The short story (Landlady) is about a teenager (Bill) who is London. He wants to stay in lodging this night. When he finds a hotel called Bed and Breakfast, which he thinks is not a bad place to go to (because the owner has pets; he turns out to be wrong; they’re just stuffed animals). The landlady was nice, but a little bit too kind; that’s suspicious. Something that’s also suspicious is the fact that there are only 2 other people here, and that they have been here for years (that’s what the landlady claims).
The theme of this story is that you shouldn’t be too gullible. The reason is that anything may happen no matter what. Even ‘normal’ people are suspicious: this is because the one who is harming others is probably trying to be as normal as possible.
Bill is a cautious person, but he is not cautious enough. Even if the lady has a pet, that doesn’t mean that she is nice and caring. what if the pet is forced to stay there and look like that? Maybe there is a force controlling the pet, or what if it’s a stuffed animal (as in the story)? Bill should still be on his guard. Instead, he is off guard and unaware that anything may happen. Also, he accepts a lot of things, like the tea and the eggs (for breakfast, although he probably never gets it).