oth. He took it off. The vessel was about four feet high,
round, and shaped somewhat like a washing tub, but it was made of glass
more than an inch thick. In it a spherical mass, a little larger than a
football, of a peculiar, livid colour. The surface was smooth, but rather
coarsely grained, and over it ran a dense system of blood-vessels. It
reminded the two medical men of those huge tumours which are preserved in
spirit in hospital museums. Susie looked at it with an incomprehensible
disgust. Suddenly she gave a cry.

'Good God, it's moving!'

Arthur put his hand on her arm quickly to quieten her and bent down with
irresistible curiosity. They saw that it was a mass of flesh unlike that
of any human being; and it pulsated regularly. The movement was quite
distinct, up and down, like the delicate heaving of a woman's breast when
she is asleep. Arthur touched the thing with one finger and it shrank
slightly.

'Its quite warm,' he said.

He turned it over, and it remained in the position in which he had placed
it, as if there were neither top nor bottom to it. But they could see
now, irregularly placed on one side, a few short hairs. They were just
like human hairs.

'Is it alive?' whispered Susie, struck with horror and amazement.

'Yes!'

Arthur seemed fascinated. He could not take his eyes off the loathsome
thing. He watched it slowly heave with even motion.

'What can it mean?' he asked.

He looked at Dr Porhoet with pale startled face. A thought was coming to
him, but a thought so unnatural, extravagant, and terrible that he pushed
it from him with a movement of both hands, as though it were a material
thing. Then all three turned around abruptly with a start, for they heard
again the wild gibbering which had first shocked their ears. In the
wonder of this revolting object they had forgotten all the rest. The
sound seemed extraordinarily near, and Susie drew back instinctively, for
it appeared to come from her very side.

'There's nothing here,' said Arthur. 'It must be in the next room.'

'Oh, Arthur, let us go,' cried Susie. 'I'm afraid to see what may be in
store for us. It is nothing to us; and what we see may poison our sleep
for ever.'

She looked appealingly at Dr Porhoet. He was white and anxious. The heat
of that place had made the sweat break out on his forehead.

'I have seen enough. I want to see no more,' he said.

'Then you may go, both of you,' answered Arthur. 'I do not wish to forc