nearly noon
Had he told them the truth they would have laughed at him . Had he said : `` This is not a human being that you see , but the remains of a chemically produced counterfeit created in my own laboratory , '' they would have smiled , and either hanged him or put him away with the other criminally insane . This phase of the many possibilities which he had realized might be contingent upon even the partial success of his work alone had escaped his consideration , so that the first wave of triumphant exultation with which he had viewed the finished result of this last experiment had been succeeded by overwhelming consternation as he saw the thing which he had created gasp once or twice with the feeble spark of life with which he had endowed it , and expire -- leaving upon his hands the corpse of what was , to all intent and purpose , a human being , albeit a most grotesque and misshapen thing . Until nearly noon Professor Maxon was occupied in removing the remaining stains and evidences of his gruesome work , but when he at last turned the key in the door of his workshop it was to leave behind no single trace of the successful result of his years of labor . The following afternoon found him and Virginia crossing the station platform to board the express for New York . So quietly had their plans been made that not a friend was at the train to bid them farewell -- the scientist felt that he could not bear the strain of attempting explanations at this time . But there were those there who recognized them , and one especially who noted the lithe , trim figure and beautiful face of Virginia Maxon though he did not know even the name of their possessor .