View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When does Mary first realize that Ned is missing?
(a) When the stranger reappears and asks for him again.
(b) When Trimmle comes in to ask her whether she has seen Ned.
(c) When the boiler repairman asks to speak with him.
(d) When she tries to find him to tell him that lunch is ready.

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

3. Ned asks Alida a question about the ghost's "signalement" (84). What is he asking about?
(a) Its physical description.
(b) Its motivations.
(c) Its movements and habits.
(d) Its background.

4. What have Mary's new neighbors told her about the ghost?
(a) That she will not know when she sees it.
(b) That it is often absent for long stretches of time.
(c) Nothing.
(d) That it can only be seen at night.

5. When Ned is still gone by the time Mary finishes lunch, where does she decide he must be?
(a) She decides that he must have walked the visitor back to the train station.
(b) She decides that he must have gone for his afternoon walk a little early.
(c) She decides that he has finally left her.
(d) She decides that he must have gone into town to run an errand.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Ned's joking theory about why the ghost is so hard to see?

2. Mary thinks about the "latent" significance of a piece of information on page 83. What kind of meaning does this information have?

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

4. What does Mary conclude she needs to do in order to see the ghost?

5. As Mary thinks back over the events of October, she sees a figure coming toward the house again. Who is it?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What draws the Boynes to England?

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

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

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

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

8. What is the name of Ned's book, and what is the thematic significance of this title?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,157 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample