 During the mid @-@ twenties Walpole produced two of his best @-@ known novels in the <unk> vein that he drew on from time to time , exploring the fascination of fear and cruelty . The Old Ladies ( 1924 ) is a study of a timid elderly spinster exploited and eventually frightened to death by a predatory widow . Portrait of a Man with Red Hair ( 1925 ) depicts the <unk> influence of a <unk> , insane father on his family and others . Walpole described it to his fellow author Frank <unk> as " a simple <unk> which it has <unk> me like anything to write , and won 't bore you to read . " In contrast he continued a series of stories for children , begun in 1919 with Jeremy , taking the young hero 's story forward with Jeremy and Hamlet ( the latter being the boy 's dog ) in 1923 , and Jeremy at <unk> in 1927 . Sadleir , writing in the 1950s , suggests that " the most real Walpole of all – because the most <unk> , kindly , and understanding friend – is the Walpole of the Jeremy trilogy . " Of his other novels of the 1920s <unk> ( 1928 ) , his first attempt at a full @-@ length love story , portrays a clash between <unk> and <unk> : his own sympathies , though not spelled out , were clearly with the <unk> . 
