I heard one cry in the night, and I heard one laugh afterwards. If I cannot forget that, I shall not be able to sleep again.

The speaker describes a two-part auditory memory—first a cry, then a laugh—that has crossed a threshold from frightening incident to lasting psychological damage. The pairing suggests not only suffering but a malicious intelligence that follows it, turning fear into something personal and taunting. The conditional phrasing (“If I cannot forget…”) frames insomnia as the cost of knowledge: once a person has truly registered the sound, ordinary rest becomes impossible. In M. R. James’s typical mode, the horror is conveyed indirectly through a restrained, matter-of-fact voice, which makes the dread feel more credible and intimate.