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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 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 a tourist who had heard stories about their ghost.
(c) It was the boyfriend of Trimmle, the parlor maid.
(d) It was Peters, the man working on their stable drains.

2. Why does Mary have a hard time seeing the details of the man's appearance on that day in October?
(a) The sun is behind the man.
(b) The man is deliberately keeping himself in the shadows.
(c) Her eyesight is not very good.
(d) Ned quickly moves to block her view.

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)?
(a) Alida is laughing along, but Mary suspects that for some reason Alida does not find the subject as funny as everyone else does.
(b) Mary suspects that Alida feels embarrassed because she is lying about the ghost.
(c) Mary has only just realized that Alida is using this discussion as an opportunity to make fun of Mary and Ned.
(d) Mary recognizes that Alida is probably jealous of their good fortune and is trying to hide it.

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

5. In section "II," what question does Mary repeatedly ask Ned that evening in the library?
(a) She asks whether he has given up trying to see the ghost.
(b) She asks him what secret he is keeping from her.
(c) She asks whether he is having an affair.
(d) She asks whether it was a good idea to move into this particular house.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Mary learn about the Blue Star Mine deal from her visitor in section "V"?

2. 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?

3. What have Mary's new neighbors told her about the ghost?

4. What is the only descriptive detail that the maid is able to give Mary about the stranger's appearance?

5. 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?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

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

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

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

6. What news does Mary learn from a newspaper clipping that someone sends her in the mail, and why is she so upset by it?

7. In the narrative present at the beginning of the story, where is Mary and what is she doing?

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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