And then suddenly, in the very dead of the night, there came a sound to my ears, clear, resonant, and unmistakable.

It was the sob of a woman, the muffled, strangling gasp of one who is torn by an uncontrollable sorrow.

I sat up in bed and listened intently.

The noise could not have been far away and was certainly in the house.

For half an hour I waited with every nerve on the alert, but there came no other sound save the chiming clock and the rustle of the ivy on the wall..