Horror Story Review: "The Vampire Maid" by Hume Nisbet

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Told in the first person, this short story describes the unnamed narrator’s wandering through unspecified European locales. Weary of humanity, he seeks isolation. The cottage on the moor is just the place he’s been looking for: “I was in that condition of mind when renunciation of society was a necessity. I had become diffident myself, and weary of my kind. A strange unrest was in my blood; a barren dearth in my brains. … I wanted to be alone.” He doesn’t mind sleeping in the open, but when he comes upon the cottage, he asks for a room. The middle-aged woman living there grants him a bedroom and a sitting room. On the first night there, he misses meeting her daughter because she is under the weather. When she appears, he finds her not overly attractive, but quite arresting. She’s pale. Nevertheless, he enjoys her company on the walks he takes in the mornings to forget about his disturbing dreams. The prose is flowery and repetitive, reminiscent of the Romantic writers of earlier in the 19th century. Even so, the story is short and fun. According to Wikipedia, author Hume Nisbet was a Scottish writer, poet and painter. Many of his stories reflect time spent in Australia. He also wrote many ghost stories. The text is available at Project Gutenberg Australia. On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xirm2-75DMg ____ Title: “The Vampire Maid” Author: Hume Nisbet (1849-1923) First published: According to ISFDB, Penzler states that this story was first published 1890 but does not list the magazine. Dracula's Guest states it was first published in Nisbet's 1900 collection Stories Weird and Wonderful. Source: ISFDB