XXXPauline sat up suddenly in bed. It was as if an invisible hand had touched a spring in her spinal column, and set her upright in the darkness before she was aware of any reason for it.
No doubt she had heard something through her sleep; but what? She listened for a repetition of the sound.
All was silence. She stretched out her hand to an onyx knob on the table by her bed, and instantly the face of a miniature clock was illuminated, and the hour chimed softly; two strokes followed by one. Half-past two—the silentest hour of the night; and in the vernal hush of Cedarledge! Yet certainly there had been a sound—a sharp explosive sound … Again! There it was: a revolver shot … somewhere in the house …
Burglars?
Her feet were in her slippers, her hand on the electric light switch. All the
