I went on to the veranda and, having lit my pipe, sat down on a seat about a dozen feet from the right-hand end of the structure, which was, as the reader may remember, exactly opposite one of the narrow doors of the protecting wall that enclosed the house and flower garden.

I had been sitting there perhaps six or seven minutes when I thought I heard the door move.

I looked in that direction and I listened, but, being unable to make out anything, concluded that I must have been mistaken.

It was a darkish night, the moon not having yet risen.
Another minute passed, when suddenly something round fell with a soft but heavy thud upon the stone flooring of the veranda, and came bounding and rolling along past me.

For a moment I did not rise, but sat wondering what it could be.