h.h munroe who wrote under the pen name saki authored the open window in 1911 during the edwardian period in england the open window takes place in an english country home and tells of a young girl outsmarting her adult counterparts with her clever storytelling in this story as in many sake subverts the traditional setting of the edwardian sitting room with macabre imagery and a surprise ending when the story opens frampton nuttle a single man has moved to a country town to cure his nervous condition his sister has arranged for him to meet several of her acquaintances to prevent him from becoming lonely one day in october he pays a visit to mrs sappleton but she is not immediately available to greet him instead mr nuttle is entertained by her fifteen-year-old niece vera confident and self-possessed vera directs the conversation finding out that nuttle is new to town and knows nothing about her aunt pointing to a large open french-style window vera proceeds to tell nuttel of her aunt's tragedy three years ago to this day she says her aunt's husband and two young brothers exited through that window to go snipe shooting all three men drowned in a bog that day their bodies never recovered since then her aunt has kept the window open during the evening ever hopeful that her husband and brothers will one day return vera relays her aunt's memories mr sappleton's white raincoat slung over his arm the spaniel at their heels and her younger brother ronnie singing birdie why do you bound vera says that sometimes she has an eerie feeling that the men will appear at the window right at that moment mrs appleton enters the room apologizing for the open window and explaining that she's left it open for her husband and brothers who are hunting frampton listens aghast he attempts to change the subject to his illness but mrs appleton stifles a yawn suddenly mrs appleton remarks that the hunting party has returned frampton sees the silhouettes of three men and a spaniel walking towards the house one of them has a white coat draped over his arm and as they enter another sings out birdie why do you bound frampton flees the house the adults don't understand and mrs appleton remarks that frampton looked as though he had seen a ghost vera tells them that frampton was likely afraid of the spaniel she then spins an extravagant story a pack of dogs once chased nuttle through a cemetery along the ganges river in india and forced him to hide away all night in a freshly dug grave he's had a horror for dogs ever since