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The Landladyby Roald DahlLITERARY FOCUS: FORESHADOWINGA wedding celebration comes to an abrupt end as a violent storm ragesthrough a village. Is this occurrence just a weather event, or might ithint at trouble ahead? Writers sometimes use clues or hints like this tosuggest events that will happen later in their stories. Using clues orhints this way is called foreshadowing. Foreshadowing helps to build afeeling of suspense in the reader. It is an important element in tales ofmystery and danger such as “The Landlady.”READING SKILLS: PREDICTINGWhen you make a prediction, or guess, about a story, you take note ofthe details you’re given and try to figure out what will happen later. Asyou read “The Landlady,” you will discover that the writer has used foreshadowing. Those clever clues will also help you make predictions. Youmay want to record your predictions in this chart as you read the story.Billy sees a notice in thewindow of a boardinghouse.When he presses the bell, awoman answers instantly.There are no hats or coats inthe hall.The names in the guest bookseem familiar to Billy.The parrot and the dog arestuffed.The tea has an unpleasantLiterary SkillsUnderstandforeshadowing.taste.Reading SkillsMakepredictions.20Part 1Collection 1 / Telling StoriesPredictionsCopyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.Clues

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.Illustration by Krysten Brooker.Roald DahlBilly Weaver had traveled down from London on the slowafternoon train, with a change at Reading on the way, andby the time he got to Bath, it was about nine o’clock in theevening, and the moon was coming up out of a clear starrysky over the houses opposite the station entrance. But thePause at line 7. Circle thename of the character who isintroduced in this passage.Underline details that establish the setting.air was deadly cold and the wind was like a flat blade of iceon his cheeks.“Excuse me,” he said, “but is there a fairly cheap hotelnot too far away from here?”10“Try The Bell and Dragon,” the porter1 answered,pointing down the road. “They might take you in. It’s abouta quarter of a mile along on the other side.”1. porter n.: person hired to carry luggage.“The Landlady” from Kiss, Kiss by Roald Dahl.Copyright 1959 by Roald Dahl. Reproducedby permission of David Higham Associates.The Landlady21

Billy thanked him and picked up his suitcase and setNotesout to walk the quarter-mile to The Bell and Dragon. Hehad never been to Bath before. He didn’t know anyone wholived there. But Mr. Greenslade at the head office in Londonhad told him it was a splendid town. “Find your own lodgings,” he had said, “and then go along and report to thebranch manager as soon as you’ve got yourself settled.”Billy was seventeen years old. He was wearing a new20navy-blue overcoat, a new brown trilby hat,2 and a newbrown suit, and he was feeling fine. He walked brisklydown the street. He was trying to do everything brisklythese days. Briskness, he had decided, was the one commoncharacteristic of all successful businessmen. The big shotsRe-read lines 20–27. Howwould you describe Billy’smood?up at the head office were absolutely fantastically brisk allthe time. They were amazing.There were no shops on this wide street that he waswalking along, only a line of tall houses on each side, all of30them identical. They had porches and pillars and four orfive steps going up to their front doors, and it was obviousBut now, even in the darkness, he could see that the paintwas peeling from the woodwork on their doors and windowsand that the handsome white facades3 were cracked andblotchy from neglect.Suddenly, in a downstairs window that was brilliantlyilluminated by a street lamp not six yards away, Billy caughtsight of a printed notice propped up against the glass in40one of the upper panes. It said “Bed and Breakfast.” Therewas a vase of yellow chrysanthemums, tall and beautiful,standing just underneath the notice.Underline details in lines37–58 that make the boardinghouse seem inviting andcomfortable.He stopped walking. He moved a bit closer. Greencurtains (some sort of velvety material) were hanging down2. trilby hat: soft hat with the top deeply indented.3. facades (f ·sädz ) n.: fronts of buildings.22Part 1Collection 1 / Telling StoriesCopyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.that once upon a time they had been very swanky residences.

on either side of the window. The chrysanthemums lookedwonderful beside them. He went right up and peeredthrough the glass into the room, and the first thing he sawwas a bright fire burning in the hearth. On the carpet infront of the fire, a pretty little dachshund was curled up50asleep with its nose tucked into its belly. The room itself,A dachshund (line 49) is abreed of dog that has a longbody, short legs, and droopyears. The word dachshundcomes from German and ispronounced (däks hØnt ).so far as he could see in the half darkness, was filled withpleasant furniture. There was a baby grand piano and a bigsofa and several plump armchairs, and in one corner hespotted a large parrot in a cage. Animals were usually agood sign in a place like this, Billy told himself; and all inall, it looked to him as though it would be a pretty decentIn lines 59–67, Billy thinksabout whether to stay at thepub or at the boardinghouse.Underline details thatdescribe the benefits of staying at the pub.house to stay in. Certainly it would be more comfortablethan The Bell and Dragon.On the other hand, a pub would be more congenial460than a boardinghouse. There would be beer and darts in thePause at line 71. Where willBilly decide to stay?evenings, and lots of people to talk to, and it would probablybe a good bit cheaper, too. He had stayed a couple of nightsin a pub once before and he had liked it. He had neverCopyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.stayed in any boardinghouses, and, to be perfectly honest, hewas a tiny bit frightened of them. The name itself conjuredup5 images of watery cabbage, rapacious6 landladies, and apowerful smell of kippers7 in the living room.After dithering about8 like this in the cold for two orthree minutes, Billy decided that he would walk on and70take a look at The Bell and Dragon before making up hismind. He turned to go.And now a queer thing happened to him. He was inthe act of stepping back and turning away from the windowwhen all at once his eye was caught and held in the most4.5.6.7.congenial (k n·j n y l) adj.: agreeable; pleasant.conjured (kun j rd) up: called to mind.rapacious (r ·p† s) adj.: greedy.kippers n.: fish that have been salted and smoked. Kippers arecommonly eaten for breakfast in Great Britain.8. dithering about: acting nervous and confused.The Landlady23

peculiar manner by the small notice that was there. BED ANDBREAKFAST, itRe-read the boxed passage,lines 72–88, aloud. Underlinedetails in the passage thatbuild suspense. Read thepassage aloud, and emphasize those words and phrasesas you read.said. BED AND BREAKFAST, BED AND BREAKFAST,BED AND BREAKFAST. Eachword was like a large black eyestaring at him through the glass, holding him, compellinghim, forcing him to stay where he was and not to walk80away from that house, and the next thing he knew, he wasactually moving across from the window to the front doorof the house, climbing the steps that led up to it, and reaching for the bell.What does the comparison ofthe landlady to a jack-in-thebox suggest about her (lines90–91)?He pressed the bell. Far away in a back room he heardit ringing, and then at once—it must have been at oncebecause he hadn’t even had time to take his finger fromthe bell button—the door swung open and a woman wasstanding there.Normally you ring the bell and you have at least a90half-minute’s wait before the door opens. But this damewas like a jack-in-the-box. He pressed the bell—and outshe popped! It made him jump.She was about forty-five or fifty years old, and thesmile.“Please come in,” she said pleasantly. She steppedaside, holding the door wide open, and Billy found himselfRe-read lines 103–106. What isstrange about the landlady’sresponses to Billy’s comments?automatically starting forward. The compulsion or, moreaccurately, the desire to follow after her into that house was100extraordinarily strong.“I saw the notice in the window,” he said, holding himself back.“Yes, I know.”“I was wondering about a room.”“It’s all ready for you, my dear,” she said. She had around pink face and very gentle blue eyes.24Part 1Collection 1 / Telling StoriesCopyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.moment she saw him, she gave him a warm, welcoming

“I was on my way to The Bell and Dragon,” Billy toldher. “But the notice in your window just happened to catchNotesmy eye.”110“My dear boy,” she said, “why don’t you come in out ofthe cold?”“How much do you charge?”“Five and sixpence a night, including breakfast.”It was fantastically cheap. It was less than half of whathe had been willing to pay.“If that is too much,” she added, “then perhaps I canreduce it just a tiny bit. Do you desire an egg for breakfast?Eggs are expensive at the moment. It would be sixpence lesswithout the egg.”120“Five and sixpence is fine,” he answered. “I should likevery much to stay here.”The landlady tells Billy thatshe knew he would stay ather bed and breakfast (line122). Why do you think thelandlady is so certain aboutBilly’s intentions?Illustration by Krysten Brooker.Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.“I knew you would. Do come in.”The Landlady25

She seemed terribly nice. She looked exactly like themother of one’s best school friend welcoming one into thehouse to stay for the Christmas holidays. Billy took off hisThere are no other guests inthe boardinghouse (lines129–130). What does thisclue foreshadow?hat and stepped over the threshold.“Just hang it there,” she said, “and let me help you withyour coat.”There were no other hats or coats in the hall. There130were no umbrellas, no walking sticks—nothing.“We have it all to ourselves,” she said, smiling at himover her shoulder as she led the way upstairs. “You see, itisn’t very often I have the pleasure of taking a visitor intomy little nest.”The old girl is slightly dotty,9 Billy told himself. But atPause at line 141. Why doyou think the landlady haschosen Billy to be her guest?five and sixpence a night, who cares about that? “I should’vethought you’d be simply swamped with applicants,” he saidpolitely.“Oh, I am, my dear, I am, of course I am. But the140trouble is that I’m inclined to be just a teeny-weeny bitchoosy and particular—if you see what I mean.”“But I’m always ready. Everything is always ready dayand night in this house just on the off chance that anacceptable young gentleman will come along. And it is sucha pleasure, my dear, such a very great pleasure when nowRe-read lines 143–152.Underline the things thelandlady says and does thatseem unusual or out of theordinary.and again I open the door and I see someone standing therewho is just exactly right.” She was halfway up the stairs, andshe paused with one hand on the stair rail, turning her head150and smiling down at him with pale lips. “Like you,” sheadded, and her blue eyes traveled slowly all the way downthe length of Billy’s body, to his feet, and then up again.On the second-floor landing she said to him, “Thisfloor is mine.”9. dotty adj.: crazy.26Part 1Collection 1 / Telling StoriesCopyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.“Ah, yes.”