'I had been reading rather late in my room--the night was so close.

I heard Big Ben strike half-past twelve, and then I put the book down, and went out on to the balcony of my window for a little fresh air before going to bed.

I leaned over the balcony very quietly--you will remember that I am on the third floor now--and looked down below into the little sunk yard which separates the wall of the hotel from Salisbury Lane.

I was rather astonished to see a figure creeping across the yard.

I knew there was no entrance into the hotel from that yard, and besides, it is fifteen or twenty feet below the level of the street.