"She is gone, my lady Leela. It is unfortunate, but we can not help it.
She is lost--we shall never see her again."
Leela and Rokk were alone in the room. Leela shrank upon the couch;
against his gaze she huddled with a corner of the robe drawn to shield
her white limbs. He stood before her.
"Gone, Leela. Dead, by now. . . . Don't shudder, little white woman. It
is the law of life--some live, some die. . . . But Degg will be sorry."
She had no words, no heart with which to answer.
He went on, with a frown crossing his face. "That vegetable thing
coming here has changed my plans. It has no right to be unrooted.
I grew it, Lady Leela--and many others of its kind--for a certain
purpose. But now it has broken away, before I was quite ready to dig it
up. It thinks it is full-grown. It is conscious of its power. And that
which during all its growth I have taught it to do----" He shrugged.
"I suppose they have all broken loose. All roaming----" A horrible
grimness came to Rokk's voice. "Well, they will do what I taught
them--we shall have to hurry if we wish to see it, Lady Leela."