*Title: The Mystery of the Semi-Detatched by E. Nesbit
Date Read: 29 October 2008
Available Online?: YES
Briefly: Stood up by his date, the narrator passes by the house of his sweetheart to find all the lights out and the front door open. Overcome with a feeling of dread and danger the man enters the house expecting the worst, and finding it.
Afterthoughts: There must be a real skill in creating a story so good in so little words. This is a cracking little story yet it weighs in at less than 1500 words. Remarkable!
Notable Quote: “He walked up the path of patent glazed dies, and listened. No sign of life. He passed into the hail. There was no light anywhere. Where was everybody, and why was the front door open? There was no one in the drawing room, the dining room and the study (nine feet by seven) were equally blank. Everyone was out, evidently. But the unpleasant sense that he was, perhaps, not the first casual visitor to walk through that open door impelled him to look through the house before he went away and closed it after him.”
Rating: 
*Story read as part of the 31 Tales of Terror reading challenge.
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