the past life of mrs. monte irvin, in which at this time three distinct groups of investigators became interested—namely, those of whitehall, scotland yard, and fleet street—was of a character to have horrified the prudish, but to have excited the compassion of the wise.
daughter of a struggling suburban solicitor, rita esden, at the age of seventeen, from a delicate and rather commonplace child began to develop into a singularly pretty girl of an elusive and fascinating type of beauty, almost ethereal in her dainty coloring, and possessed of large and remarkably fine eyes, together with a wealth of copper-red hair, a crown which seemed too heavy for her slender neck to support. her father viewed her increasing charms and ever-growing list of admirers with the gloomy apprehension of a disappointed man who had come to look upon each gift of the gods as a new sorrow cunningly disguised. her mother, on the contrary, fanned the girl's natural vanity and ambition with a success which rarely attended the enterprises of this foolish old woman, and rita proving to be endowed with a moderately good voice, a stage career was determined upon without reference to the contrary wishes of mr. esden.
following the usual brief “training” which is counted sufficient for an aspirant to musical comedy honors, rita, by the prefixing of two letters to her name, set out to conquer the play-going world as rita dresden.
two years of hard work and disappointment served to dispel the girl's illusions. she learned to appreciate at its true value that masculine admiration which, in an unusual degree, she had the power to excite. those of her admirers who were in a position to assist her professionally were only prepared to use their influence upon terms which she was unprepared to accept. those whose intentions were strictly creditable, by some malignancy of fate, possessed no influence whatever. she came to regard herself as a peculiarly unlucky girl, being ignorant of the fact that fortune, an impish hierophant, imposes identical tests upon every candidate who aspires to the throne of a limelight princess.
matters stood thus when a new suitor appeared in the person of sir lucien pyne. when his card was brought up to rita, her heart leaped because of a mingled emotion of triumph and fear which the sight of the baronet's name had occasioned. he was a director of the syndicate in whose production she was playing—a man referred to with awe by every girl in the company as having it in his power to make or mar a professional reputation. not that he took any active part in the affairs of the concern; on the contrary, he was an aristocrat who held himself aloof from all matters smacking of commerce, but at the same time one who invested his money shrewdly. sir lucien's protegee of today was london's idol of tomorrow, and even before rita had spoken to him she had fought and won a spiritual battle between her true self and that vain, admiration-loving rita dresden who favored capitulation.
she knew that sir lucien's card represented a signpost at the cross-roads where many a girl, pretty but not exceptionally talented, had hesitated with beating heart. it was no longer a question of remaining a member of the chorus (and understudy for a small part) or of accepting promotion to “lead” in a new production; it was that of accepting whatever sir lucien chose to offer—or of retiring from the profession so far as this powerful syndicate was concerned.
such was the reputation enjoyed at this time by sir lucien pyne among those who had every opportunity of forming an accurate opinion.
nevertheless, rita was determined not to succumb without a struggle. she did not count herself untalented nor a girl to be lightly valued, and sir lucien might prove to be less black than rumor had painted him. as presently appeared, both in her judgment of herself and in that of sir lucien, she was at least partially correct. he was very courteous, very respectful, and highly attentive.
her less favored companions smiled significantly when the familiar rolls-royce appeared at the stage door night after night, never doubting that rita dresden was chosen to “star” in the forthcoming production, but, with rare exceptions, frankly envying her this good fortune.
rita made no attempt to disillusion them, recognizing that it must fail. she was resigned to being misjudged. if she could achieve success at that price, success would have been purchased cheaply.
that sir lucien was deeply infatuated she was not slow to discover, and with an address perfected by experience and a determination to avoid the easy path inherited from a father whose scrupulous honesty had ruined his professional prospects, she set to work to win esteem as well as admiration.
sir lucien was first surprised, then piqued, and finally interested by such unusual tactics. the second phase was the dangerous one for rita, and during a certain luncheon at romanos her fate hung in the balance. sir lucien realized that he was in peril of losing his head over this tantalizingly pretty girl who gracefully kept him at a distance, fencing with an adroitness which was baffling, and sir lucien pyne had set out with no intention of doing anything so preposterous as falling in love. keenly intuitive, rita scented danger and made a bold move. carelessly rolling a bread-crumb along the cloth:
“i am giving up the stage when the run finishes,” she said.
“indeed,” replied sir lucien imperturbably. “why?”
“i am tired of stage life. i have been invited to go and live with my uncle in new york and have decided to accept. you see”—she bestowed upon him a swift glance of her brilliant eyes—“men in the theatrical world are not all like you. real friends, i mean. it isn't very nice, sometimes.”
sir lucien deliberately lighted a cigarette. if rita was bluffing, he mused, she had the pluck to make good her bluff. and if she did so? he dropped the extinguished match upon a plate. did he care? he glanced at the girl, who was smiling at an acquaintance on the other side of the room. fortune's wheel spins upon a needle point. by an artistic performance occupying less than two minutes, but suggesting that rita possessed qualities which one day might spell success, she had decided her fate. her heart was beating like a hammer in her breast, but she preserved an attitude of easy indifference. without for a moment believing in the american uncle, sir lucien did believe, correctly, that rita dresden was about to elude him. he realized, too, that he was infinitely more interested than he had ever been hitherto, and more interested than he had intended to become.
this seemingly trivial conversation was a turning point, and twelve months later rita dresden was playing the title role in the maid of the masque. sir lucien had discovered himself to be really in love with her, and he might quite possibly have offered her marriage even if a dangerous rival had not appeared to goad him to that desperate leap—for so he regarded it. monte irvin, although considerably rita's senior, had much to commend him in the eyes of the girl—and in the eyes of her mother, who still retained a curious influence over her daughter. he was much more wealthy than pyne, and although the latter was a baronet, irvin was certain to be knighted ere long, so that rita would secure the appendage of “lady” in either case. also, his reputation promised a more reliable husband than sir lucien could be expected to make. moreover, rita liked him, whereas she had never sincerely liked and trusted sir lucien. and there was a final reason—of which mrs. esden knew nothing.
on the first night that rita had been entrusted with a part of any consequence—and this was shortly after the conversation at romanos—she had discovered herself to be in a state of hopeless panic. all her scheming and fencing would have availed her nothing if she were to break down at the critical moment. it was an eventuality which sir lucien had foreseen, and he seized the opportunity at once of securing a new hold upon the girl and of rendering her more pliable than he had hitherto found her to be. at this time the idea of marriage had not presented itself to sir lucien.
some hours before the performance he detected her condition of abject fright... and from his waistcoat pocket he took a little gold snuff-box.
at first the girl declined to follow advice which instinctively she distrusted, and sir lucien was too clever to urge it upon her. but he glanced casually at his wrist-watch—and poor rita shuddered. the gold box was hidden again in the baronet's pocket.
to analyze the process which thereupon took place in rita's mind would be a barren task, since its result was a foregone conclusion. daring ambition rather than any merely abstract virtue was the keynote of her character. she had rebuffed the advances of sir lucien as she had rebuffed others, primarily because her aim in life was set higher than mere success in light comedy. this she counted but a means to a more desirable end—a wealthy marriage. to the achievement of such an alliance the presence of an accepted lover would be an obstacle; and true love rita dresden had never known. yet, short of this final sacrifice which some women so lightly made, there were few scruples which she was not prepared to discard in furtherance of her designs. her morality, then, was diplomatic, for the vice of ambition may sometimes make for virtue.
rita's vivacious beauty and perfect self-possession on the fateful night earned her a permanent place in stageland: rita dresden became a “star.” she had won a long and hard-fought battle; but in avoiding one master she had abandoned herself to another.
the triumph of her debut left her strangely exhausted. she dreaded the coming of the second night almost as keenly as she had dreaded the ordeal of the first. she struggled, poor victim, and only increased her terrors. not until the clock showed her that in twenty minutes she must make her first entrance did she succumb. but sir lucien's gold snuff-box lay upon her dressing-table—and she was trembling. when at last she heard the sustained note of the oboe in the orchestra giving the pitch to the answering violins, she raised the jewelled lid of the box.
so she entered upon the path which leads down to destruction, and since to conjure with the drug which pharmacists know as methylbenzoyl ecgonine is to raise the demon insomnia, ere long she found herself exploring strange by-paths in quest of sleep.
by the time that she was entrusted with the leading part in the maid of the masque, she herself did not recognize how tenacious was the hold which this fatal habit had secured upon her. in the company of sir lucien pyne she met other devotees, and for a time came to regard her unnatural mode of existence as something inseparable from the bohemian life. to the horrible side of it she was blind.
it was her meeting with monte irvin during the run of this successful play which first awakened a dawning comprehension; not because she ascribed his admiration to her artificial vivacity, but because she realized the strength of the link subsisting between herself and sir lucien. she liked and respected irvin, and as a result began to view her conduct from a new standpoint. his life was so entirely open and free from reproach while part of her own was dark and secret. she conceived a desire to be done with that dark and secret life.
this was a shadow-land over which sir lucien pyne presided, and which must be kept hidden from monte irvin; and it was not until she thus contemplated cutting herself adrift from it all that she perceived the gordian knot which bound her to the drug coterie. how far, yet how smoothly, by all but imperceptible stages she had glided down the stream since that night when the gold box had lain upon her dressing-table! kazmah's drug store in bond street had few secrets for her; or so she believed. she knew that the establishment of the strange, immobile egyptian was a source from which drugs could always be obtained; she knew that the dream-reading business served some double purpose; but she did not know the identity of kazmah.
two of the most insidious drugs familiar to modern pharmacy were wooing her to slavery, and there was no strong hand to hold her back. even the presence of her mother might have offered some slight deterrent at this stage of rita's descent, but the girl had quitted her suburban home as soon as her salary had rendered her sufficiently independent to do so, and had established herself in a small but elegant flat situated in the heart of theatreland.
but if she had walked blindly into the clutches of cocaine and veronal, her subsequent experiments with chandu were prompted by indefensible curiosity, and a false vanity which urged her to do everything that was “done” by the ultra-smart and vicious set of which she had become a member.
her first introduction to opium-smoking was made under the auspices of an american comedian then appearing in london, an old devotee of the poppy, and it took place shortly after sir lucien pyne had proposed marriage to rita. this proposal she had not rejected outright; she had pleaded time for consideration. monte irvin was away, and rita secretly hoped that on his return he would declare himself. meanwhile she indulged in every new craze which became fashionable among her associates. a chandu party took place at the american's flat in duke street, and rita, who had been invited, and who had consented to go with sir lucien pyne, met there for the first time the woman variously known as “lola” and “mrs. sin.”
