walk in through that window.

Vera is lying though; the three men and dog are alive and well. When they do return, Framton thinks they are ghosts returning from the dead and frantically runs out into the street.

Framton’s desire for relief directly conflicts with Vera’s desire to get rid of or at least taunt him. She takes advantage of his fragile, neurotic state and concocts this apocryphal tale to scare him away. She even plays along by pretending that the returning men and dog are apparitions. When Framton tries to show Vera solidarity at how ridiculous Mrs. Sappleton is for believing that her husband and brothers will return despite supposedly being dead, the girl stares

out through the open window with dazed horror in her eyes. In a chill shock of nameless fear Framton swung round in his seat and looked in the same direction.

So Framton meets the opposite of what he came for; he does not get rest, but endures mental excitement (fright) and vigorous physical exercise (dashing nearly “headlong” into a cyclist).

Vera wins this conflict as she successfully causes him to flee even before he has a chance to settle into Mrs. Sappleton’s home.

Saki's short story, entitled "The Open Window," presents several conflicts.

The first one is probably man (or the individual) vs society. Mr. Nuttel has come from the city to rest because of a nervous disorder. We can infer that this is caused primarily due to city life has he has left the city to rest in the country. We might venture to infer that man vs self is also represented in Nuttel's case as he struggles to deal with a specific aspect of his personal health, which he seems unable to control on his own. Man vs man is also present, as Mr. Nuttel has come under some sincere criticism from his sister who does not want him to bury himself alone in the country. A letter of introduction from his sister has brought him to this home. There is also man vs man as he is set up at the hands of the clever Vera who creates such a believable story. And while it is not accurate, for a time he believes he is facing the supernatural—the "ghosts" of Vera's uncle and cousins (and this would be man vs the supernatural).

Vera, who is staying with her aunt and and uncle, and has little other company beyond them and her two cousins (who she probably has nothing to in common with given their age and gender), is most likely bored. It is hard to say where exactly this conflict rests: however, Vera's inability to find a more productive and kinder form of entertainment would probably introduce the conflict of man vs. self. She uses Mr. Nuttel to amuse herself, and this is man vs man.

Ironically, though there are several examples of different kinds of conflict, the mood of the story is not filled with the tension often found in a story with so much conflict, although these conflicts do introduce a sense of mystery and fear, as well as excitement—in the reader.

Framton Nuttel is here at the Sappletons' country home only because he is suffering from what he calls a "nervous disorder." He is looking for the peace and quiet he expects the English countryside to provide. Vera is young and in perfect physical and mental condition. It is Vera who causes all the uproar. She is trying to "spook" Framton with a ghost story, and he would be resistant to believing in the truth of her story because he is an adult and should know that such things do not really happen. So it might be said that the conflict involves Vera's efforts to make Framton believe that the three hunters, when they appear outside the open window, will be ghosts returning from the bog where they were sucked down three years earlier.

The open window is the first piece of evidence Vera uses to persuade Framton of the truth of her story. There can be no doubt that the tall window must be standing open to admit someone who is expected to enter from outside. Vera knows her aunt so well that she knows almost word for word what the rather eccentric woman will say when she appears. Mrs. Sappleton substantiates part of Vera's ghost story by explaining that she is waiting for her husband and her two younger brothers to return from hunting through that open window. This is what Vera has already told Framton--except that Vera told him her aunt has been waiting for these men for three years! 

Vera's objective has not yet been realized. Then Mrs. Sappleton, as the girl expected, contributes to the desired final effect.

“Here they are at last!” she cried. “Just in time for tea, and don’t they look as if they were muddy up to the eyes!”

Framton is facing Mrs. Sappleton and cannot see the open window. Still clinging to his fragile composure, Framton turns to look at Vera to show he understands what a trial her aunt must be with her constant waiting for her husband's return. But Vera is using her acting talent to create the effect she desires.

Framton shivered slightly and turned towards the niece with a look intended to convey sympathetic comprehension. The child was staring out through the open window with dazed horror in her eyes. In a chill shock of nameless fear Framton swung round in his seat and looked in the same direction. In the deepening twilight three figures were walking across the lawn towards the window; they all carried guns under their arms. . .

Framton Nuttel is the perfect victim for this mischievous girl. His reaction may be even better than she expected. He is already a nervous wreck, and the sight of three approaching men who must be ghosts is too much. He goes running out of the house and up the country road in a panic. The fact that these "ghosts" all have guns makes them all the more terrifying. 

Why does Vera want to frighten poor Framton? She is bored with her confinement to this isolated house where nobody ever talks about anything but shooting birds. She is young and would like to have a little variety and a little excitement in her life. In fact, she wants just the opposite of what Framton wants. 

“The doctors agree in ordering me complete rest, an absence of mental excitement, and avoidance of anything in the nature of violent physical exercise,” announced Framton, who labored under the tolerably wide-spread delusion that total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for the least detail of one’s ailments and infirmities, their cause and cure.

The conflict of the story is both internal and external. Nuttel has been set to the country in order to settle his nerves. Internally, he is unstable. When Vera discovers this, she begins to challenge him externally by making up a story about the death of the husband in order to scare Nuttel when the husband returns. Nuttel is so frightened when he sees the husband that he bolts from the room, Internally, his nerves cannot stand the shock. Externally, Vera has been successful in scaring Nuttle and thereby getting him Nuttel to leave.

The main conflict in "The Open Window" by Saki is the nebulous line between imagination and reality.

This blurring of the lines of reality and imagination generated by Vera, whose "specialty" is "[R]omance at short notice," is the main conflict because it is the one which produces the internal struggles of Framton Nuttel. Further, this conflict effects Nuttel's discomfiture and fears, which, in turn, effect his final desperate act of panic.

In this witty and mischievous story by Saki, it is a fragile Framton Nuttel who arrives at the Sappleton home in the country for a "rural retreat" meant to help heal his shattered nerves. Ironically, however, Nuttel has the misfortune of being entertained by Mrs. Sappleton's niece. deceptively named Vera. For, it is her confluence of truth with reality that lends a macabre conclusion to her tall-tale. And, this act of Vera of blurring the line between imagination and reality causes the nervous Nuttel to break down as he witnesses the real-life return of the Sappleton men through the window that Mrs. Sappleton has purportedly left open in her delusion that the men engulfed years ago in a treacherous bog will somehow return. 

The problem in "The Open Window" is that one shaken psychological force, in need of a "nerve cure," meets an imaginative psychological force with an art for "[r]omance at short notice," then explosive psychological manipulation occurs. In a sense, you might say there is no resolution to the problem because the central character affected by the problem, Framton Nuttel, finds neither peace nor harmony following the climax (seeing three figures out the window) and falling action (specifically, running speedily away).

Framton grabbed wildly at his stick and hat; the hall door, the gravel drive, and the front gate were dimly noted stages in his headlong retreat. A cyclist coming along the road had to run into the hedge to avoid imminent collision.

However, there is a resolution to the problem of the story that directly involves readers and Vera. When Framton runs "in his headlong retreat," the reader is left at the house with Mrs. Sappleton, Vera, and the three figures with the spaniel. We find out, though Framton does not, that these figures are real men, not figures of long lost ghosts. We also find out the truth of the joke played on Framton and on us (wish Framton could have stuck around a bit longer). Vera is woefully given to telling tall tales on a whim, using any information or circumstance that comes her way. So the actual resolution here has to do with Vera rather than poor Framton, who is much the worse for wear, I fear, for having met Vera.

Vera was telling a complete fiction based on the family's daily habits. Vera's aunt and uncle have not the slightest idea of Vera's tale-telling past-time. Vera will continue to tell tales to everyone's disadvantage but her own--and--she will continue to feel no remorse. 

"[He] dashed off without a word of goodby or apology when you arrived. One would think he had seen a ghost."

     "I expect it was the spaniel," said the niece calmly; "he told me he had a horror of dogs. He was once hunted into a cemetery somewhere on the banks of the Ganges by a pack of pariah dogs, and had to spend the night in a newly dug grave ... just above him. ...."

Although Vera does much of the talking, it is Framton Nuttel who is the viewpoint character. We see Vera and Mrs. Sappleton through his eyes, and we see the returniing hunters through his eyes--which is what makes three ordinary men seem ghostly. Framton's problem is that he is shy and nervous. He doesn't want to be in this house full of complete strangers. He wants to present his letter of introduction, drink his obligatory cup of tea, and make his escape. He expects the visit to be a minor ordeal because of his shyness and his nerves, but it turns into a major ordeal because of the story Vera tells him and the subsequent appearance of the three men who are supposed to be dead.

It might be argued that Vera has a problem in convincing the visitor that her aunt is mentally unbalanced and the three men are dead, but the reader suspects that this is not the first time she had tried out her story on a visitor. She tells it effectively because she has had practice. She is not only intelligent and imaginative, but she is also a good actress. She has to look appropriately horrified when the three hunters appear comiing towards the open window.

While the problem in "The Open Window" seems a simple one--Framton Nuttel is in the country for a "nerve cure," yet he meets a charming young woman who tells him a horror story that he then watches come true--it is actually a complex psychological one. First of all, Framton is in a delicate emotional and psychological condition for reasons unknown to us. His situation is so delicate that he is sent to the country to recuperate. Secondly, one of the families he is sent to call on has a niece staying there who has an inclination for the macabre. When the two meet each other, it becomes an explosive situation for Framton. 

The problem starts when the charming young lady, Vera, the niece, greets Framton while her aunt is momentarily unavailable. She (1) learns that he knows no one around there and nothing about her aunt. She (2) knows that her uncle and cousins are due back shortly from their regular hunting trip. She puts these pieces of information together and instantly weaves a horror story to entertain herself and, we suppose, hopefully terrify the new visitor.

     "Do you know many of the people round here?" asked the niece, ....

     "Hardly a soul," said Framton. ....

     "Then you know practically nothing about my aunt?" pursued the self-possessed young lady.

     "Only her name and address," admitted the caller. ....

     "Her great tragedy happened just three years ago," said the child; "that would be since your sister's time."

Her plan succeeds, since Framton dashes out with such suddenness and rapidity that a cyclist is dashed into "the hedge to avoid imminent collision." A question arises as to the moral nature of the problem in this deeply psychological and ironic tale that toys with a man on the brink ironically worsened by the polite society expected to ease his way, as some members "were quite nice."

Framton Nuttel, the hapless protagonist of the story, experiences deep internal conflict. He's a very shy man, a nervous wreck who's been sent to the country by his doctor for some much-needed rest and recuperation. At the same time, Framton's sister doesn't want her brother to be cooped up indoors throughout his rest cure. She thinks it would be beneficial for Framton to get out and about and socialize with some people in the locality. So she helpfully provides him with a letter of introduction to the Sappleton family. By venturing forth to the Sappleton residence, Framton is attempting to overcome his chronic shyness and the symptoms of his nervous disorder.

The main external conflict in the story is between Vera and Framton. Once Vera realizes that Framton doesn't know anyone in the area, she immediately seizes the opportunity to spring a wicked prank upon him. Framton's frazzled nerves are no match for Vera's expert skill in weaving a convincing horror story. Just when Framton thinks he's successfully overcome his inner conflict, he finds himself comprehensively defeated in a much more serious external conflict with the mischievous Vera.

Framton Nuttel is the viewpoint character. All the other characters, even including the three returning hunters, are described from his perspective. So it seems impossible to assign the story's problem to anyone but Framton Nuttel. Saki takes pains in the initial exposition and much of the dialogue to establish that Framton's problem is that he is a nervous wreck. He has been consulting a number of doctors about his disorder.

Privately he doubted more than ever whether these formal visits on a succession of total strangers would do much towards helping the nerve cure which he was supposed to be undergoing.

Framton, understandably, does not tell young Vera about his health problems, but he talks about nothing else to Mrs. Sappleton when she arrives in the living room.

"The doctors agree in ordering me complete rest, an absence of mental excitement, and avoidance of anything in the nature of violent exercise," announced Framton, who laboured under the tolerably wide-spread delusion that total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for the least detail of one's ailments and infirmities, their cause and cure.

Saki not only stays focused in Framton's point of view but actually goes inside his mind. The problem is Framton's nervous condition. If not for this problem he would not even be present in the country or in the Sappletons' living room. He is trying to solve his problem by meeting new people in what he takes to be a restful environment. It turns out that he has inadvertently found his way into the worst possible setting.

The problem starts when Framton arrives at the country estate. We do not know whether he brought the letter of introduction along with him or whether he had it delivered earlier and waited for an invitation to tea. He brings his problem along with him. The letter of introduction written by his sister probably says little about his nervous condition, although it may mention that Framton is sojourning in the area for his health. He may cause some slight inconvenience for Vera and her aunt, but the only big problem in the story is his nerves. 

A story problem invariably arises from a motivation. Framton's motivation is his desire to cure his nervous disorder, what we nowadays would call his neurosis. Doctors in Saki's time didn't have many ways of dealing with such vague emotional problem. There were no psychiatrists to recommend and no tranquilizers to prescribe. It was common for doctors to recommend a change of scene. This was reasonable enough for people who could afford it and didn't have to work. The reader might wonder what kind of occupation Framton has, if any. Money does not seem to be part of his problem. He not only can afford to take a long holiday but to consult a number of doctors in London.