It is a dolls' house in Strawberry Hill Gothic, six feet long, with many dolls: a middle-aged couple, two children, an old man in bed, and various servants. Dillet has his purchase carefully driven home then unpacks it and examines it in detail. Chittenden's wife comments that she is glad the thing has gone, and gone to that customer.
They discuss a collector's item in Chittenden's stock and haggle over it a price is agreed, the sale is made, and Dillet leaves. The story opens in the middle of a conversation between the antique dealer Mr Chittenden and his potential customer Mr Dillet. Though usually considered a story for adults, it has also been claimed as children's fiction. It is in many ways a typical James story, thematically linked to other works of his, especially " The Mezzotint".
It was commissioned by Queen Mary, wife of George V, as a miniature book for her famous Dolls' House, which can still be seen in Windsor Castle. James, collected by him in A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories (1925). " The Haunted Dolls' House" (1923) is a short story by M.
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