Then he heard what he had been expecting to hear--a piercing shriek.

Then another, which, expecting to hear the clanging of the distant door and the scurrying back of her footsteps along the passage, puzzled him, so that the smile died away from his lips.
"Then another, and another, and another, shriek after shriek.
"The native servant, gliding noiselessly about the room, laid down the thing that was in his hand and moved instinctively towards the door.

The man started up and held him back.
"'Keep where you are,' he said hoarsely.

'It is nothing.

Your mistress is frightened, that is all.