“When they separated for the night, all retiring to their rooms on the ground-floor (for, as I said, there was no upstairs in that house), the sister felt that the heat was still so great that she could not sleep, and having fastened her window, she did not close the shutters—­in that very quiet place it was not necessary—­and, propped against the pillows, she still watched the wonderful, the marvellous beauty of that summer night.  Gradually she became aware of two lights, two lights which flickered in and out in the belt of trees which separated the lawn from the churchyard; and, as her gaze became fixed upon them, she saw them emerge, fixed in a dark substance, a definite ghastly something, which seemed every moment to become nearer, increasing in size and substance as it approached.  Every now and then it was lost for a moment in the long shadows which stretched across the lawn from the trees, and then it emerged larger than ever, and still coming on—­on.  As she watched it, the most uncontrollable horror seized her.  She longed to get away, but the door was close to the window and the door was locked on the inside, and while she was unlocking it, she must be for an instant nearer to it.  She longed to scream, but her voice seemed paralysed, her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth.

“Suddenly, she never could explain why afterwards, the terrible object seemed to turn to one side, seemed to be going round the house, not to be coming to her at all, and immediately she jumped out of bed and rushed to the door; but as she was unlocking it, she heard scratch, scratch, scratch upon the window, and saw a hideous brown face with flaming eyes glaring in at her.  She rushed back to the bed, but the creature continued to scratch, scratch, scratch upon the window.  She felt a sort of mental comfort in the knowledge that the window was securely fastened on the inside.  Suddenly the scratching sound ceased, and a kind of pecking sound took its place.  Then, in her agony, she became aware that the creature was unpicking the lead!  The noise continued, and a diamond pane of glass fell into the room.  Then a long bony finger of the creature came in and turned the handle of the window, and the window opened, and the creature came in; and it came across the room, and her terror was so great that she could not scream, and it came up to the bed, and it twisted its long, bony fingers into her hair, and it dragged her head over the side of the bed, and—­it bit her violently in the throat.

“As it bit her, her voice was released, and she screamed with all her might and main.  Her brothers rushed out of their rooms, but the door was locked on the inside.  A moment was lost while they got a poker and broke it open.  Then the creature had already escaped through the window, and the sister, bleeding violently from a wound in the throat, was lying unconscious over the side of the bed.  One brother pursued the creature, which fled before him through the moonlight with gigantic