Halla of Rutger’s Howe has received a large inheritance from Silas, her late husband’s great-uncle, who died several days ago. Despairing over the behavior of her husband’s resentful relatives in the aftermath of the will reading, she is now contemplating death by suicide. Her husband’s relatives descended on the house immediately after Silas’s death, and although Aunt Malva was shocked to learn that Silas had left everything to Halla, she soon began scheming. Now, Halla realizes that her relatives plan to force her to marry her cousin Alver so that they can keep the money in the family, and she fears that they may kill her if she refuses.

Three evenings earlier, Alver proposed marriage, but Halla rebuffed him, claiming that she was too distraught. At dinner that night, Aunt Malva criticized Halla for still being in mourning for her long-dead husband. Halla retorted that Silas had died only yesterday. Malva insulted the deceased man, calling him “strange,” “wretched,” and “tightfisted” (3). As tensions rose, Silas’s peculiar pet bird interrupted the argument, roaring about grisly things in a deep voice. The bird, a small finch-like creature with red eyes, normally sings a cheery song, but sometimes its eyes flash green, and it bellows “about the end of the world and the screams of the damned” (3).