Laughing softly, I crossed the threshold of Natural Vat. I had come in through the "servant’s entrance," and I was now in a dimly lit hallway papered with abysmal yellow wallpaper. The gas lamps on the walls were blackened and ill-cared-for, and the whole place smelled of mildew. I suppose they weren’t expecting visitors. One end of the hallway ended in darkness, and the other led to a fantastic and delicate spiral staircase. I had a good idea of where to go. Padding eagerly down the hallway toward the staircase, I got careless and stepped on a bump in the carpeting that I should have seen a kilometer away. A pack of tiny gray terriers came racing around the corner, yapping in horrid little metallic voices, I froze for an instant, then dashed off a deception program to get them away from me. A little black rat. It leapt from my bag, landing just in front of my boots. Glittering angrily, it stood up on its haunches, then ran past the terriers and down the hall. They whirled around and raced after it I made good my escape, and started up the stairs.