TOBACCO LEAVES 



slave of the common mistress of the multi- 

 tude. 



Since then, how she has comforted me! 

 I have never wavered in my devotion 

 though, alas, I share her favours with un- 

 numbered rivals. What measureless joy 

 might be mine, I dare not imagine, could 

 I but selfishly keep her all my own. Gar- 

 gantua's most enormous thrill of gigantic 

 ecstasy would seem a throb of pain beside 

 the rapture of such magnificent, illimitable 

 egoism. It is too great for even a dream. 

 'Twould be an eternal ecstasy. 



Save for this wild fantasy of desire, 

 however, born of a fancy as hopeless as 

 it is iridescent, I can have no fault to find 

 with my Lady Nicotine. She has never 

 failed me, never refused me, never disap- 

 pointed me. She has soothed me in trouble, 

 eased me in pain, even calmed my racked 

 nerves when my heart was wrung with sor- 

 row. She is an indulgent mistress, jealous 



153 



