reached the untidy-looking avenue, and a few minutes later arrived at the
house. Quest looked around him in something like bewilderment.

"Say, fancy keeping a big place like this, all overgrown and like a
wilderness!" he exclaimed. "If the Professor can't afford a few gardeners,
why doesn't he take a comfortable flat down town."

"I think it's a horrible place," Lenora agreed. "I hope I never come here
again."

"Pretty well obsessed, these scientific men get," Quest muttered. "I
suppose this is the front door."

They passed under the portico and knocked. There was no reply. Quest
searched in vain for a bell. They walked round the piazza. There were no
signs of any human life. The windows were curtainless and displayed vistas
of rooms practically devoid of furniture. They came back to the front
door. Quest tried the handle and found it open. They passed into the hall.

"Hospitable sort of place, any way," he remarked. "We'll go in and wait,
Lenora."

They found their way to the study, which seemed to be the only habitable
room. Lenora glanced around at its strange contents with an expression
almost of awe.

"Fancy a man living in a muddle like this!" she exclaimed. "Not a picture,
scarcely a carpet, uncomfortable chairs--nothing but bones and skeletons
and mummies and dried-up animals. A man with tastes like this, Mr. Quest,
must have a very different outlook upon life from ordinary human beings."