The Open Window

Plot
Framton Nuttel, seeking a "nerve cure" prescribed by his doctor, visits a rural
area where he knows no one. His sister provides letters of introduction so he can
meet people there.
He pays a visit to Mrs. Sappleton. While he waits for her, her 15-year-old niece
keeps him company in the parlor. When she realizes Nuttel has never met her
aunt and knows nothing about her, she explains that it has been three years since
Mrs. Sappleton's "great tragedy," when her husband and brothers went hunting
and never returned, presumably engulfed by a bog. Mrs. Sappleton keeps the
large French window open every day, hoping for their return.
When Mrs. Sappleton appears she is inattentive to Nuttel, talking instead about
her husband's hunting trip and how she expects him home any minute. Her
delusional manner and constant glances at the window make Nuttel uneasy.
Then the hunters appear in the distance, and Nuttel, horrified, grabs his walking
stick and exits abruptly. When the Sappletons exclaim over his sudden, rude
departure, the niece calmly explains that he was probably frightened by the
hunters' dog. She claims that Nuttel told her he was once chased into a cemetery
in India and held at bay by a pack of aggressive dogs.

Social Conventions
The niece uses social decorum very much to her favor. First, she presents herself
as inconsequential, telling Nuttel that her aunt will be down soon, but "[i]n the
meantime, you must put up with me."
It's meant to sound like a self-effacing pleasantry, suggesting that she isn't
particularly interesting or entertaining. And it provides perfect cover for her
mischief.
Her next questions to Nuttel sound like boring small talk. She asks whether he
knows anyone in the area and whether he knows anything about her aunt. But as
the reader eventually understands, these questions are reconnaissance to see
whether Nuttel will make a suitable target for a fabricated story.
 Smooth Storytelling
The niece's prank, is, of course, simply awful. But you have to admire it.
She takes the ordinary events of the day and deftly transforms them into a ghost
story. She includes all the details -- the open window, the brown spaniel, the
white coat, and even the mud of the supposed bog.
Seen through the ghostly lens of tragedy, all of the ordinary details, including the
aunt's comments and behavior, take on an eerie tone.
And the niece won't get caught because she's clearly mastered a lying lifestyle.
She immediately puts the Sappletons' confusion to rest with her explanation
about Nuttel's fear of dogs. Her calm manner and detached tone ("Enough to
make anyone lose his nerve") add an air of plausibility to her outrageous tale.

The Duped Reader

One of the things I love best about this story is that the reader is initially duped,
too, just like Nuttel. We believe the niece's cover—that she's just a demure, polite
girl making conversation. Like Nuttel, we're surprised and chilled when the
hunting party shows up.

The Open
WindowSummary
& Analysis
The Open Window” uses its story-within-a-story structure to explore the
interplay of truth and imagination. Whether viewed as a cruel prank or an enjoyable
practical joke, the stories that Vera makes up in “The Open Window” control the
perspectives of everyone around her.
Saki mines comedy from contradicting perspectives, as Vera’s story results in a farcical
disconnect between Mr. Nuttel’s experience of the world and Mrs. Sappleton’s. Based
on Vera’s story, Mr. Nuttel believes Mrs. Sappleton’s male relatives to have been killed
on a hunting trip three years ago, and so Mr. Nuttel finds it “purely horrible” to hear
Mrs. Sappleton ramble “cheerfully” on about how the men will soon return. Such light
topics are hardly cause for horror, unless one believes (as Mr. Nuttel does) their
speaker to be delusional with grief.
On a similar note, Mr. Nuttel’s subsequent attempt to steer the conversation in a “less
ghastly” direction by talking about his personal ailments is a nicety that appears
deeply strange to Mrs. Sappleton. Lacking the fiction that shapes Mr. Nuttel’s
perspective of their meeting, Mrs. Sappleton cannot understand why her guest “could
only talk about his illnesses” and why he runs away from the home when her relatives
arrive. She instead perceives Mr. Nuttel to simply be a “most extraordinary man”—
which is a kind of polite code for what she actually means: that she thinks he’s crazy.
Mrs. Sappleton nearly arrives at the truth of the matter when she says of Mr. Nuttel’s
hasty exit, “One would think he had seen a ghost.” The irony is she has no idea that, in
Mr. Nuttel’s mind, this is precisely what happened.
Saki’s story also makes frequent use both situational and dramatic irony: not only
does Vera fool her audience, but “The Open Window” fools its readers as well. At first,
the reader has no concrete reason to question Mr. Nuttel’s perception of events nor to
disbelieve Vera’s story. In fact, Mr. Nuttel is initially presented as an observant man,
noting—correctly—that “an undefinable something” about the Sappleton home
“seemed to suggest masculine habitation.” By presenting much of “The Open
Window” from Mr. Nuttel’s perspective, Saki puts the reader in the same shoes as his
gullible protagonist. And to Mr. Nuttel, Vera appears “falteringly human” and has a
look of “dazed horror in her eyes” as the men return from their outing—all evidence
that her ghostly story must be true. The specificity and quickness of Vera’s tale further
lend it an air of authenticity.
However satirical “The Open Window” may be, it is only upon reaching the end of the
story—when Vera invents a reason for Mr. Nuttel’s frantic exit—that the reader can
know for certain that Vera has been lying all along. Saki’s prose is restrained in its
mockery, with any authorial smirk becoming apparent only after the reader gets to the
end of the tale. This shift in perspective changes the entire tone of the story; elements
that initially come across as sinister become comedic through dramatic irony (that is,
knowing something the characters do not). The delusional figure in the story also
shifts from being Mrs. Sappleton to Mr. Nuttel.
As the author of the internal tale, Vera serves as a sort of stand-in for Saki himself (who
not coincidentally grew up in an English country house with his aunts). “The Open
Window” thus asserts the ability of fiction to alter one’s perception of the world, and
the tale is ultimately a testament to the power of storytelling
 Framton
NuttelCharacter
Analysis
A perpetually anxious gentleman sent to the English countryside to soothe his nerves. Mr. Nuttel has arrived at
the Sappleton home following a letter of introduction from his sister, but is not enthused about the prospect of
conversing with total strangers. His behavior is largely shaped by expectations of social etiquette, and he is
easily manipulated by Vera’s story about the deaths of her aunt’s husband and brothers. Upon the return
of Mrs. Sappleton’s male relatives to the house, Mr. Nuttel dashes away without a word of explanation or
apology—all his gentlemanly pretensions cast aside in the face of apparent horror.

Vera
SappletonCharacter
Analysis
Fifteen-year-old Vera greets Mr. Nuttel upon his arrival to the Sappleton home and spins the tragic tale that
sends him running away. Immediately described as “very self-possessed,” Vera is an observant, clever, and
above all imaginative young woman who handily fools the adults around her with “romance on short notice.”
Vera’s name comes from the Latin for truth, and her innocent demeanor makes her tales all the more
convincing.
 Mrs.
SappletonCharacter
Analysis
Vera’s aunt and the lady of the Sappleton home. Though she appears to be somewhat aware of Vera’s penchant
for storytelling, Mrs. Sappleton nevertheless fails to detect the prank her niece has pulled on the
unsuspecting Mr. Nuttel. Mrs. Sappleton nearly arrives at the truth of the matter, commenting after Mr. Nuttel’s
hasty exit that her guest looked as though he’d seen a ghost.

Framton
Nuttel’s
sisterCharacter
Analysis
Though she never appears in the story, Mr. Nuttel’s sister is the reason he is at the Sappleton home to begin with.
Fearing her brother would spend his restorative time in the country moping, she writes letters of introduction to
acquaintances she made while working at a local rectory a few years prior,

Themes
Vera tells Mr. Nuttel that Mrs. Sappleton’s “great tragedy” happened three years prior, after Mr. Nuttel’s sister’s time
in the country. Mr. Nuttel feels that any tragedy would be out of place in such a restful location.

Mr. Nuttel’s romantic preconceptions about country life are incompatible with tragedy. Vera artfully positions this
“tragedy” as having taken place after Mr. Nuttel’s sister had left, which explains why he never heard about it.
 Vera points out a large open window, commenting that Mr. Nuttel may wonder why it has been left open on
an October afternoon. She proceeds to tell her guest that three years ago, her aunt’s husband and brothers, along
with their spaniel, went out through the window to go shooting. One man wore a white waterproof coat. They
were “engulfed by a treacherous bog” on the trip and died. She laments that the conditions that summer were
very wet.

This is the first mention of the titular open window, which Vera transforms from a mundane household object into a
centerpiece of tragedy. Her use of specific details makes her story more believable. The men’s manner of death is so
absurd, however, as to be farcical; Saki is satirizing elements of traditional tragic romances.

Mr. Nuttel notes that Vera’s voice has become less self-assured, and instead is “falteringly human.” She
continues, saying that her aunt believes the men will still return some day, her younger brother Ronniesinging
“Bertie, why do you bound?” to tease her, and that is why the window is kept open. On quiet nights, Vera herself
fears that the dead men will walk through the window.

Mr. Nuttel is convinced by Vera, who clearly knows how to act like an innocent young girl. She plays up her own
terror to further unnerve her guest, and her suggestion of the men returning through the window adds suspense to
the scene.

Mrs. Sappleton enters the room, much to Mr. Nuttel’s relief, and asks her guest if Vera has been amusing him. Mrs.
Sappleton apologizes to Mr. Nuttel for the open window, remarking that her husband and brothers enter the house
that way to avoid dirtying the carpet. Mr. Nuttel is horrified as she rambles on about hunting, and he notices that her
eyes keep wandering toward the window. He considers it an “unfortunate coincidence” to have visited on such a
tragic anniversary.

Mrs. Sappleton’s entrance breaks the building tension. Her light demeanor sharply contrasts with Vera’s story, while
her preoccupation with the window makes her appear delusional to the newly-conned Mr. Nuttel. His pity for Mrs.
Sappleton is ironic, given that he is the one being made a fool.

Mr. Nuttel attempts to change the subject by discussing the intricacies of his own ailments and prescriptions,
laboring “under the tolerably widespread delusion that total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for the
least detail of one's ailments and infirmities, their cause and cure.” Mrs. Sappleton barely stifles her yawn.

Saki mocks those who, like Mr. Nuttel, believe their ailments to be of interest to strangers. Even the proper, polite
Mrs. Sappleton appears bored.

ThemesMrs. Sappleton suddenly brightens to attention to something outside, and then excitedly remarks that her
brother and husband have arrived just in time for tea. Mr. Nuttelpities her delusion, before catching a look of terror
on Vera’s face.

Mr. Nuttel has been completely taken in by Vera, and his condescending pity is quickly replaced by fear. Vera
continues to act the part of a frightened, innocent girl.
 Turning to look out the window himself, Mr. Nuttelsees three men and a dog walking across the yard, one with
a white raincoat slung over his arm and another singing “Bertie, why do you bound?”—just as in Vera’s story.

The inclusion of details from Vera’s story make Mr. Nuttel think he truly is seeing a pack of ghosts. This scene is one
of horror for Mr. Nuttel, relief for Mrs. Sappleton, and humor for the reader who knows the end of the tale.

Mr. Nuttel sprints out of the house and down the driveway in horror, causing a cyclist “to run into the hedge to avoid
imminent collision.”

The abruptness of Mr. Nuttel’s departure contrasts with his earlier calculated propriety, and reveals the extent to
which Vera has fooled him. His near run-in with a cyclist adds an element of farce to the scene.

men enter the home, and the one with the white coat asks Mrs. Sappletonwho the man running past was. She
responds that he was a “most extraordinary gentleman,” who left without saying goodbye, in such a hurry that
“one would think he had seen a ghost.”

It becomes clear that the men are not ghosts but alive and well. Mr. Nuttel’s exit was thus rude and unnecessary.
Mrs. Sappleton ironically says the truth of what happened without knowing it.

Immediately Vera explains that Mr. Nuttel ran off because of the spaniel, adding that he is scared of dogs due to a traumatic
incident in India. The story concludes with the line, “romance at short notice was her specialty.”

Symbols

Supernatural (Motif)
Until readers understand Vera’s deception, the supernatural motif invades and transforms the
otherwise calm Edwardian sitting room. As the men approach the house they are described in horror-
inducing language; they are “three figures” (not men) that appear in the “deepening twilight” and
“noiselessly” approach the house like phantasms (227). Afterward Framton bolts as though “‘he had
seen a ghost’” (227). Through Vera, Saki uses the supernatural to bring some liveliness to the otherwise
boring and quotidian setting.
Adult Fragility (Motif)
Adult characters are frequently satirized in Saki’s stories. In naming his adult characters in “The Open
Window,” Saki highlights their fragility: The ‘Nut’ in ‘Nuttel’ implies that he is “nutty” or mentally
unstable; the ‘Sap’ in ‘Sappleton’ connotes foolishness and gullibility. The only child in the story, Vera,
exploits their adult fragility for her entertainment and fools both of them through her youthful
imagination.
Window (Symbol)
The window is at once a symbol of the aunt’s hope that her husband and brothers will return and a
symbol of Vera’s expansive imagination. Vera uses the window as a means to escape the boring, adult
world and reimagine a more fantastical reality.
Man vs. Nature (Theme)
A theme in many of Saki’s stories is a battle between man and nature. A huge follower of
Darwin, Saki’s stories frequently feature struggles between different species. In “The Open
Window,” as in many of his other stories, nature prevails. For example, in Vera’s first
fabricated story the hunters drown in a bog. In her second fabrication, several dogs chase
Framton Nuttel into an empty grave.
The Open Window" (Metaphor)
The title of the story (“The Open Window”) is itself a metaphor for the power of storytelling as
a means of entertaining through humor and trickery. Reading the story is like looking out the
window in Mrs. Sappleton’s parlor, the window that Vera controls (and Saki in creating her)
and through which the storyteller and trickster devises her own creations.
Vera’s Name (Verbal Irony)
Vera’s name is a play on the word 'veracity', meaning 'truth'. Ironically, she is the trickster of the story,
always spinning a new tale to her audience.
Girl Trickster (Situational Irony)
In Saki’s time girls were frequently portrayed as trustworthy and honest people. It is thus ironic that he
chooses a female character to play the role of trickster and storyteller in “The Open Window.”
Framton's Fright (Situational Irony)
Framton retreats to the countryside in order to recover from a bout of nerves. Ironically, the
countryside only adds to his anxiety and Framton is thrown into another nervous fit when he believes
he has seen ghosts.
Here they are at last!' she cried. ‘Just in time for tea, and don’t they
look as if they were muddy up to the eyes!’" (227)
The imagery of figures covered up to their eyes in mud reinforces the story Vera tells about the men
suffocating in a muddy bog. Before Framton turns to see the men the reader first hears the aunt’s
observation of their approach. In order to maintain the trick until the very end, Saki employs imagery
that contributes to an eerie, almost zombie-like vision of muddied bodies approaching so as not to give
away the truth.
"Framton grabbed wildly at his stick and hat; the hall-door, the
gavel-drive, and the front gate were dimly noted stages in a
headlong retreat” (227)
Saki describes Framton’s escape using the imagery of the house as landmarks in his exit. If the open
window symbolizes imagination then the door, the drive, and the front gate all mark retreats from that
possible world.
“He was once hunted into a cemetery somewhere on the banks of
the Ganges by a pack of pariah dogs, and had to spend the night in a
newly dug grave with the creatures snarling and grinning and
foaming just above him” (227)
Saki’s stories frequently contain images of animals attacking humans which some attribute to the fact
that his mother’s death resulted from a wild cow. Saki uses imagery to present the animals as mere
extensions of Vera’s trickery. Their “grins” match Vera’s amusement at Framton’s gullibility. However,
the animals are also seen “foaming” at the mouth and “snarling,” taking almost a sadistic pleasure in his
fear. Similarly, Vera’s use of such a tragic story to play her trick on Framton also has sinister undertones
and embodies a kind of dark humor not often associated with childhood.
Genre
Short Story, Period Fiction
Setting and Context
Rural Countryside, Edwardian England
Narrator and Point of View
Omniscient Third-Person Narrator
Tone and Mood
As the story features two levels--a main story and a story-within-a-story--the tone and mood
oscillate between comically light and eerily dark. The story ends with a tone of the absurd as
Framton makes his escape and Vera spins one more tale, this one more outlandish than the first.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Vera (Protagonist); Adulthood (Antagonist)
Major Conflict
Mrs. Sappleton has delusions that her husband and brothers will return from a hunting trip so
she leaves the window open until dusk. However, according to Mrs. Sappleton's niece, Vera, the
party will not be returning because they tragically died during their last hunting trip. In
apparent denial, Mrs. Sappleton leaves the window opens and waits expectantly for the return
of the hunting party.
Climax
The hunting party approaches the window and Mrs. Sappleton exclaims gleefully. Pitying the
poor woman's delusions, Framton turns towards Vera who is looking towards the window in
shock. When Framton sees three figures approaching the house he takes them for ghosts and
quickly bolts from the sitting room.
 Foreshadowing
When Mrs. Sappleton first enters the room she says to Framton, "I hope Vera has been amusing
you?" (226.) This is one of a few clues that Vera is playing the trickster in the story and that the
reader ought not believe everything she says to be true.
Allusions
N/A
Imagery
Saki uses imagery to create an eery feeling as the hunting party returns. Saki employs images
like "deepening twilight," noiseless walkers, and a hoarse voice that comes out of the dusk in
order to keep the reader guessing about whether the hunting party is a part of the living or the
undead (227).
Paradox
Framton finds it paradoxical that the rural countryside should be anything but a retreat. When
he learns of the supposed tragedy Mrs. Sappleton experienced, he thinks, "somehow in this
restful country spot tragedies seemed out of place" (225).
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
In the story's last scene, the dogs that supposedly hunted down Framton are said to be grinning
as they look down on him in the newly dug grave. Readers may imagine that Vera gives the dogs
of her story the human characteristic of grinning at someone's misfortune because she herself is
amused at her successful trick on Framton.

Questions

1. Describe how the title of the story relates to the themes of the story itself.
“The Open Window” is about the capacity of storytelling, particularly short stories, to
entertain through humor and trickery. The story itself is therefore an imagined world that
inverts the normal power between adult and children, and casts Vera as the holder of truth
and power (through her trickery) and Framton as the powerless, gullible adult. The reader
looks through the ‘open window’ by reading the story and becomes a character herself,
subject to the same foibles as Framton as a result of Saki’s diction and Vera’s character.

2. 2
How are adults characterized in the short story?
 From the muddied hunting troupe to the obsessive Mrs. Sappleton and the unstable
Framton Nuttel, adults in “the Open Window” are characterized as a motley crew of dullness
and daftness. This is especially true when their humdrum characters are contrasted with the
quick wit and exciting world Vera creates all on her own. Even the adult character names,
‘Sappleton’ and ‘Nuttel’, emphasize a negative almost mocking view of them.
3. 3
Explain how gender roles contribute to the meaning of the story.
With the exception of Framton, the characters that remain at home are all women and those
that go hunting are all men. Framton’s nerves may align him more with traditional and
stereotypical portrayals of women in Saki’s day. However, Saki also inverts a traditionally
male-aligned role as trickster by attributing it to a young woman. Gender in “The Open
Window” is thus an interesting reversal of traditional gender roles presented by Saki’s
contemporaries.

4. 4
What is the role of nature's influence in the story?
Nature is frequently presented as at odds with the human characters in the story. For
example, the hunting party meets its supposed demise on account of poor weather
conditions and a muddy bog. In Vera’s final tale, Framton is also harassed by a pack of wild
dogs. Finally, Saki uses the landscape of the rural countryside as a setting for his macabre
tale, showing that nature is not always peaceful and serene: it also has a darker side.

5. 5
Is Vera an antagonist or a protagonist? Explain.
Though Vera plays a cruel trick on Framton, she does not perfectly fit into the role of
antagonist. Conversely, though her trick is based on a morbid joke, Vera is presented as the
hero of the tale. She saves the reader from another boring rendering of an adult house visit.
Furthermore, she quickly disproves Framton’s doctor, who suggested a change in scenery
would cure him of his anxiety.

6. 6
What does the window symbolize to the various characters of the story?
To Vera, the window is a blank canvas. She uses it to create a world separate from the dull
adult world she is forced to inhabit. Mrs. Sappleton views the window as the vessel that will
bring back her male companion and brothers. Though she complains about all the dirt they
will drag in, she also seems to wait on bated breath for the window to bring back the only
company she truly cares to keep. For Framton the window symbolizes the failure of his plan
to find a respite in the rural countryside, which is why he seeks to put so much distance
between himself and the window at the story’s end.

7. 7
How does the omniscient narrator shape the short story?
 The omniscient narrator functions almost as another character. Through him, Saki provides
clues to the readers, thereby suggesting that Vera is not such a trustworthy storyteller.
Were the story instead told from the perspective of Framton or Vera herself, it might have
been harder to dupe the reader. Moreover, the omniscient narrator in some ways is another
way in which Saki inserts himself into the story, a co-conspirator of sorts, laying the path for
Vera’s trickery.

Extra Question Answers- THE OPEN WINDOW

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1. Give a Character sketch of Vera.

Answer- Very self possessed(calm and confident) young lady of fifteen. She was quite clever
as before telling a fake story she had confirmed Mr. Framton Nuttel that he did not know
anything about Mrs. Sappleton

2. Framton Nuttel endeavoured to say something that should duly flatter the niece. Why?

OR

Why did Mr. Framton Nuttel speak flattering/ pleasing words at that time to Vera?

Answer- Mr. Framton Nuttel was a stranger in the village who did not know anyone over
there. He spoke such words so that he might impress the girl to know more about the village
as well as Mrs. Sappleton positively as he had some doubts in his mind regarding the
aforesaid.

3. What were the doubts in Mr. Framton Nuttel’s mind?

Answer– He had two doubts in his mind-

1. Whether those formal visits like strangers were going to help him in any way in nerve cure
which he was supposed to get.
2. Whether Mrs. Sappleton was in the married or widowed state as an indefinable
something about the room seemed to suggest masculine habitation.

4.What was the fear in the mind of Mr. Framton Nuttel’s sister before sending him to a
rural retreat?

Answer- She feared that her brother would be alone there and would not speak to anyone. If
he passed his time in solitary his nerves would go from bad to worse than ever.
5. Why did Mr. Framton Nuttel’s sister give him some letters of introduction?

Answer- She gave him some letters if introduction so that he might meet some people
informally and his mind might be diverted from critically deep thinking and his nerves might
get better.

6. “Do you many of the people round here?” Who asked this question and why?

Answer- Miss. Vera asked this question as she was making a plan to befool the stranger. The
answer would help her to get success in his plan.

7. “Then you know nothing practically about my aunt?” What quality of the speaker’s
personality come forward through this statement?

Answer- The speaker, Miss. Vera is quite clever and perfect in playing on tricks and
befooling others.

8. What was the story attributed to the family of Mrs. Sappleton created by the niece,
Miss Vera?

Answer- Miss Vera told that there had been a great tragedy in the life of Mrs. Sappleton. She
indicated an open window and told that out through that window three years ago her husband
and two younger brothers with a small puppy, little brown spaniel went off for shooting.
While crossing a grassland they stuck into a swampy land and they never came back. Their
bodies were never recovered.

9. According to Miss Vera What was the reason that the window was kept opened even on
an October afternoon?

Answer– She told that my aunt Mrs. Sappleton’s husband and two younger brothers with a
small puppy went off through that window and never returned back. Aunt hoped for them to
return through the same window.

10.What were some of the identifications of the lost people told by the girl?

Answer- Aunt’s husband had a white waterproof coat over his arm and Ronni, her youngest
brother used to sing a song “Bertie why do you bound?” There was a dog with them.

11.What were some more terrifying points added by Vera to make her story real?

Answer- a. Sometimes when the girl was speaking her self-possessed voice lost its notes and
became falteringly human. She said “Sometimes on still, quiet evenings like this, I almost get
a creepy feeling that they all will walk in.”
12.What description of the aunt was given by the girl?

Answer- The girl told that the aunt was a bit disturbed because of the tragedy took place
three years ago. She said, “Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back someday.” She
always kept a large French window wide open.

13.Why did the aunt feel sorry on coming downstairs?

Answer- She felt sorry because Mr. Framton Nuttel had been waiting for a long time and she
became late in making her appearance.

14.How was Vera’s fake story confirmed when Mrs. Sappleton came?

Answer- As soon as she appeared she said, “I hope you don’t mind the open window.” She
confirmed the whole incident as she said that her husband and two brothers would return
from shooting.

15.How was Mr. Framton Nuttel disappointed on the Mrs. Sappleton’s attitude?

Answer- He was really very much disappointed as she was paying only a bit of attention to
him and continuously gazing at the window and the lawn beyond. He even tried to divert her
attention but he was not successful.

16.When did it happen that Mrs. Sappleton’s face brightened and Mr. Framton Nuttel
was horrified?

Answer- When Mrs. Sappleton’s husband and two brothers seemed to be arriving back in the
afternoon Mrs. Sappleton’s face brightened and Mr. Framton Nuttel was horrified.

17.What were the expressions of Vera on seeing that all of them were returning?

Answer- The girl was staring out through the open window with a dazed horror in his eyes.
She was pretending to horrify Mr. Framton Nuttel

18.What happened when Mr. Framton Nuttel was trying to run away?

Answer- He was nearly struck with a cyclist coming along the road who had to run into the
hedge to avoid imminent collision.

19.What according to Mrs. Sappleton was the reason that Mr. Framton Nuttel ran away
so hurriedly?

Answer- She thought that Mr. Framton Nuttel was only talking about his illness he seemed to
be extremely sick of any kind of mental disorder or he would have seen a ghost.
20.What according to Miss Vera, the niece was the reason that Mr. Framton Nuttel ran
away so hurriedly?

Answer- Vera made another fake story and said that that person told her that he had a horror
of dogs. He was once hunted into a cemetery somewhere on the bank of Ganges by a pack of
dogs and had to send the night in a newly dug grave. She said that it would be the spaniel dog
which terrified him so much.