But it is foreign from the purpose of this plain record to
enlist sympathy for the recorder.  The topic upon which, here,
I have ventured to touch was one fascinating enough to me;
I cannot hope that it holds equal charm for any other. 
Let us return to that which it is my duty to narrate and let
us forget my brief digression.

It is a fact, singular, but true, that few Londoners know London.  Under the guidance of my friend, Nayland Smith, I had learned, since his return from Burma, how there are haunts in the very heart of the metropolis whose existence is unsuspected by all but the few; places unknown even to the ubiquitous copy-hunting pressman.

Into a quiet thoroughfare not two minutes’ walk from the pulsing life of Leicester Square, Smith led the way.  Before a door sandwiched in between two dingy shop-fronts he paused and turned to me.

“Whatever you see or hear,” he cautioned, “express no surprise.”

A cab had dropped us at the corner.  We both wore dark suits and fez caps with black silk tassels.  My complexion had been artificially reduced to a shade resembling the deep tan of my friend’s.  He rang the bell beside the door.

Almost immediately it was opened by a negro woman—­gross, hideously ugly.

Smith uttered something in voluble Arabic.  As a linguist his attainments were a constant source of surprise.  The jargons of the East, Far and Near, he spoke as his mother tongue.  The woman immediately displayed the utmost servility, ushering us into an ill-lighted passage, with every evidence of profound respect.  Following this passage, and passing an inner door, from beyond whence proceeded bursts of discordant music, we entered a little room bare of furniture, with coarse matting for mural decorations, and a patternless red carpet on the floor.  In a niche burned a common metal lamp.

The negress left us, and close upon her departure entered a very aged man with a long patriarchal beard, who greeted my friend with dignified courtesy.  Following a brief conversation, the aged Arab—­for such he appeared to be—­ drew aside a strip of matting, revealing a dark recess.  Placing his finger upon his lips, he silently invited us to enter.

We did so, and the mat was dropped behind us.  The sounds of crude music were now much plainer, and as Smith slipped a little shutter aside I gave a start of surprise.

Beyond lay a fairly large apartment, having divans or low seats around three of its walls.  These divans were occupied by a motley company of Turks, Egyptians, Greeks, and others; and I noted two Chinese.  Most of them smoked cigarettes, and some were drinking.  A girl was performing a sinuous dance upon the square carpet occupying the center of the floor, accompanied by a young negro woman upon a guitar and by several members of the assembly who clapped their hands to the music or hummed a low, monotonous melody.