13706    I was so much better that I thought I could dispense with one.

13707    I had a night-light burning, however.

13708    Well, about two in the morning I had sunk into a light sleep, when I was suddenly aroused by a slight noise.

13709    It was like the sound which a mouse makes when it is gnawing a plank, and I lay listening to it for some time under the impression that it must come from that cause.

13710    Then it grew louder, and suddenly there came from the window a sharp metallic snick.

13711    I sat up in amazement.

13712    There could be no doubt what the sounds were now.

13713    The faint ones had been caused by someone forcing an instrument through the slit between the sashes, and the second by the catch being pressed back.

13714    'There was a pause then for about ten minutes, as if the person were waiting to see whether the noise had awoken me.

13715    Then I heard a gentle creaking as the window was very slowly opened.

13716    I could stand it no longer, for my nerves are not what they used to be.

13717    I sprang out of bed and flung open the shutters.

13718    A man was crouching at the window.

13719    I could see little of him, for he was gone like a flash.

13720    He was wrapped in some sort of cloak, which came across the lower part of his face.