[00:00.68]Lesson 13
[00:02.36]'It's only me'
[00:10.87]What did the man expect to find under the stairs?
[00:15.96]After her husband had gone to work, 
[00:18.73]Mrs. Richards sent her children to school and went upstairs to her bedroom.
[00:24.98]She was too excited to do any housework that morning,
[00:28.50] for in the evening she would be going to a fancy-dress party with her husband.
[00:34.44]She intended to dress up as a ghost and as she had made her costume the night before,
[00:40.44] she was impatient to try it on.
[00:43.75]Though the costume consisted only of a sheet, it was very effective.
[00:49.57]After putting it on, Mrs. Richards went downstairs.
[00:53.89]She wanted to find out whether it would be comfortable to wear.
[00:58.30]Just as Mrs. Richards was entering the dining-room,
[01:01.80] there was a knock on the front door.
[01:04.79]She knew that it must be the baker.
[01:07.47]She had told him to come straight in if ever she failed to open the door and to leave the bread on the kitchen table.
[01:13.91]Not wanting to frighten the poor man,
[01:16.69] Mrs. Richards quickly hid in the small storeroom under the stairs.
[01:22.09]She heard the front door open and heavy footsteps in the hall.
[01:26.57]Suddenly the door of the storeroom was opened and a man entered.
[01:31.48]Mrs. Richards realized that it must be the man from the Electricity Board who had come to read the metre.
[01:38.81]She tried to explain the situation, saying
[01:42.20]'It's only me', but it was too late.
[01:46.49]The man let out a cry and jumped back several paces.
[01:51.37]When Mrs. Richards walked towards him, he fled, slamming the door behind him.