Lulu Marketplace

A curious choking noise, the sound of a strangled cough, suddenly broke the profound silence of the house. My heart seemed to stop for a moment. I hardly dared raise my eyes from the paper which I was conning, leaning over the table in my shirt and trousers. The noise continued, a hideous, deep-throated gurgling. Then I heard a faint foot-fall in the corridor without. I raised my eyes to the door. Someone or something was scratching the panels, furiously, frantically. The door-knob was rattled loudly. The noise broke in raucously upon that horrid gurgling sound without. It snapped the spell that bound me. I moved resolutely towards the door. Even as I stepped forward the gurgling resolved itself into a strangled cry. "Ach! ich sterbe" were the words I heard. Then the door burst open with a crash, there was a swooping rush of wind and rain through the room, the curtains flapped madly from the windows. The candle flared up wildly. Then it went out. Something fell heavily into the room....