confess that I felt easier in my mind when, after following Holmes’

example and slipping off my shoes, I found myself inside the bedroom. My

companion noiselessly closed the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and

cast his eyes round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then

creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered into my ear

again so gently that it was all that I could do to distinguish the words:


“The least sound would be fatal to our plans.”


I nodded to show that I had heard.


“We must sit without light. He would see it through the

ventilator.”


I nodded again.


“Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your pistol

ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of the bed, and you in

that chair.”


I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table.


Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon the bed beside

him. By it he laid the box of matches and the stump of a candle. Then he turned

down the lamp, and we were left in darkness.


How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a sound, not even

the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my companion sat open-eyed, within

a few feet of me, in the same state of nervous tension in which I was myself.

The shutters cut off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute

darkness.


From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at our very

window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that the cheetah was indeed at

liberty. Far away we could hear the deep tones of the parish clock, which

boomed out every quarter of an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters!

Twelve struck, and one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for

whatever might befall.


Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the direction of the

ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was succeeded by a strong smell of