When he rings the doorbell, it is instantly answered by a middle-aged landlady. Billy discovers that her boarding-house is extremely cheap, and finds the woman somewhat eccentric and absent-minded, but very kind.
its all ready for you, my dear!
i was wondering about a room?
The lady tells him the room rate. As it’s less than half what he was prepared to pay, Billy decides to stay. She tells him that he is the only guest as she takes him to his room.
and this one is all yours. here's your room. I do hope you'll like it!
Thank you, thank you ever so much.
very well then. i'll leave you now so that you can unpack. but before you go to be, would you be kind enough to pop into the sitting room on the ground floor.
i think i'll just go to bed as soon as possible because tomorrow i've got to get up rather early and report to the office
The landlady invites Billy for some tea, Billy is surprised to find that the parrot and dachshund he had seen through the window are both stuffed. The landlady says that she stuffs all her pets when they die. Billy finds that his tea tastes faintly of bitter almonds.
you really shouldn't bother I didn't mean you to do anything like that.
come over here now, dear and sit down beside me on the sofa and i'll give you a nice cup of tea and ginger biscuit before you go to bed.
Then the landlady poisoned Billy's tea with cyanide and intends to stuff his corpse, as she has already done to Mulholland and Temple.