Three weeks after I received the weapon, a clumsy attempt was made to break into my house in the middle of the night.

It struck me at the time it was clumsy, because the burglar made a tremendous amount of noise and disappeared soon after he began his attempt, doing no more damage than to break a window in my dining-room.

Naturally my mind went to the possibility of a further attempt of this kind, as my house stood on the outskirts of the village, and it was only natural that I should take the pistol from one of my boxes and put it somewhere handy.

To make doubly sure, Kara came down the next day and heard the full story of the outrage.
"He did not speak of pistols, but I remember now, though I did not remember at the time, that I mentioned the fact that I had a handy weapon.

A fortnight later a second attempt was made to enter the house.
I say an attempt, but again I do not believe that the intention was at all serious.