Hugh Walpole 
The Old Ladies 

In the city of Polchester there was an old rickety building on the rock above an old grass-grown square. The house was a windy, creaky, rain-bitten place where three old ladies lived as tenants, including Miss Beringer, who moved in the day before.

Although Miss Beringer has a rather nervous personality, she is befriended by a kindly neighbour named Mrs. Amorest. Soon, however, she meets the third tenant, a strange woman who takes an interest in her one treasured possession, an amber figurine. Although it is the morning of Christmas Eve, the mood in the house soon turns ominous, despite Mrs Amorest’s best efforts to foster a festive spirit…