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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. When Mary, startled by the envelope's contents, cries out and rises to her feet, how does Ned react?
(a) He looks cornered and guilty.
(b) He laughs loudly and tells her to stop being dramatic.
(c) He rushes to her side to comfort her.
(d) He quietly tells her to sit back down.

2. What does Mary learn about the Blue Star Mine deal from her visitor in section "V"?
(a) Ned cheated Bob Elwell in order to make more money from it.
(b) Ned committed a crime in order to make the deal.
(c) Ned's actions caused the mine to go bankrupt.
(d) It was not nearly as lucrative a deal as Ned pretended.

3. What did Mary and Ned discover about their roof?
(a) There is a recently replaced section.
(b) It has one more chimney than they have fireplaces inside.
(c) It has a hidden walkway.
(d) It appears to be a different color over the library.

4. What is Ned's joking theory about why the ghost is so hard to see?
(a) It will not see you without an appointment.
(b) It has too much competition from other "ghostly" things.
(c) It is shy.
(d) The house is deliberately keeping them from seeing its ghost.

5. When Ned begins to read the newspaper in the library in section "II," he tries to sound casual as he asks Mary a question. What is the question?
(a) He asks if she ever wonders exactly how he made the money they used to buy the house.
(b) He asks if Mary remembers seeing the ghost in October.
(c) He asks if she knows how long "afterward" it is when people realize they have seen the ghost.
(d) He asks if the mysterious stranger has come back to the house at any point.

Short Answer Questions

1. When the young man appears behind Mary, who does she at first assume that he is?

2. Who is the author of "Afterward"?

3. When they are all laughing about the idea of a ghost, what does it mean that Mary "noted a certain flatness of tone in Alida's answering hilarity" (83)?

4. In section "III," when Mary looks at the house from across the property, what does she feel about the house?

5. On page 84, the reader learns about the "prodigious windfall" that Ned and Mary experienced. Where did this "prodigious windfall" come from?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Alida Stair tell the Boynes about Lyng?

2. What do Mary and Ned plan to do with their time at Lyng?

3. Describe the emotional condition that Mary is in in section "IV" of the story.

4. What does Mary remember happening earlier in the day in October when she and Ned first climbed Meldon Steep?

5. What happens with the mysterious visitor on the day that Ned disappears?

6. What does Ned tell Mary about the Blue Star lawsuit?

7. How does the narrator describe the life that the Boynes had in America?

8. What is Mary doing on the morning that Ned disappears?

9. How has Ned's mood changed on the morning after he and Mary first discussed the Blue Star lawsuit, and what does Mary believe changed his mood?

10. Why does Parvis come to see Mary near the end of the story?

(see the answer keys)

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