The Beetle · Chapter
Miss Louisa Coleman explained
Sydney Atherton and Augustus Champnell visit the house opposite the scene of recent events and encounter the cantankerous landlady, Miss Louisa Coleman.
What happens
Sydney Atherton and Augustus Champnell visit the house opposite the scene of recent events and encounter the cantankerous landlady, Miss Louisa Coleman. After a tense exchange, she reveals that she let the empty house to a mysterious 'Arab party' named Mohamed el Kheir, who paid fifty pounds in advance and took possession before the lease was signed. She describes his terrifying appearance and voice, his strange comings and goings at all hours, and the eerie noises—screams, yells, and cat cries—that have emanated from the house ever since.
Themes in this chapter
The Foreign and the Occult
The mysterious tenant, Mohamed el Kheir, is an 'Arab party' whose appearance, voice, and behavior are portrayed as alien and sinister, reinforcing the link between foreignness and occult menace.
Fear and Psychological Terror
Miss Coleman's account of the tenant's terrifying face and voice, and the unexplained screams and cat cries from the house, evoke a pervasive atmosphere of dread.
Characters to notice
- Sydney Atherton
Accompanies Champnell to question Miss Coleman; grows impatient with her delays but ultimately waits.
- Augustus Champnell
Narrates the chapter; persuades Atherton to wait for Miss Coleman and examines the letter from the tenant.
- Paul Lessingham
Present during the interview; reads the tenant's letter and comments on its oddity.
- Miss Louisa Coleman
The landlady of the house opposite; provides a detailed account of the mysterious tenant and the strange occurrences at the property.
- The Beetle
Implied to be the 'Arab party' Mohamed el Kheir who rented the house; described as having a terrifying face and voice, and associated with eerie nocturnal noises.
Key passages
“I don't want none of your imperence, young man. I've seen you before—you've been hanging about here the whole day long!—and I don't like the looks of you, and so I'll let you know.”
Miss Coleman rebukes Atherton for his impatience, claiming she has observed him loitering all day and dislikes his appearance.
Highlights Miss Coleman's sharp tongue and her vigilance over the neighborhood.
“The undersigned would be oblidged if Miss Coleman would let her emptey house. I do not know the rent but send fifty pounds. If more will send. Please address, Mohamed el Kheir, Post Office, Sligo Street, London.”
The tenant's letter offers fifty pounds for the house without knowing the rent, signed 'Mohamed el Kheir' and sent from a post office address.
Shows the unusual and secretive nature of the tenancy arrangement.
“I have thought, and more than once, that the devil himself must be in that front room, let alone all the rest of his demons. And as for cats!—where they've come from I can't think.”
Miss Coleman suspects demonic activity in the house and notes a mysterious proliferation of cats since the tenant arrived.
Reinforces the supernatural and occult atmosphere surrounding the Beetle's lair.