Faulkner allows the reader to guess what the landlady's past may have been, which may, in turn, make the story mean something different to multiple people different. Readers do not know what drove her to keep young men and lock them in her house. "'Seventeen?' She cried. “Oh, it’s the perfect age!” Did she lose two young boys? Did they pass on these questions to her readers? draw their own conclusions. Not knowing the story behind the story leaves us with these questions I have come to the conclusion that the landlady of "The Landlady" had boys who were teenagers at the time of their deaths. As a result, the owner feels that she needs to open this Bed and Breakfast to attract teenagers and be able to love them as she loved her son(s). There is, however, a certain irony in this conclusion. teenagers were dying, why would she want to continue killing young boys that she wants to keep forever? As a reader, I would have imagined that the owner would want to keep them alive as long as possible and then keep their bodies afterwards? their death is an expression of love. This way of showing their love is definitely not what many would call “normal.” Usually, people show their love by going out on dates, giving the other person flowers, and doing activities together that make their love even stronger. In these stories, killing people and stuffing them is both women's way of showing their love. Dahl and Faulkner kept the reader's interest constant by including these twisted minds in their book.