The Open Window Plot Diagram

""
byis a short story about a dual-layered practical joke a young woman (Vera) plays on an
unsuspecting visitor. The plot points can be broken up according to the plot triangle as
follows:

: A man named Framton Nuttel is
visiting the Sappletons. He must wait for Mrs. Sappleton, so 15-year old Vera keeps him
company.

"'My aunt will be down presently, Mr. [Framton] Nuttel,' said a
very self-possessed young lady of fifteen, 'in the meantime you must try and put up with
me.'"

Rising
Action: Vera explains the , and tells Framton that they keep the
window open in memory of Mr. Sappleton. After talking with Vera for a while, Nuttel is
introduced to Mrs. Sappleton. Mrs. Sappleton talks on about her husband and brothers, who Vera
has just explained are dead. Framton believes Mrs. Sappleton is insane, and tries to avoid the
subject of the husband.

"She rattled on cheerfully about the shooting
and scarcity of birds...to Framton it was all purely horrible."

: As the sun begins setting, three figures walk across the
lawn and can be seen from the window.

"In the deepening twilight three
figures were walking across the lawn towards the window, they all carried guns under their
arms."

Falling Action: Framton, frightened
upon realizing the figures are the ghosts of the Sappletons, grabs his things and leaves the
house to escape the assumed ghosts.

"Framton grabbed wildly at his stick
and hat; the hall door, the gravel dive, and the front gate were dimly noted stages in his
headlong retreat."

'A most extraordinary man, Mr. Nuttel,' said
Mrs. Sappleton...'One would think he had seen a ghost.'"

Resolution: The family thinks Framton is crazy because he
ran away, and it is revealed that the Sappleton "ghosts" are just figments of Vera's
"romance at short notice" (skill at telling stories).