Again that unintelligible jargon, unhuman and shrill, fell upon
their ears, and Arthur stepped forward. Susie did not hesitate. She
was prepared to follow him anywhere. He opened the door, and there
was a sudden quiet. Whatever made those sounds was there. It was a
larger room than any on the others and much higher, for it ran
along the whole front of the house. The powerful lamps showed every
corner of it at once, but, above, the beams of the open ceiling
were dark with shadow. And here the nauseous odour, which had
struck them before, was so overpowering that for a while they could
not go in. It was indescribably foul. Even Arthur thought it would
make him sick, and he looked at the windows to see if it was
possible to open them; but it seemed they were hermetically closed.
T
