Oh no, now he was afraid that some external force might push what he had seen out of his field of vision.
It was a full white morning with a strip of gold which cut across the Institute's cream porch when the Professor left the microscope and walked over to the window on stiff legs.
With trembling fingers he pressed a button, dense black shutters blotted out the morning and a wise scholarly night descended on the room.
Sallow and inspired, Persikov placed his feet apart, staring at the parquet floor with his watering eyes, and exclaimed: "But how can it be? It's monstrous! Quite monstrous, gentlemen," he repeated, addressing the toads in the terrarium, who were asleep and made no reply.
He paused, then went over to the button, raised the shutters, turned out all the lights and looked into the microscope.
His face grew tense and he raised his bushy yellow eyebrows.