So Marianne heard the old clock on the wall strike eleven, then twelve, and yet she could not go to sleep.

Now it seemed to her as if she heard a gentle knocking below in the house.

Who could want anything of her so late in the night?
She must be mistaken, she said to herself.

But no, she now heard it quite plainly, somebody was knocking somewhere.

She quickly dressed herself and hastened down to the kitchen.