I thought perhaps the young man had fallen asleep with the window open and left the gas flaring in the wind.

I stood for a moment outside the door wondering what I ought to do.

Then I heard a crackling sound, and smelt something burning.

That alarmed me still more, because I knew no fire had been lit in the room that day.

I wondered if the bedroom was on fire, and I knelt down and tried to see through the keyhole.
"At first I could see nothing except a bright light and the shadow of a form on the wall.