Stealthily and silently his hand was stretched out, felt the heavy frame, and pushed it open sufficiently to let him enter. The window gave a faint creak in opening; and he stood as still as death lest it should have been heard.
I held my breath now in my excitement. What was he going to do? It was Colonel Katona. I could recognize him by the moonlight; and a moment later his purpose was clear.
He changed something from his left hand to his right. The glint of a moonbeam on the barrel showed me it was a revolver.
I had read the signs aright. He had been tricked into the belief that Karl was the man who had betrayed Gareth, and had come now to do what he had swore to me he would do to any man who harmed her—take his life.
He must surely have had some apparently overwhelming proof given him before he would go to this desperate extreme; and I would know what that proof was, before the night was much older. Already I had a strong suspicion.
These thoughts flashed through my mind in the moment that the Colonel stood hesitating after the noise made by the creaking window; and the instant he moved again, I had no eyes but for him, no thought except for what he proposed to do.
His next act surprised me. He closed the window softly behind him and drew down the blind. The noise was much greater than before, but he paid less heed to it. He pulled it down quickly, shutting out the moonlight; but there was enough dim light through the blind for his purpose.
I could just make out that he held the revolver ready for use as he stepped to the couch and stretched out his hand to seize and wake the sleeper.
I chose that moment to switch on the light and step forward.
He whipped round and levelled his weapon point blank at my head.