Nobody talked about ghosts and monsters, and they did not talk about Sir Simon de Canterville at all. At eleven o'clock the family went to bed, and by half-past eleven all the lights in the house had been turned out. But later in the night Mr Otis was awakened by a strange noise outside his room.

It sounded like something metal hitting against something else, and the sound was coming nearer to his door every second. Immediately, Mr Otis got out of his bed and lit a light. He looked at the time. It was exactly one o'clock.

He was quite calm, and his heart was not going faster than usual. The strange noise was still continuing, and now he could also could clearly hear the sound of someone walking. Mr Otis put on his slippers, and picked up a small bottle from next to his bed.

He opened the door. In the moonlight he saw a terrible old man standing right in front of him. The man's eyes were burning red as fire; he had long, dirty grey hair which grew down over his shoulders. His clothes were dirty and ragged, and they looked very old-fashioned. There were heavy chains hanging from his wrists and ankles.

'My dear sir,' said Mr Otis, 'Please would you put some oil on those chains? You can do this easily, because I have here a small bottle of Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator oil. It works very well, and you only have to use it once.'

'If you don't believe me, you can read the label of the bottle. You will see that all the top experts say that it is really good oil. I shall leave the bottle for you here by the bedroom candles, and if you need any more oil I will be very happy to give it to you.'