By the Watchman's Clock

Slowly I turned to face the hall and the doorway. I waited in an agony of suspense. The great house was as silent as an empty grave with the pulse of time beating eternally against it: tick tock; tick tock; tick tock...Gradually I relaxed and let my hand drop until -- I shrieked and turned -- and raised my hand dripping with blood. I stared at it like a maniac and then at the thing it had touched...