As we crossed the hall the telephone-bell rang, and we were the involuntary auditors ofProfessor Challenger's end of the ensuing dialogue. I say "we," but no one within a hundredyards could have failed to hear the booming of that monstrous voice, which reverberated throughthe house. His answers lingered in my mind."Yes, yes, of course, it is I.... Yes, certainly, the Professor Challenger, the famous Professor, who else?... Of course, every word of it, otherwise I should not have written it.... I shouldn't besurprised.... There is every indication of it.... Within a day or so at the furthest.... Well, I can'thelp that, can I?... Very unpleasant, no doubt, but I rather fancy it will affect more importantpeople than you. There is no use whining about it.... No, I couldn't possibly. You must take yourchance.... That's enough, sir. Nonsense! I have something more important to do than to listen tosuch twaddle."He shut off with a crash and led us upstairs into a large airy apartment which formed hisstudy. On the great mahogany desk seven or eight unopened telegrams were lying."Really," he said as he gathered them up, "I begin to think that it would save mycorrespondents' money if I were to adopt a telegraphic address. Possibly 'Noah, Rotherfield, 'would be the most appropriate."As usual when he made an obscure joke, he leaned against the desk and bellowed in aparoxysm of laughter, his hands shaking so that he could hardly open the envelopes."Noah! Noah!" he gasped, with a face of beetroot, while Lord John and I smiled in sympathyand Summerlee, like a dyspeptic goat, wagged his head in sardonic disagreement. FinallyChallenger, still rumbling and exploding, began to open his telegrams. The three of us stood inthe bow window and occupied ourselves in admiring the magnificent view.It was certainly worth looking at. The road in its gentle curves had really brought us to aconsiderable elevation-seven hundred feet, as we afterwards discovered. Challenger's housewas on the very edge of the hill, and from its southern face, in which was the study window, onelooked across the vast stretch of the weald to where the gentle curves of the South Downsformed an undulating horizon. In a cleft of the hills a haze of smoke marked the position ofLewes. Immediately at our feet there lay a rolling plain of heather, with the long, vivid greenstretches of the Crowborough golf course, all dotted with the players. A little to the south, through an opening in the woods, we could see a section of the main line from London toBrighton. In the immediate foreground, under our very noses, was a small enclosed yard, inwhich stood the car which had brought us from the station.