hey walked was green with rank weeds.
Here and there a fallen tree, which none had troubled to remove, marked
the owner's negligence. Arthur went to the door and rang a bell. They
heard it clang through the house as though not a soul lived there. A man
came to the door, and as soon as he opened it, Arthur, expecting to be
refused admission, pushed in. The fellow was as angry as the virago, his
wife, who explained noisily how the three strangers had got into the
park.

'You can't see the squire, so you'd better be off. He's up in the attics,
and no one's allowed to go to him.'

The man tried to push Arthur away.

'Be off with you, or I'll send for the police.'

'Don't be a fool,' said Arthur. 'I mean to find Mr Haddo.'

The housekeeper and his wife broke out with abuse, to which Arthur
listened in silence. Susie and Dr Porhoet stood by anxiously. They did
not know what to do. Suddenly a voice at their elbows made them start,
and the two servants were immediately silent.

'What can I do for you?'

Oliver Haddo was standing motionless behind them. It startled Susie that
he should have come upon them so suddenly, without a sound. Dr Porhoet,
who had not seen him for some time, was astounded at the change which had
taken place in him. The corpulence which had been his before was become
now a positive disease. He was enormous. His chin was a mass of heavy
folds distended with fat, and his cheeks were puffed up so that his eyes
were preternaturally small. He peered at you from between the swollen
lids. All his features had sunk into that hideous obesity. His ears were
horribly bloated, and the lobes were large and swelled. He had apparently
a difficulty in breathing, for his large mouth, with its scarlet, shining
lips, was constantly open. He had grown much balder and now there was
only a crescent of long hair stretching across the back of his head from
ear to ear. There was something terrible about that great shining scalp.
His paunch was huge; he was a very tall man and held himself erect, so
that it protruded like a vast barrel. His hands were infinitely
repulsive; they were red and soft and moist. He was sweating freely, and
beads of perspiration stood on his forehead and on his shaven lip.

For a moment they all looked at one another in silence. Then Haddo turned
to his servants.

'Go,' he said.

As though frightened out of their wits, they made for the door and with a
bustling hurry flung themselves out. A to