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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 does Mary find in the envelope addressed to her?
(a) A newspaper clipping.
(b) A photograph.
(c) A letter from Parvis.
(d) An anonymous note.

2. When the story refers to "Boyne," who or what is being referred to?
(a) Ned.
(b) The house.
(c) Ned's father.
(d) Mary.

3. On page 95, Mary mentions the "fun of the frisson." What is a frisson?
(a) A frightening story.
(b) A teasing remark.
(c) The feeling of "butterflies" in one's stomach.
(d) A sensation of chills or prickling down one's back.

4. When the story opens, in which room of her house is Mary waiting?
(a) The front parlor.
(b) Her bedroom.
(c) The dining room.
(d) The library.

5. What detail does the narrator relate as evidence of how much Ned and Mary have yearned for a life like the one they have in England?
(a) They had a map of England pinned over their kitchen table at their old house in America.
(b) They had already pre-planned every detail of how they would spend their days.
(c) They made an agreement with one another that they would do "anything" it took to make their dream come true.
(d) They were discussing a move to England even before they got married.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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)?

2. What did Mary and Ned discover about their roof?

3. When Mary discards her first two ideas about what is bothering Ned, she comes to a conclusion that upsets her. What is it?

4. When Mary, startled by the envelope's contents, cries out and rises to her feet, how does Ned react?

5. After Mary thinks more about the house and its ghost, what does she begin to wonder?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What do the Boynes tell Alida Stair about why Lyng's drawbacks are not problems from their point of view?

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

6. On the day of his disappearance, what is so frustrating for Mary about her conversation with her staff about where Ned is?

7. 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?

8. What strange conclusion does Mary come to about the relationship of the ghost to the house, Lyng?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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