The corpulence which had been his before was become
now a positive disease. He was enormous. His chin was a mass of heavy
folds distended with fat, and his cheeks were puffed up so that his eyes
were preternaturally small. He peered at you from between the swollen
lids. All his features had sunk into that hideous obesity. His ears were
horribly bloated, and the lobes were large and swelled. He had apparently
a difficulty in breathing, for his large mouth, with its scarlet, shining
lips, was constantly open. He had grown much balder and now there was
only a crescent of long hair stretching across the back of his head from
ear to ear. There was something terrible about that great shining scalp.
His paunch was huge; he was a very tall man and held himself erect, so
that it protruded like a vast barrel. His hands were infinitely
repulsive; they were red and soft and moist. He was sweating freely, and
beads of perspiration stood on his forehead and on his shaven lip.
For a moment they all looked at one another in silence. Then Haddo turned
to his servants.
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