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... More > the room....< Less
