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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. Mary thinks about the "latent" significance of a piece of information on page 83. What kind of meaning does this information have?
(a) Meaning that stays with a person and is hard to "shake."
(b) Meaning that seems positive at first but later reveals a negative side.
(c) Meaning that was always there but takes time to emerge.
(d) Meaning that reveals a hidden aspect of the speaker.

2. In section "V," who comes to visit Mary?
(a) Bob Elwell's widow.
(b) Hugo.
(c) Parvis.
(d) Alida.

3. Which character opens the story on page 83 by saying "Oh, there is one, of course, but you'll never know it"?
(a) Trimmle.
(b) Alida Stair.
(c) Ned Boyne.
(d) Mary Boyne.

4. What explanation does Ned give Mary at the time of the mysterious visit in October?
(a) He refuses to talk about the incident.
(b) It was the boyfriend of Trimmle, the parlor maid.
(c) It was Peters, the man working on their stable drains.
(d) It was a tourist who had heard stories about their ghost.

5. Why does Mary ask the mysterious young man whether he has an appointment with Ned?
(a) She is actually not sure that she knows where Ned is at the moment.
(b) She is trying to protect Ned's writing time.
(c) She instinctively mistrusts the young man.
(d) Ned has specifically asked her to turn away visitors.

Short Answer Questions

1. What aspect of the house does Alida mention that finally convinces Ned and Mary that it is as old as they are hoping?

2. When Mary thinks back on the October visit from the mysterious man, she thinks that it "had no mark of the portentous" (86). What does this mean she felt about the visit at the time that it happened?

3. From what period is Ned and Mary's new home?

4. Where is Mary and Ned's house located?

5. When Ned speeds off to talk with the mysterious visitor on that day in October, why does it take Mary so long to follow?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. 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?

4. After she finds out that he has gone out with the mysterious man and not yet returned, why is Mary immediately alarmed?

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

6. In the beginning of section "IV," how much time has elapsed since Ned's disappearance, and what has been happening in that time?

7. What horrifying chain of events does Mary understand once she sees Bob Elwell's picture?

8. What draws the Boynes to England?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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