An abandoned mansion. An intrepid young protagonist. A giant rat, and a hangman’s noose. This story has the perfect foundations to send fear into its readers - so I’m surprised upon reflection that I struggled to enjoy it. There are lovely sections of writing, particularly involving the aforementioned rat and his baleful glare, but it lacked the horror or suspense that I found so powerful in Stoker’s ‘Dracula’. A decent story but by no means his finest piece of short story writing.