I do not employ opium as an aid to my social activities; I
regard it as nepenthe from them and as a key to a brighter realm. It
has been my custom, M. Gianapolis, for many years, periodically to
visit that fairyland. In Paris I regularly arranged my affairs in such a
manner that I found myself occasionally at liberty to spend two or three
days, as the case might be, in the company of my bright friends who
haunted the Boulevard Beaumarchais."
"Ah! Our acquaintance has mentioned something of this to me, Monsieur.
You knew Madame Jean?"
"The dear Madame Jean! Name of a name! She was the hierophant of my
Paris Temple"...
"And Sen?"
"Our excellent Sen! Splendid man! It was from the hands of the worthy
Sen, the incomparable Sen, that I received the key to the gate! Ah! how
I have suffered since the accursed business has exiled me from the"...
"I feel for you," declared Gianapolis, warmly; "I, too, have
worshiped at the shrine; and although I cannot promise that the London
establishment to which I shall introduce you is comparable with that
over which Madame Jean formerly presided"...
"Formerly?" exclaimed M. Gaston, with lifted eyebrows. "You do not tell
me"...
"My friend," said Gianapolis, "in Europe we are less enlightened
upon certain matters than in Smyrna, in Constantinople--in Cairo.
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