How did he come to
get my name, I wondered. He
must know I'm on the stuff.
I'll tell him he's wrong. I
never took a grain Of dope in
my life and never intend to
take it, but the man was wait
ing for me. He was a short,
fat man with a broad face, and
he had a rather pleasant, good
humored manner.
He spoke to me like a kindly
man Of middle age speaking to
O child.
But what he said to me
would not have been understood
by any child in the world.
Your name is on my list" he
said. II am a Federal narcotic
officer, and I know you are on
the stuff"
I began to deny it.
The Federal Agent
"Come, come" said the man.
THAT bluff don't go, not with
me. Why, I've talked to your
mother about it already"
MY knees shook under me.
MY mother" I gasped.
Eyes, your mother" said the
man. "I've told her I'm a Fed
eral narcotic agent, and I am.
I've told her I'm a Mason, and
your father was a brother Ma
son, and I'm going to do all I
can to help his little girl out of
this misery she is in"
I could have Rugged him; I
could have carried the little, fat,
elderly man around and around
the lot in a wild dance of joy.
My poor father he had
reached out of the grave to help
me-the little girl that he loved
so dearly and always tried so
hard to protect.
My father a brother Mason.
1t was all like some wonderful
dream, too good to be true.
And 1t was too good to be
true.
1t was lie from beginning
to end; as false lie as was ever
told by the Ancient Father et
lies himself.
The Leech
Yes, he was a Federal mar
cotic agent; that much was
true. I don't know to this day
whether he was Mason or not,
or whether he really knew my
father or not, but this I know:
He came to find me and seek
me out and whisper to me. not
to help me escape from my
slavery, but to drag me farther
down into the mire. He didn't
care how far down l went, so
long as he made money out of
my misery and shame.
Big money, ready money,
steady money.
I had been paying enough for
my dope before he found me.
One hundred and fifty dollars
q tube I had been giving to the
doctor who was selling me the
dope, and that doctor was get
ting those same tubes for one
dollar tube.
But he was a gentle, kindly,
open-hearted. generous philan.
throptst compared to the Fed
eral narcotic agent, who pre-