To gain time, she replied, "I--I can't hear you.

What do you say ?" "Damnation!" said the voice, speaking this time to some one outside.
"They can't hear." And the knocking recommenced with increased urgency.
Agatha, excited, caught Miss Wilson's dressing gown, and repeated to her what the voice had said.

Miss Wilson had heard distinctly enough, and she felt, without knowing clearly why, that the door must be opened, but she was almost over-mastered by a vague dread of what was to follow.

She began to undo the chain, and Agatha helped with the bolts.

Two of the servants exclaimed that they were all about to be murdered in their beds, and ran away.