Back in London

Sturgis visits Lee Po, and then returns to his rooms to smoke a ball of opium.....he falls asleep and dreams vividly of strange warriors and brazen women partying wantonly in a great hall with pillars that rise up so high they are lost in a mist......he drinks from a golden cup, and eats his fill from a table laden with rich viands.....a beautiful woman with red lips and dark eyes smiles at him and laughs with him.....outside a wet snow begins to fall on the filth of the Soho streets.....urchins huddle in alleys, cursing the cold.....gin-soaked sailors, their wages wasted, wander back towards the river.....gentlemen in their oak and leather club rooms sip their port and sigh, close by the warmth of the fire.....a sinister looking fellow stands just outside the circle of light from a gas lamp on a nameless street, gathering his long cape closer around his lean body....his hair is perfect.....his lips draw back to reveal long pointed canines....his tongue plays around his lips....he idly fingers his chin-whiskers......