The Landlady

Real literature for Hallowe’en

The Landlady is an exceptionally well written, suspenseful and eerie

short story that cries out to be explored at Hallowe’en by both middle
and high school stu dents. ( And it is not to be missed if
“foreshadowing” and “appearance versus reality” figure in your
curriculum.) If your school doesn’t own any of the many anthologies
featuring The Landlady, thanks to the BBC, you can access the text,
audio files and related activities here:

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/britlit/landlady.

I’ve summarized The Landlady and stirred the pieces in my cauldron.

After your class has read the story, your students should be able to

reconstitute the summary as a small group, co-operative activity.

Seventeen year old Billy Weaver has just arrived in Bath to start his, new job.
It’s getting late and he has to find some inexpensive lodgings and get himself
settled because tomorrow is a big day. He’ll be introducing himself to his new
branch manager and launching his career in business. A porter at the train station
recommends the Bell and Dragon hotel. It’s only a short walk away.

On the way to the hotel, however, Billy is drawn irresistably to a pleasant looking
Bed and Breakfast . He presses the doorbell and a middle-aged woman answers
immediately as if she had been waiting for him. His prospective landlady has “a
round pink face and very gentle blue eyes” and seems “terribly nice” although she
does strike Billy as a little dotty. Still, the house is so charming and so much
cheaper than the Bell and Dragon, that his decision almost makes itself. The
landlady shows Billy to his floor and he’s surprised to learn that the place is not
filled with other guests. What luck! He virtually has the place all to himself! The
woman reminds Billy that, by law, he has to sign the guest book in the sitting room
because “we don’t want to go breaking any laws at this stage in the proceedings,
do we?”.

Billy signs the book and notices that there are only two entries before his – those
of a Christopher Mulholland and a Gregory Temple. The names seem vaguely
familiar to him. While he is trying to remember where he has heard the names
before, the landlady enters with a tray of tea and biscuits. She seems as
surprised as Billy that Temple and Mulholland’s entries are over two years old.

She is also having considerable trouble remembering that Billy’s surname is

“Weaver”. While Billy sips his tea, he recalls a newpaper story about Christopher
Mulholland disappearing while on a cross-country trip. But when Billy asks if
Mullholland left the boardinghouse recently, the landlady tells him that neither
Mulholland nor Temple have left the establishment. “They’re still“on the fourth
floor, both of them together.” It’s at this point that Billy realizes that the
dachshund curled up by the hearth and the beautiful parrot in the den are not
living pets but stuffed animals. The landlady claims, modestly, that her taxidermy
art is not in the least difficult to do. In fact, she stuffs all her little pets herself
when they die. When Billy inquires politely if she has had any guests other than
Temple and Mullholland recently, the woman replies, “No, my dear… only you.”