She may be lying in there dead at this very moment.
Oh, it is fearful! Can nothing be done ?" "Nothing, that I know of, except to break into the room." "Hadn't you better rouse some of the boarders, or call a waiter and send for the police ?" The voice of Mrs.Abercrombie was heard at this moment.

It was calm and clear.
"Let me help you, general," she said.
The noise of moving furniture became instantly still.

It seemed as if the madman had turned in surprise from his work and stood confronting his wife, but whether in wrath, or not it was impossible to conjecture.
They might hear her fall to the floor, stricken down by her husband, or cry out in mortal agony at any moment.

The suspense was dreadful.
"Do it! I am ready." It was Mrs.Abercrombie speaking again, and in a calm, even voice.

They heard once more and with curdling blood, the sharp click of a pistol-lock as the hammer was drawn back.