The Monkey's Paw Page #4

"The Monkey's Paw" is a supernatural short story by author W. W. Jacobs first published in England in the collection The Lady of the Barge in 1902.

• Short story

								


"The bolt," she cried, loudly.  "Come down.  I can't reach it."

But her husband was on his hands and knees groping wildly on the floor in search of the paw.  If he could only find it before the thing outside got in.  A perfect fusillade of knocks reverberated through the house, and he heard the scraping of a chair as his wife put it down in the passage against the door.  He heard the creaking of the bolt as it came slowly back, and at the same moment he found the monkey's paw, and frantically breathed his third and last wish.

The knocking ceased suddenly, although the echoes of it were still in the house.  He heard the chair drawn back, and the door opened.  A cold wind rushed up the staircase, and a long loud wail of disappointment and misery from his wife gave him courage to run down to her side, and then to the gate beyond.  The street lamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road.
								Rate this book:4.4 / 16 votes