NCERT Solutions For Class 8 English Chapter 24 (Supplementary Reader) - 7. The Open Window

The girl explained that Nuttle had a bitter experience of the dogs. So he made a sudden exit on seeing the dog.

Framton swung around to know the reason for the girl’s horror. Soon he saw three figures coming towards the widow.

Mrs. Sappleton said that her husband and brothers would be entering the house any time. The window was kept open till it was dark. They would enter through the open window.

Framton Nuttle suffered from some nervous disorder and worry. So he decided to spend a few days in some village and relax in peace.

• Came into the nice division - The category of nice people.
• Masculine habitation - The room seemed to suggest that there lived some male persons there.
• Bertie, why do you bound? – Bound means ‘jump’. But here it means a person whose behaviour is unpleasant to other people.

Irony refers to the contrast between what is intended or expected and what actually occurs. The open window has irony of situation. Poor Framton goes to countryside for rest and relief from his nervousness. But Mrs Sappleton’s niece plays such a joke that he suddenly rushes out. He mistakes Mrs Sappleton’s husband and brother as their ghosts.

The open window is not truly a mystery story. It shows the fertile imagination of a young girl. She plays a joke on Framton and tells a cooked up story. Poor Framton falls a prey to her prank and runs out of the house hurriedly.

The niece had told Nuttle that her aunt’s husband and brother had been missing, for three years. When Nuttle saw them coming, he thought they were ghosts. So he rushed out wildly in fear.

The niece played a practical joke on Mrs Sappleton when she came to know that he was a total stranger. She said that her aunt’s husband, two brothers and a dog had gone for hunting through the window three years ago. They never returned. But the aunt was still hoping to see them back through the open window.

His sister knew that Framton would meet very few people in the countryside. He would feel lonely and bored. His condition would grow worse. So she gave him letters of introduction to all people she knew there. One was addressed to Mrs. Sappleton.