Rats, by MR James. Jarvis reads this haunting tale from a book taken from his grandparents' house. A chilling ghost story about a young student taking up temporary residence at an out-of-the-way inn. The inn is well-tended by its elderly owners, all except for one room which stands unoccupied and securely locked. What is the mysterious secret of the room? The student, much to his horrified dismay, soon finds out. Montague Rhodes James, who used the publication name MR James, was a noted British mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge, and of Eton College. He is best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature. One of James' most important achievements was to redefine the ghost story for the new century by dispensing with many of the formal gothic trappings of his predecessors, and replacing them with more realistic contemporary settings.