"Expected?" he asked.
"An appointment."
"Got your letter?"
I produced the envelope.
"Right!" He seemed to be a person of few words. Following him downthe passage I was suddenly interrupted by a small woman, who steppedout from what proved to be the dining-room door. She was a bright,vivacious, dark-eyed lady, more French than English in her type.
"One moment," she said. "You can wait, Austin. Step in here, sir.May I ask if you have met my husband before?"
"No, madam, I have not had the honor."
"Then I apologize to you in advance. I must tell you that he is aperfectly impossible person--absolutely impossible. If you areforewarned you will be the more ready to make allowances."
"It is most considerate of you, madam."
"Get quickly out of the room if he seems inclined to be violent. Don'twait to argue with him. Several people have been injured through doingthat. Afterwards there is a public scandal and it reflects upon me andall of us. I suppose it wasn't about South America you wanted to seehim?"
I could not lie to a lady.
"Dear me! That is his most dangerous subject. You won't believe aword he says--I'm sure I don't wonder. But don't tell him so, for itmakes him very violent. Pretend to believe him, and you may getthrough all right. Remember he believes it himself. Of that you maybe assured. A more honest man never lived. Don't wait any longer orhe may suspect. If you find him dangerous--really dangerous--ring thebell and hold him off until I come. Even at his worst I can usuallycontrol him."
With these encouraging words the lady handed me over to the taciturnAustin, who had waited like a bronze statue of discretion during ourshort interview, and I was conducted to the end of the passage. Therewas a tap at a door, a bull's bellow from within, and I was face toface with the Professor.
He sat in a rotating chair behind a broad table, which was covered withbooks, maps, and diagrams. As I entered, his seat spun round to faceme. His appearance made me gasp. I was prepared for somethingstrange, but not for so overpowering a personality as this. It was hissize which took one's breath away--his size and his imposing presence.His head was enormous, the largest I have ever seen upon a human being.I am sure that his top-hat, had I ever ventured to don it, would haveslipped over me entirely and rested on my shoulders. He had the faceand beard which I associate with an Assyrian bull; the former florid,the latter so black as almost to have a suspicion of blue, spade-shapedand rippling down over his chest. The hair was peculiar, plastereddown in front in a long, curving wisp over his massive forehead. Theeyes were blue-gray under great black tufts, very clear, very critical,and very masterful. A huge spread of shoulders and a chest like abarrel were the other parts of him which appeared above the table, savefor two enormous hands covered with long black hair. This and abellowing, roaring, rumbling voice made up my first impression of thenotorious Professor Challenger.
"Well?" said he, with a most insolent stare. "What now?"
I must keep up my deception for at least a little time longer,otherwise here was evidently an end of the interview.
"You were good enough to give me an appointment, sir," said I, humbly,producing his envelope.
He took my letter from his desk and laid it out before him.
"Oh, you are the young person who cannot understand plain English, areyou? My general conclusions you are good enough to approve, as Iunderstand?"
"Entirely, sir--entirely!" I was very emphatic.
"Dear me! That strengthens my position very much, does it not? Yourage and appearance make your support doubly valuable. Well, at leastyou are better than that herd of swine in Vienna, whose gregariousgrunt is, however, not more offensive than the isolated effort of theBritish hog." He glared at me as the present representative of thebeast.
"They seem to have behaved abominably," said I.
"I assure you that I can fight my own battles, and that I have nopossible need of your sympathy. Put me alone, sir, and with my back tothe wall. G. E. C. is happiest then. Well, sir, let us do what we canto curtail this visit, which can hardly be agreeable to you, and isinexpressibly irksome to me. You had, as I have been led to believe,some comments to make upon the proposition which I advanced in mythesis."
There was a brutal directness about his methods which made evasiondifficult. I must still make play and wait for a better opening. Ithad seemed simple enough at a distance. Oh, my Irish wits, could theynot help me now, when I needed help so sorely? He transfixed me withtwo sharp, steely eyes. "Come, come!" he rumbled.
"I am, of course, a mere student," said I, with a fatuous smile,"hardly more, I might say, than an earnest inquirer. At the same time,it seemed to me that you were a little severe upon Weissmann in thismatter. Has not the general evidence since that date tended to--well,to strengthen his position?"
"What evidence?" He spoke with a menacing calm.
"Well, of course, I am aware that there is not any what you might callDEFINITE evidence. I alluded merely to the trend of modern thought andthe general scientific point of view, if I might so express it."
He leaned forward with great earnestness.
"I suppose you are aware," said he, checking off points upon hisfingers, "that the cranial index is a constant factor?"
"Naturally," said I.