I have devoted much
attention to the subject, and have spent some twelve months in the opium
provinces of China, you understand. I know how insidious a thing it is,
this opium, and how dreadful a curse it may become when it gets a hold
upon a community. I was formerly engaged upon a most sensational case
in San Francisco; and the horrors of the discoveries which we made
there--the American police and myself--have remained with me ever since.
Pardieu! I cannot forget them! Therefore when I learnt that an organized
attempt was being made to establish elaborate opium dens upon a most
up-to-date plan, in Paris, I exerted myself to the utmost to break up
this scheme in its infancy"...
Dr. Cumberly was hanging upon every word.
"Apart from the physical and moral ruin attendant upon the vice,"
continued Max, "the methods of this particular organization have brought
financial ruin to many." He shook his finger at Dr. Cumberly as if to
emphasize his certainty upon this point. "I will not go into particulars
now, but there is a system of wholesale robbery--sapristi! of most
ingenious brigandage--being practised by this group. Therefore I
congratulated myself upon the inspiration which had led me to mount
Cagliostro's staircase. The way in which these people had conducted
their sinister trade from so public a spot as this was really wonderful,
but I had already learned to respect the ingenuity of the group, or of
the man at the head of it.
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