On his wife Lucy's birthday, sales representative Harry Clayton cannot be with her in their cottage in the country, but is in London on business, where he is staying at the Wilson couple's boarding house. When Lucy calls him in the evening, she tells him that Pointer the woodsman has come by and worked for her in the garden. Harry is worried: the couple had already had a bad experience with Pointer, who was often drunk, and didn't really want to employ him again. Just as Harry and Lucy are about to hang up, Lucy hears a strange noise from outside: apparently someone is on the property. Harry is worried because Lucy is alone in the house and now she remembers that she hasn't locked the back door. As she goes to lock it, the telephone line, which was manually connected by two operators, is disconnected.