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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What finally reveals the plainclothes officer's face?
(a) A streetlight.
(b) The headlights of an approaching police car.
(c) The flame from a match.
(d) The light from an open business.

2. On page 621, how does the reader learn that the first police officer was actually Jimmy?
(a) Jimmy himself explains his identity.
(b) The plainclothes officer refers to him as "Patrolman Wells."
(c) The narrator describes "the patrolman" waiting around the corner as his "oldest friend" is arrested.
(d) The plainclothes officer reveals his true identity to Bob.

3. How does the plainclothes officer get Bob to walk with him?
(a) He shows him the note from Jimmy.
(b) He arrests him.
(c) He says that he lives nearby and they can go have a drink at his apartment.
(d) He tells him they will go somewhere close by and talk about old times.

4. How far does Bob say he traveled in order to meet with Jimmy?
(a) 500 miles.
(b) 2,000 miles.
(c) 1,000 miles.
(d) 200 miles.

5. Who is the author of "After Twenty Years"?
(a) Edith Wharton.
(b) Henry James.
(c) Katherine Anne Porter.
(d) O. Henry.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Bob describes Jimmy as the "staunchest" man in the world, what does this show that Bob believes about Jimmy?

2. What hope does Bob express about Jimmy?

3. Why have the two men set this particular meeting time?

4. What reason does Bob give for falling out of touch with Jimmy?

5. What does Bob do while he waits for Jimmy?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Bob guess that Jimmy might not be as much of a success as Bob himself has become?

2. Why does Jimmy, in his role as the police officer, ask Bob if he is going to keep waiting for his friend to show up?

3. What were the circumstances of the agreement Jimmy and Bob made 20 years ago?

4. Describe the story's opening moments, including its setting.

5. How did Bob and Jimmy know one another, 20 years ago?

6. What is the effect of the passage depicting Bob continuing to wait in the doorway as it begins to rain?

7. What is amusing about the plainclothes officer's answer to Bob's question about whether he is doing well in New York?

8. What is ironic about the way that Bob describes his old friend to the "policeman" he encounters?

9. What is appropriate about the plainclothes officer greeting Bob with the line "It's Bob, sure as fate" (621)?

10. What causes Bob to finally realize that the plainclothes officer is not Jimmy Wells?

(see the answer keys)

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