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Wogan slid his hand beneath his pillow, and drew the knife from its

sheath as silently as the door opened The strip of black ceased to

widen, there was a slight scuffling sound upon the floor which Wogan was

at no loss to understand It was the sound of a an lay on his side and felt grateful to his host,--an admirable

man,--for he had painted his door white, and now he crawled through it

on his hands and knees No doubt he would crawl to the side of the bed;

he did To feel, no doubt, for Mr Wogan's coat and breeches and any

little letter whichFor he saw a dark thing suddenly on the counterpane at the edge

of the bed The dark thing travelled upwards very softly; it had four

fingers and a thu towards the pillow,

and as soon as it got there--but Wogan watching that hand beneath his

dosed eyelids had again to ad It did not travel

towards the pillow; to his astonishment it stole across towards hiently, and then he understood The hand was

creeping upwards towards his throat

Meanwhile Wogan had seen no face, though the face must be just below the

level of the bed He only saw the hand and the arm behind it He moved

as if in his sleep, and the hand disappeared As if in his sleep, he

flung out his left ar beside his