Markheim

"Markheim" is a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson, originally prepared for the Pall Mall Gazette in 1884, but published in 1885 in The Broken Shaft: Tales of Mid-Ocean as part of Unwin's Christmas Annual. The story opens in an antique store. Markheim wishes to buy a Christmas present for a woman he will soon marry. The dealer presents him with a mirror but Markheim takes fright at his own reflection, claiming that no man wants to see what a mirror shows him. Markheim seems strangely reluctant to end the transaction, but when the dealer insists that Markheim must buy or leave, Markheim consents to stop tarrying and review more goods. The dealer turns his back to replace the mirror, and Markheim pulls out a knife and stabs him to death.