“Fan-tan!” he whispered in my ear.
Other forms of gambling were in progress at some of
the tables; and now Fletcher silently drew my attention
to yet a third dimly lighted apartment—this
opening out from the left-hand corner of the principal
room. The atmosphere of the latter was sufficiently
abominable; indeed, the stench was appalling; but a
wave of choking vapor met me as I paused for a moment
at the threshold of this inner sanctuary. I formed
but the vaguest impression of its interior; the smell
was sufficient. This annex was evidently reserved
for opium-smokers.
Fletcher sat down at a small table near by, and I
took a common wooden chair which he thrust forward
with his foot. I was looking around at the sordid
scene, filled with a bitter sense of my own impotency
to aid my missing friend, when that occurred which
set my heart beating wildly at once with hope and
excitement. Fletcher must have seen something
of this in my attitude, for—
“Don’t forget what I told you,”
he whispered. “Be cautious!—be
very cautious!...”
ZARMI OF THE JOY-SHOP
Down the center of the room came a girl carrying the
only ornamental object which thus far I had seen
in the Joy-Shop; a large Oriental brass tray.
She was a figure which must have formed a center of
interest in any place, trebly so, then, in such a place
as this. Her costume consisted in a series of
incongruities, whilst the entire effect was barbaric
and by no means unpicturesque. She wore high-heeled
red slippers, and, as her short gauzy skirt rendered
amply evident, black silk stockings. A brilliantly
colored Oriental scarf was wound around her waist
and knotted in front, its tasseled ends swinging girdle
fashion. A sort of chemise—like the
’anteree of Egyptian women—completed
her costume, if I except a number of barbaric ornaments,
some of them of silver, with which her hands and arms
were bedecked.
But strange as was the girl’s attire, it was
to her face that my gaze was drawn irresistibly.
Evidently, like most of those around us, she was some
kind of half-caste; but, unlike them, she was wickedly
handsome. I use the adverb wickedly with
deliberation; for the pallidly dusky, oval face, with
the full red lips, between which rested a large yellow
cigarette, and the half-closed almond-shaped eyes,
possessed a beauty which might have appealed to an
artist of one of the modern perverted schools, but
which filled me less with admiration than horror.
For I knew her—I recognized her,
from a past, brief meeting; I knew her, beyond all
possibility of doubt, to be one of the Si-Fan group!
This strange creature, tossing back her jet-black,
frizzy hair, which was entirely innocent of any binding
or ornament, advanced along the room towards us, making
unhesitatingly for our table, and carrying her lithe
body with the grace of a Ghazeeyeh.
