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“We have it all to ourselves,” she said, smiling at him over her shoulder as she led the way upstairs. “You see, it isn’t very often I have the pleasure of taking a visitor into my little nest.”

This quote is an early indication of the landlady’s menacing nature. The breezy way she tells Billy that they are alone in the house, and with a smile no less, is scary. Referring to her home as her “little nest” brings to mind a predatory creature who has lured her prey into a trap.

“And it is such a pleasure, my dear, such a very great pleasure when now and again I open the door and I see someone standing there who is just exactly right.“ She was half-way up the stairs, and she paused with one hand on the stair-rail, turning her head and smiling down at him with pale lips. “Like you,“ she added, and her blue eyes travelled slowly all the way down the length of Billy's body, to his feet, and then up again.

This quote shows that the landlady is a predator and Billy is her prey. A normal landlady might express gratitude at having a lodger for the night and the business this brings, but this landlady expresses pleasure, and “a very great pleasure” at that, which goes too far and feels inappropriate considering their age difference especially. The way she looks Billy up and down also hints at her evil intentions.

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