I prefer that you remain silent."

"You do not understand," broke in the man, "you cannot
guess the horrors that I have seen upon this island,
or the worse horrors that are to come. Could you dream
of what lies in store for you, you would seek death rather
than face the future. I have been loyal to your father,
Virginia, but were you not blind, or indifferent,
you would long since have seen that your welfare
means more to me than my loyalty to him--
more to me than my life or my honor.

"You asked where the creature came from that attacked
you today. I shall tell you. It is one of a dozen
similarly hideous things that your father has created
in his mad desire to solve the problem of life.
He has solved it; but, God, at what a price
in misshapen, soulless, hideous monsters!"

The girl looked up at him, horror stricken.

"Do you mean to say that my father in a mad attempt to
usurp the functions of God created that awful thing?"
she asked in a low, faint voice, "and that there are
others like it upon the island?"

"In the campong next to yours there are a dozen others,"
replied von Horn, "nor would it be easy to say which
is the most hideous and repulsive. They are grotesque
caricatures of humanity--without soul and almost without brain."