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The Vampire Maid
Early vampire short story with an interesting twist to the tradition.
11 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 16, 1900
About the author
Hume Nisbet
174 books9 followersJames Hume Nisbet was born in Stirling, Scotland, arriving in Melbourne at the age of sixteen where he became involved in theatrical life. He returned to Britain to study art, and went on to teach and exhibit in Edinburgh. He became a prolific book illustrator, and was later commissioned by Cassell and Co. to visit Australia and New Guinea, contributing articles and sketches for Cassell's Picturesque Australasia (1887-89). Nisbet published seventeen novels, many of which were set in and around Australia and the Pacific. The first, The Land of the Hibiscus Blossom: a yarn of the Papuan Gulf, was published in 1888 and then republished ten years later as part of Heinemann's Colonial Library of Popular Fiction. Nisbet's fiction in fact covered a range of popular genres, including romance, colonial adventure and crime. His autobiographical writings included A Colonial Tramp: Travels and Adventures in Australia and New Guinea (1891) and Reminiscences of Early Australian Life (1893).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
January 2, 2021
An artist takes some timeout in a lonely rural area. He falls in love with the daughter of his landlady. But Ariadne has a dark secret, as dark as her too red lips and too black hair... will the main character survive his stay at this accursed cottage on the moor? Classic vampire tale if there ever was one. Femme Fatal meets artist. Highly recommended. An intense and uncanny read!
September 19, 2016
This review and the rest of the crap I write can be seen @ my blog Bark's Book Nonsense . Stop by and say hey.
Booklikes Halloween Bingo Buddy Read with my sweet buddy Rane Thursday, Sept. 29.
Thank you, my lovely friend Rane, for helping me discover this little, lost gem from yesteryear. It was a joy to read today and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)
“It was the exact kind of abode that I had been looking after for weeks, for I was in that condition of mind when absolute renunciation of society was a necessity. I had become diffident of myself, and wearied of my kind. A strange unrest was in my blood; a barren dearth in my brains. Familiar objects and faces had grown distasteful to me. I wanted to be alone.”
Wow, I guess some things never change. This was written in the 1900’s and I feel like this guy has peered into my head and pulled out some of my most secret thoughts . . .
The narrator of this little tale goes on to say that this is a sign that a retreat has become needful and he packs it up, hops a train and searches out solitude, bracing air and romantic surroundings.
He finds all of the above straight-away, way out in nowhere land.
“My city-dried brains were becoming juicy.”
Looking for a place to camp, he comes across a solitary cottage at the edge of lofty cliffs and decides this is where he will rest his weary head. A widow greats him at the door and offers him lodging. The place is perfect for his needs but that night he has strange dreams that keep him tossing and turning. Hmmm, an omen, perhaps? The next morn, he meets the lady’s daughter who was sick the previous day and is still very pale. He is smitten and thinks,
“I succumbed instantly before the weird charms of my landlady’s daughter, Ariadne Burnnell.”
Who says romance is dead?
I won’t say much else because this story is so short and you may guess, seeing as the title sort of gives things away, what fate has in store for our weary traveler.
This was a lush little read busting at the seams with atmosphere and purple prose.
“The loneliness of the moor, with the singing of the ocean, had gripped my heart with wistful longing.”
I haven’t read prose like this in a very long time and it was so much fun. Sure it’s predictable, especially for someone jaded like myself, but it was also vert atmospheric and amusing in its overly dramatic prose and foolish, love-sick hero. I love a silly fool, am a sucker for them really, and this guy ranks right up there with the best of them.
Booklikes Halloween Bingo Buddy Read with my sweet buddy Rane Thursday, Sept. 29.
Thank you, my lovely friend Rane, for helping me discover this little, lost gem from yesteryear. It was a joy to read today and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)
“It was the exact kind of abode that I had been looking after for weeks, for I was in that condition of mind when absolute renunciation of society was a necessity. I had become diffident of myself, and wearied of my kind. A strange unrest was in my blood; a barren dearth in my brains. Familiar objects and faces had grown distasteful to me. I wanted to be alone.”
Wow, I guess some things never change. This was written in the 1900’s and I feel like this guy has peered into my head and pulled out some of my most secret thoughts . . .
The narrator of this little tale goes on to say that this is a sign that a retreat has become needful and he packs it up, hops a train and searches out solitude, bracing air and romantic surroundings.
He finds all of the above straight-away, way out in nowhere land.
“My city-dried brains were becoming juicy.”
Looking for a place to camp, he comes across a solitary cottage at the edge of lofty cliffs and decides this is where he will rest his weary head. A widow greats him at the door and offers him lodging. The place is perfect for his needs but that night he has strange dreams that keep him tossing and turning. Hmmm, an omen, perhaps? The next morn, he meets the lady’s daughter who was sick the previous day and is still very pale. He is smitten and thinks,
“I succumbed instantly before the weird charms of my landlady’s daughter, Ariadne Burnnell.”
Who says romance is dead?
I won’t say much else because this story is so short and you may guess, seeing as the title sort of gives things away, what fate has in store for our weary traveler.
This was a lush little read busting at the seams with atmosphere and purple prose.
“The loneliness of the moor, with the singing of the ocean, had gripped my heart with wistful longing.”
I haven’t read prose like this in a very long time and it was so much fun. Sure it’s predictable, especially for someone jaded like myself, but it was also vert atmospheric and amusing in its overly dramatic prose and foolish, love-sick hero. I love a silly fool, am a sucker for them really, and this guy ranks right up there with the best of them.
August 2, 2016
Seeking a break from city life, a young artist rents a room in a pleasant rural cottage. The presence of the alluring daughter of his new landlady seems to be nothing but an unexpected plus! But will he learn in time that he's made a dangerous mistake?
September 10, 2022
I got recommendation for this book from a friend. Not much to say about it, it’s just a time pass read.(a bit boring too )
The Vampire Maid is a tale of a man who is taking a little break from his city life by temporarily settling in a cottage on a cliff. In that cottage he saw a widow and her beautiful daughter. He becomes comfortable with that cottage and falls in love with her daughter. Soon after some days, the man finds that his love was a vampire. He left that place as soon as he could. That's how the story ended😒.
The plot of the story is very much predictable because of the author’s writing. But the description of the cottage and the surrounding place is great, it is written in such a manner that you can imagine it in your mind while reading. The ending is abrupt and not so shocking; there is no any amazing twist. Don’t expect high from this story.....
The Vampire Maid is a tale of a man who is taking a little break from his city life by temporarily settling in a cottage on a cliff. In that cottage he saw a widow and her beautiful daughter. He becomes comfortable with that cottage and falls in love with her daughter. Soon after some days, the man finds that his love was a vampire. He left that place as soon as he could. That's how the story ended😒.
The plot of the story is very much predictable because of the author’s writing. But the description of the cottage and the surrounding place is great, it is written in such a manner that you can imagine it in your mind while reading. The ending is abrupt and not so shocking; there is no any amazing twist. Don’t expect high from this story.....
February 20, 2017
The nameless narrator becomes tired of city life, and when seeking solitude, he finds a cottage on a moor and falls in love with the landlady's daughter.
I expected a giant turd. Sure, there are these gems:
"[M]y city-dried brains were again becoming juicy."
(Reads like a 7-year-old's first attempt at writing.)
"Meantime Ariadne and I passed our time in a thoroughly idle and lotus-eating style."
(I'm sorry, but although I'm aware this means something similar to idle, my brain automatically turns this into dirty stuff.)
But nope, The Vampire Maid is just boring, which can be even worse than an actual badly written turd. Especially after reading the Bierce short story, Nisbet's writing just seems like a poor attempt to make a mark in vampire literature. I can imagine him getting all tingly from the vampire ladies in Dracula, and then writing his own little piece about the bloodsuckers. A piece that is uninteresting, clichéd, and flat in every sense of the words. I don't even know why I'm wasting my breath writing a review, but here you go.
Nothing to see here, just run away like the idiot did.
I expected a giant turd. Sure, there are these gems:
"[M]y city-dried brains were again becoming juicy."
(Reads like a 7-year-old's first attempt at writing.)
"Meantime Ariadne and I passed our time in a thoroughly idle and lotus-eating style."
(I'm sorry, but although I'm aware this means something similar to idle, my brain automatically turns this into dirty stuff.)
But nope, The Vampire Maid is just boring, which can be even worse than an actual badly written turd. Especially after reading the Bierce short story, Nisbet's writing just seems like a poor attempt to make a mark in vampire literature. I can imagine him getting all tingly from the vampire ladies in Dracula, and then writing his own little piece about the bloodsuckers. A piece that is uninteresting, clichéd, and flat in every sense of the words. I don't even know why I'm wasting my breath writing a review, but here you go.
Nothing to see here, just run away like the idiot did.
August 22, 2019
Typical, predictable. I knew the issue with the girl when she first appeared in the story.
September 19, 2016
Entertaining and short. This was just what I was in the mood for with my All Hallow's Read Challenge coming up. I stumbled on it on my GR feed after seeing Bark's Book Nonsense post about it. I actually wanted to wait until Oct 1 to read , but it started out so good....well. I devoured it. Quickly.
It was great as a short story. I would have liked it to be a bit longer.
It was great as a short story. I would have liked it to be a bit longer.
October 8, 2019
Short story classic that follows a man seeking much needed respite. Settling on a lonely cottage in the woods, the protagonist falls under the hypnotic stare of his host's daughter. Love at first sight or love at first bite? He should've used Airbnb.😉
It's an old-fashioned tale, nothing truly terrifying. The ending is abrupt, leaving readers to assume the narrator's fate.
It's an old-fashioned tale, nothing truly terrifying. The ending is abrupt, leaving readers to assume the narrator's fate.
May 31, 2021
Vaya, para ser tan solo once paginas, debo decir que me ha gustado bastante ♥
September 5, 2015
Excellent gothic vampire story.
February 11, 2022
A brief but charming vampire story from over a century ago. It’s nothing today’s readers haven’t encountered before, but it is an enjoyable read for fans of classic horror and vampire stories.
May 6, 2016
The Vampire Maid 1900 by Hume Nisbet 1849-1923
The Vampire Maid was published in Stories Weird and Wonderful,
Hume Nisbet's first love was painting, but when he failed to make a living out of it, he turned instead to writing. He often wrote about the art world.
The story opens with our narrator, a man from the city who has grown tired of the city life and heads to the country to live a more peaceful life. He is looking for solitude and hopes to get some work done. He finds a beautiful place where he will have a very pretty landlady. The Landlady has a daughter who has been ill that when he meets her, he is fascinated. This soon turns to love. He forgets about solitude and his career goals.
What follows is a decreased level of energy, and strange nightmares.
Okay, after reading the title you pretty well knew how the story was going to go, but that does not mean that it is not a great little vampire story and you still have to read to the end to know exactly what happens.
The Vampire Maid was published in Stories Weird and Wonderful,
Hume Nisbet's first love was painting, but when he failed to make a living out of it, he turned instead to writing. He often wrote about the art world.
The story opens with our narrator, a man from the city who has grown tired of the city life and heads to the country to live a more peaceful life. He is looking for solitude and hopes to get some work done. He finds a beautiful place where he will have a very pretty landlady. The Landlady has a daughter who has been ill that when he meets her, he is fascinated. This soon turns to love. He forgets about solitude and his career goals.
What follows is a decreased level of energy, and strange nightmares.
Okay, after reading the title you pretty well knew how the story was going to go, but that does not mean that it is not a great little vampire story and you still have to read to the end to know exactly what happens.
July 4, 2025
A typical man falls in love with his landlady's daughter only she bears a strange secret. Which wasn't so strange
Read twice. Both times whilst playing minecraft with my partner
Read twice. Both times whilst playing minecraft with my partner
June 24, 2024
Langsam aber stetig klappere ich frühe Vampirgeschichten ab. Wo ich auf Hume Nisbet gestoßen bin, weiß ich leider schon nicht mehr. Das mag aber auch daran liegen, dass diese Kurzgeschichte wirklich sehr schnell abgefrühstückt ist. Die leere, trostlose Moorlandschaft ist toll beschrieben, nur leider bleibt die Spannung auf der Strecke. Das Geheimnis der Tochter des Hauses ist schnell aufgedeckt und die kopflose Flucht eher antiklimaktisch. Nicht mal die Prosa konnte mich auf den paar Seiten überzeugen. Interessanterweise handelt es sich hier, wie bei Carmilla, um eine weibliche Vampirin. Mit Fanus Novelle kann sich "The Vampire Maid" nicht messen. Die Lektüre ist zwar keine vertane Zeit, man kann sie sich aber getrost sparen.
August 3, 2019
A quintessential and atmospheric romantic vampire story that is marred only by the abruptness of its ending. Up to that point, it is an almost perfect evocation of a central element of the vampire myth - a victim's sexual intoxication.
It leaves a nice mystery about the mother's degree of complicity in her daughters' predatory behaviour. Mothers are supposed to protect young girls from predatory males (in 1900) but here she welcomes a young man into the web of her Ariadne, her name perhaps a vague reminder of Arachne.
October 7, 2019
Quick short read of a young man's encounter with a female vampire.
Moral: be careful when backpacking.
Moral: be careful when backpacking.
October 29, 2026
Horror, short story, vampire,by a master; ( listened to "HorrorBabble" read by Ian Gordon).
July 27, 2011
This story is about a vampire... but unlike the lovable Twilight Edward, there is nth lovable about the creature. Yet, the story doesn't start from the girl's point of view, but a guy's. The guy is bored with his posh life and goes searching for the meaning of life. He sights a house in no-man's land and wonders upon wonders, there lives a woman in it. She rents him a room. The woman has a daughter who is pale looking, but the next morning she looks a bit rosy, and then the next even more glowing. Soon the guy is in love with the rosy cheeked, quiet spoken, black raven haired girl. Read the book to discover who is the vampire and who is the maid...
September 19, 2020
Watch out for dangerous women on the lonely moors. Short and atmospheric. The narrator wanders in search of solitude and comes upon a lonely cottage on the moors which is inhabited by a woman and her daughter. It doesn't bring much new to the vampire genre. Still, it is descriptive and a very quick read. A bit dated, with an abrupt ending that has no pay off. This is available in 'HorrorBabble's Ultimate Weird Tales Collection, Volume 2', Audible edition narrated by Ian Gordon. Originally published in September 1900.
June 15, 2011
What can I say it was there, it was short and I read it.
May 10, 2018
Short but sweet, the descriptions were elegant yet the characters had very little charm or development. Fairly enjoyable nonetheless.
June 21, 2015
I enjoyed this short read although the ending left much to be desired.
June 8, 2021
It was the exact kind of abode that I had been looking after for weeks, for I was in that condition of mind when absolute renunciation of society was a necessity. I had become diffident of myself, and wearied of my kind. A strange unrest was in my blood; a barren dearth in my brains. Familiar objects and faces had grown distasteful to me. I wanted to be alone.
This is the mood which comes upon every sensitive and artistic mind when the possessor has been overworked or living too long in one groove.
I hear you buddy... but he stumbles onto an isolated house between the moors and the sea, and the woman offers him a sitting room and a bedroom, and the isolation that he so desperately needs.
But it is her beautiful daughter Ariadne, that attracts his attention. All the hints are here, most notably in the title - spoiler - she is pale, ill, but recovers after he arrives, and then he weakens.
Until one night when he forgets to drink his nightcap...
3 stars
May 27, 2026
This short story was published just 3 years after Dracula and the influence really shows. I liked the role reversal of a man being in the thrall of a female vampire. The vampire, Ariadne, lived in an isolated cottage with her mother. The mother seemed to know about her daughter's vampirism and rented a room to them for the express purpose of making them available to her daughter. I would be curious to know what events led them to this set-up.
It seemed unrealistic that the main character was able to escape once he realized Ariadne's true nature. Shouldn't she be able to overpower him? Allowing him to leave and spread the word of what happened there would bring more danger to her door.
This story is free on Kindle, but the Kindle version had really distracting formatting. New lines were started where it didn't seem necessary. Not sure if this came from the original or if it was some sort of side effect from digitizing.
Anyway, the story is a very quick read, so any vampire fan might as well give this one a try.
It seemed unrealistic that the main character was able to escape once he realized Ariadne's true nature. Shouldn't she be able to overpower him? Allowing him to leave and spread the word of what happened there would bring more danger to her door.
This story is free on Kindle, but the Kindle version had really distracting formatting. New lines were started where it didn't seem necessary. Not sure if this came from the original or if it was some sort of side effect from digitizing.
Anyway, the story is a very quick read, so any vampire fan might as well give this one a try.
December 30, 2025
Nice story.
Haunting and enchanting.
A bewitching, sensuous young maiden, a phantom of illicit desires, resides among the mist and nightmares of the moors, in a languorous, secluded cottage.
A eerie woman whose carnal desires are the bloody fruits of lustful passions.
This my kind of story. My kind of sojourn. And my kind of woman.
The drugged elixir is an curious twist. Is the drugged liquid simply a sleeping draught, or does the Maiden Vamp need her drug fix processed through the blood of her victim? It's an interesting idea for a larger story.
It's the sort of story that allows [requires?] the reader to use their imagination to flesh out the basic structure of the tale. Not enough stories these days, in the futuristic year of 2025 c.e., are written like this.
Readers now want the writer to tell them everything. Everything! Even the most minute, boring detail of a story. Too many readers do not want to use their imaginations anymore.
Haunting and enchanting.
A bewitching, sensuous young maiden, a phantom of illicit desires, resides among the mist and nightmares of the moors, in a languorous, secluded cottage.
A eerie woman whose carnal desires are the bloody fruits of lustful passions.
This my kind of story. My kind of sojourn. And my kind of woman.
The drugged elixir is an curious twist. Is the drugged liquid simply a sleeping draught, or does the Maiden Vamp need her drug fix processed through the blood of her victim? It's an interesting idea for a larger story.
It's the sort of story that allows [requires?] the reader to use their imagination to flesh out the basic structure of the tale. Not enough stories these days, in the futuristic year of 2025 c.e., are written like this.
Readers now want the writer to tell them everything. Everything! Even the most minute, boring detail of a story. Too many readers do not want to use their imaginations anymore.
August 14, 2024
oh if only it were longer, the prose in itself was just as melodic and dreamy as Ariadne which I enjoyed. it's also funny to note how the name "Ariadne" is of Greek origin meaning "most holy" ahah
"...smiled while she held out her hand. I clasped that soft snowflake, and as I did so a faint thrill tingled over me and rested on my heart, stopping for the moment its beating."
"Fathomless velvety eyes these were...looked like deep dark pools of clear water, yet they filled me with fire and deprived me of strength. I sank into my chair almost as languidly as I had risen from my bed that morning"
"Lovers are not unlike ostriches in their modes of concealment" -- this quote was kinda funny to think about x
I don't think I'll ever tire from such books, however short they may be, about vampires. they're always just so, charming, I suppose
"...smiled while she held out her hand. I clasped that soft snowflake, and as I did so a faint thrill tingled over me and rested on my heart, stopping for the moment its beating."
"Fathomless velvety eyes these were...looked like deep dark pools of clear water, yet they filled me with fire and deprived me of strength. I sank into my chair almost as languidly as I had risen from my bed that morning"
"Lovers are not unlike ostriches in their modes of concealment" -- this quote was kinda funny to think about x
I don't think I'll ever tire from such books, however short they may be, about vampires. they're always just so, charming, I suppose
September 5, 2017
It tells about a man who travelled far away and settled in a small house where he came to know Aridianne the Land lady daughter. He was welcomed in this cottage and soon found himself falling in love with the lady daughter. when he made up his mind to tell the mother he waited two weeks. He made up his mind to marry the lady. but when he was awoken by a weird dream he saw Arridianne as a vampire along with bloody men in front of his window. when he saw that he was so scared that he escape himself far away from the cottage. The style of the story was written in a poem style so much deep words of description leading to a story of horror and a short ending! 20 minutes read short story. i like it because of the humor it gave me. Moral lesson don't fall in love easily with a vampire lols
January 23, 2017
Earlier today, my friend was talking about this book and recommended to read it. She had said that it is a different take on the 'vampire' genre so I was really curious. Indeed, it was a different take on it. I was rather spooked at the end but not as much as I had expected. I believe it is due to it being too short a story. I really enjoyed the writing and the descriptions though. It's so detailed and refreshing! I would say this is more of a creepy book than a horror book though. Oh well, I still liked it!
February 20, 2023
Can relate.
"It was the exact kind of abode that I had been looking after for weeks, for I was in that condition of mind when absolute renunciation of society was a necessity. I had become diffident of myself, and wearied of my kind. A strange unrest was in my blood; a barren dearth in my brains. Familiar objects and faces had grown distasteful to me. I wanted to be alone."
Anyway, you can guess where this is going, but it's still a good read, and the descriptions put me right into the setting.
"It was the exact kind of abode that I had been looking after for weeks, for I was in that condition of mind when absolute renunciation of society was a necessity. I had become diffident of myself, and wearied of my kind. A strange unrest was in my blood; a barren dearth in my brains. Familiar objects and faces had grown distasteful to me. I wanted to be alone."
Anyway, you can guess where this is going, but it's still a good read, and the descriptions put me right into the setting.
January 29, 2025
It's a great short story with an interesting take on the vampire trope. I heard it on the podcast It Could Happen Here, read by Margaret Killjoy, and she mentioned how the allegory of vampirism for drugs in this story is a relatively unpopular one, but for being 11 pages, I thought it was done well. Ariadne is an interesting figure because she seems to possess some sort of thrall (similar I feel to the call of drugs for some people) despite having what, by all accounts, is a very unique appearance. Nisbet's use of description really brought the story to life and it was an interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews