The Lady's Maid's Bell

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, 1928 and 1930.

"The Lady's Maid's Bell" is a classic ghost story about Alice Hartley, a servant who takes up a new position in a remote country house as companion to an invalid lady. Almost immediately she realizes that there is something not quite right in the house. Across the passage from her room is a door which is always kept locked. Apparently it was the room of a previous companion to her mistress, who died several months ago. But sometimes there are strange sounds heard in the locked room - and once or twice the dead maid is seen on the passage. And then comes the night when the mysterious bell rings for the first time...