But so slow was the action of
the drug that dawn had broken ere his eyes closed.
At seven he was awake again, dry-mouthed, feeling stupid and
drowsy, yet incapable of dozing off for more than several minutes
at a time. He abandoned the idea of sleep, ate breakfast in bed,
and devoted himself to the morning papers and the magazines. But
the drug effect held, and he continued briefly to doze through his
eating and reading. It was the same when he showered and dressed,
and, though the drug had brought him little forgetfulness during
the night, he felt grateful for the dreaming lethargy with which it
possessed him through the morning.
It was when his wife arose, her serene and usual self, and came in
to him, smiling and roguish, delectable in her kimono, that the
whim-madness of the opium in his system seized upon him. When she
had clearly and simply shown that she had nothing to tell him under
their ancient compact of frankness, he began building his opium
lie. Asked how he had slept, he replied:
"Miserably. Twice I was routed wide awake with cramps in my feet.
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