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Hello listeners, welcome back to Luke's English podcast.

How are you doing today? I hope you're doing well.

Yes, in this episode, it is time for another short story on the podcast. I'm going to tell you a short story and then use it to help you learn English in context. Today's story is called The Lumber Room and it was written by Hector Hugh Monroe, who is better known by his pen name,

which is Saki. So an English writer of short stories and considered to be a bit of a master

of the genre of the short story. Have you ever read any other work by Saki? Do you know this writer?

This is one of his well-known stories.

This story is just under 2,000 words long, so it will probably take about 10 to 15 minutes for me to

read it from start to finish. After that, I will summarize it to help you make sure that you've

understood the main details. And then I'll go back through the story

text line by line and I'll take the time to explain a lot of words, phrases, bits of grammar

and so on. So listen to the story, try to follow it. You can consider that to be a little test

of your English listening if you want. Then keep listening and I will summarize it all so you can check that you've

definitely understood this, that and everything else. And then, yes, I'll be going through

the text in detail and there's a lot of English to learn here. So, the story is called the lumber

room. So what is a lumber room exactly? You've probably worked out it's a kind of room, but specifically what kind of room? Well, it's a slightly old-fashioned word for a room in a house which stores lots of things that aren't being used, a kind of storage room. These days, most people in the UK would use their attic or loft, which is the room at the top of the house in the room. These days, most people in the UK would use their attic or loft, which is the room at the top of the

house in the roof. That's where most people store all their old things in boxes, you know, old books

or old objects which have been in the family for years, but don't get used every day. Yes,

these days, things like that might be stored in the attic or loft in the roof of the house, but don't get used every day. Yes, these days, things like that might be stored

in the attic or loft in the roof of the house, but in the old days, some families might have had

what was called a lumber room where old things would be kept, and the room might be locked

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