lf of his rugged, bearded face in brilliant radiance and half in
deepest shadow. He had, it seems, been working of late upon the lowest
forms of life, and what excited him at the present moment was that in the
microscopic slide made up the day before he found the amoeba to be still
alive.

"You can see it for yourselves," he kept repeating in great excitement.
"Summerlee, will you step across and satisfy yourself upon the point?
Malone, will you kindly verify what I say? The little spindle-shaped
things in the centre are diatoms and may be disregarded since they are
probably vegetable rather than animal. But the right-hand side you will
see an undoubted amoeba, moving sluggishly across the field. The upper
screw is the fine adjustment. Look at it for yourselves."

Summerlee did so and acquiesced. So did I and perceived a little
creature which looked as if it were made of ground glass flowing in a
sticky way across the lighted circle. Lord John was prepared to take him
on trust.

"I'm not troublin' my head whether he's alive or dead," said he. "We
don't so much as know each other by sight, so why should I take it to
heart? I don't suppose he's worryin' himself over the state of _our_
health."

I laughed at this, and Challenger looked in my direction with his coldest
and most supercilious stare. It was a most petrifying experience.

"The flippancy of the half-educated is more obstructive to science than
the obtuseness of the ignorant," said he. "If Lord John Roxton would
condescend----"

"My dear George, don't be so peppery," said his wife, with her hand on
the black mane that drooped over the microscope. "What can it matter
whether the amoeba is alive or not?"

"It matters a great deal," said Challenger gruffly.

"Well, let's hear about it," said Lord John with a good-humoured smile.
"We may as well talk about that as anything else. If you think I've been
too off-hand with the thing, or hurt its feelin's in any way, I'll
apologize."

"For my part," remarked Summerlee in his creaky, argumentative voice, "I
can't see why you should attach such importance to the creature being
alive. It is in the same atmosphere as ourselves, so naturally the
poison does not act upon it. If it were outside of this room it would be
dead, like all other animal life."

"Your remarks, my good Summerlee," said Challenger with enormous
condescension (oh, if I could paint that over-bearing, arrogant face in
the vivid ci