"Man, you have eyes," Powers exclaimed, with subdued passion. "I have seen you studying her closely when you fancied yourself undisturbed. You can see what I see. She is like a marvelous piece of mechanism. The working of it is perfect, but it isn't human. She is ready to be amused at anything; she is never serious for a single moment. She is only alive upon the sensuous side. Confound it, Trowse, don't look at me like that. She has no soul. There is nothing alight inside."
Trowse broke the short silence.
"I am to take it, then," he said coldly, "that you abandon the experiment. In your present condition it is, I suppose, inevitable. You have lost all influence over her. It would be hopeless to expect her to respond to your will."
"I have already abandoned it," Powers answered. "I curse the day and the thought which made me ever attempt it."
"It is as well, then," Trowse answered, "to give you fair warning. I do not propose to stand by quietly and watch your folly."
"What do you mean?" Powers demanded.
"This: That if you do not carry this thing through—I shall!"
Powers sprang to his feet, his face was dark with passion.
"If you should dare to interfere," he cried, "if you should make the slightest attempt to——"
"Stop!"