I stood for some seconds on the hearthrug, and then the groan was repeated; it came from the direction of a heavy curtain which hung in one corner of the room, and which I had taken, on the previous day, to be the covering of a cabinet or a recess in the wall perhaps for some of the old lady's out-door clothing.
I tore it on one side now and found that it concealed a door. The knob turned in my hand and I entered the room beyond; it was in total darkness, and I at once returned to the sitting-room for candles.
I took two in my hands and advanced once again, with an effort, into the dark room.
The sight that met my gaze there almost caused me to drop them. It was a handsomely furnished bedroom, and in the farther corner was the bed. On it lay the old lady wrapped in a white quilted silk dressing-robe.
The whole of the breast of this garment was saturated with blood!
With the candles trembling in my hands I advanced to the side of the bed, and the poor soul's eyes looked up at me while she acknowledged my coming with a groan.
Looking down at her there could not be a doubt but that her throat had been cut!
I drew back from her horrified, and then I saw her lips moving; she was trying to speak.
I put my ear down close to her mouth and then I heard faintly but very distinctly two words—
"Safe—open."