Short Stories: The Open Window, The Income-Tax Man, The Upper Berth

The Open Window, by H.H. Munro (Saki)

Having moved to the countryside in search of a cure for his nerves, and carrying a letter of introduction from his sister, Mr. Nuttel visits the Sappletons. Vera, a fifteen-year-old girl, explains to him that the window is open because three years before Mrs. Sappleton's husband and brothers left through it and never returned. They sank in a bog and their bodies were never found, so her aunt is still waiting for them. Mrs. Sappleton comes down and explains that the window is open because her husband and brothers are about to return. When Mr. Nuttel sees them coming, he runs off without a word. Vera explains to the family that he was probably afraid of the dog, as he had been attacked by dogs in a cemetery in India and had had to spend the night in a grave. Vera had a great imagination.

The Income-Tax Man, by Mark Twain

The narrator receives a visitor in his shop and, unwilling to show his ignorance about what he does, tries to trick him into speaking about his business by boasting about how much money he has made during the year. He is shocked to find that his visitor is an income tax assessor, and sees a rich man who helps him fill in his forms so as not to pay what he should according to what he told the assessor. He manages not to pay at the cost of his self-respect.

The Upper Berth, by F. Marion Crawford

At a party, Brisbane, an old sailor, tells a story about a ghost on board the Kamtschatka. He had been assigned the lower berth in cabin 105 and noticed everybody was nervous about it. On the first night, he found the window open, and heard the man who shared the cabin with him run away. The following morning he was told that the man had disappeared. The same had happened to three other men who had traveled in that cabin before. Brisbane soon found that the window would open during the night and was determined to find out what happened. He stayed in the cabin during the night with the Captain, and they found there was a strange damp creature in the upper berth. They fought it out, and the cabin was locked to passengers. Neither he nor the Captain traveled in the Kamtschatka again.