"He brightened a little and said that Herman was coming along fine. Forthwith he left the room and came back with his robot. He had put clothes on him and for a minute, candidly, I didn't know it was Herman.
"Maugham came up behind him and Herman said, 'Good day, Master.'
"Of course, his voice had a flat sort of scratchy sound, like a phonograph, and there was no inflection of any kind but it was undeniably speech.
"'Can he hear?' I asked.
"Maugham nodded. 'He responds to an auditory mechanism very similar in principle to an electric eye. But he's far from perfect, Mr. Harrigan, very far.'
"'I'd say he was pretty good myself,' I said.
"But Maugham only shook his head.
"'What's the trouble?' I asked.
"'He's too mechanical,' said Maugham.
"'You couldn't expect him to be human.'