He became conscious of a quality of evil
which pervaded the room; the entire place seemed to lie beneath a spell,
beneath the spell of an invisible, immeasurably wicked intelligence.
His reflections began to terrify him, and he hastened to complete his
duties. The stench of the place was sickening him anew, and when at
last Said opened the door, Soames came out as a man escaping from some
imminent harm.
"Di," muttered Said.
He pointed to the opened door of a second room, identical in every
respect with the first; and Soames started back with a smothered groan.
Had his education been classical he might have likened himself to
Hercules laboring for Augeus; but his mind tending scripturally, he
wondered if he had sold his soul to Satan in the person of the invisible
Mr. King!
XVII
KAN-SUH CONCESSIONS
Soames' character was of a pliable sort, and ere many days had passed
he had grown accustomed to this unnatural existence among the living
corpses in the catacombs of Ho-Pin.
He rarely saw Ho-Pin, and desired not to see him at all; as for Mr.
King, he even endeavored to banish from his memory the name of that
shadowy being. The memory of the Eurasian he could not banish, and was
ever listening for the silvery voice, but in vain.
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