He listened again, intently.

Then he took a small cold-chisel from still another pocket, and having cut away the putty at the base of the semicircle, smote the face of the glass one sharp little tap.
It cracked neatly, along the line of the circling diamond-scratch, so that, with the help of a suction cap made from the back of a kid glove, he was able to draw out the loosened segment of glass.

Then he waited and listened still again.

As he thrust in through the little opening a cautiously exploring hand the casual act seemed to take on the dignity of a long-considered ritual.

It was a ceremonial moment to him, he felt, for it marked his transit, across some narrow moral divide, from lonely ascent to lonely decline.
The impression stayed with him only a second.