"Don't bother about me, Susan," I said coldly. "Just leave me to my
moths. I could show you scorpions and hornets ten times more dangerous
than a mere Death's Head. You don't suppose I care? Why, as you say,
even God has His little joke with some of us. I'm quite used to it."
"Don't, don't," she implored me. "You are over-tired, you poor little
thing. You go on reading and reading. Why, your teeth are chattering."
A faint brazen reverberation from out of the distance increased in
intensity and died away. It was Adam performing on the gong. Susan had
tried to be kind to me, to treat me as if I were a normal fellow-being.
I pressed the cool fingers to my lips.
"There, Susan," I said, with cheerful mockery, "except for my father and
mother, I do believe you are the first life-size or any-size person I
have ever kissed. A midget's gratitude!"
Ever so slightly the fingers constricted beneath my touch. No doubt
there was a sensation of the spidery in my embrace.