ossing the sidewalk again and ascending the Estabrooks'
steps with as much unconcern as if they had been my own, I fitted the
key softly and turned the lock.

The very instant that I tried to open the heavy door, however, I knew
that a watcher who had been observing our movements through the silk
curtains was behind it. I felt a resisting pressure. I heard a stifled
scream. It was no moment for indecision. With an unbelievable rapidity
of thought, I estimated the chances of the unseen person being armed,
the hazard of his giving vent to an uproar which would bring the
neighborhood about our ears. Then I threw my body against the door with
all the force I could muster. It yielded suddenly; with a crash it flew
back against the tiled wall. I was precipitated forward and a second
later found myself in the ridiculous performance of rolling around on
the floor with what felt to me like a fat wash, consigned to a laundry.
It was, however, a bundle from which choking imprecations and grunts
exploded, and which for a turn or two was enlivened with upheavals of
some strength. Well enough to laugh now, but at that moment, you may be
sure, I was searching with my free hand for the person's mouth.

I had meant to be gentle: if I clapped my hand over the source of the
little cries and protests, when I had found it, with something more than
decision, you must blame the circumstances. I had expected to surprise
old Margaret from behind and give her such a whiff of cataleptol that
she would have suffered no inconvenience. Unfortunately I had not at
first known that it was she whom I had encountered, and now there were
obvious difficulties in the way of my applying my saturated gauze to her
nose.

"Be still!" I commanded, trying to uncork my vial, with a single hand.
"Be still. No harm will come to you."

Her reply was a well-placed thrust of her two old knees which nearly
sent me through the glass. It placed me in a position, however, where I
could, with a push of my foot, close the door and shut us into the
vestibule, so that her clamor, which had broken forth again, might be
muffled.

Furthermore, I now had my chance to unloose my anaesthetic. I can hear
the squeak of that fat cork now; I can recall the pleasure of smelling
those dizzy fumes as I thrust the gauze into her face. Time after time
she succeeded in thrusting it aside with her clawing hands; time after
time I succeeded in jamming it back again against her nose. The sc