The air of the room was disgusting, unbreathable; it caught
Soames by the throat and sickened him. It was laden with some kind of
fumes, entirely unfamiliar to his nostrils. A dainty Chinese tea-service
stood upon the ebony table.
For fully thirty seconds Soames, with his back to the door, gazed at the
man in the bed, and fought down the nausea which the air of the place
had induced in him.
This sleeper was a man of middle age, thin to emaciation and having
lank, dark hair. His face was ghastly white, and he lay with his head
thrown back and with his arms hanging out upon either side of the bunk,
so that his listless hands rested upon the carpet. It was a tragic face;
a high, intellectual brow and finely chiseled features; but it presented
an indescribable aspect of decay; it was as the face of some classic
statue which has long lain buried in humid ruins.
Soames shook himself into activity, and ventured to approach the bed. He
moistened his dry lips and spoke:
"Good morning, sir"--the words sounded wildly, fantastically out of
place. "Shall I prepare your bath?"
The sleeper showed no signs of awakening.
Soames forced himself to touch one of the thrown-back shoulders. He
shook it gently.
The man on the bed raised his arms and dropped them back again into
their original position, without opening his eyes.
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