The Killer and the Slain
by Hugh Walpole
Jimmy Tunstall was an implacable enemy of John Talbott as a child and never stopped mocking, torturing and mocking him. Years later, John gets married, and while living in a small coastal town, he is horrified to learn that his former enemy has moved to the same city. Soon the persecutions begin again, until he is finally driven to despair, when John kills his tormentor. Soon he begins to suffer from terrible hallucinations, and his personality and appearance begin to change, which causes him to become more and more similar to the person he killed. Is this just the psychological effect of his guilt, or is it a manifestation of something supernatural and evil? The tension escalates to a chilling final scene where a terrible truth about the killer is revealed and he is killed.
