The Hidden Staircase, Chapter II. A Warning of Trouble quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Nancy put between herself and Gombet when he lunges at her?

   • Correct answer: The table, by stepping neatly to one side
   • Her father's big desk in the study
   • A heavy chair she drags in from the hall
   • The front door, which she slams in his face

   Nancy steps aside, slips away from his clawlike hands, and places the table between them before catching up the telephone.

   Read the passage
2. 2

   Question 2. How does Gombet act once Nancy picks up the telephone receiver?

   • He pulls the telephone cord out of the wall
   • He sits down and says he will wait for the police
   • He laughs and tells her the police will never come
   • Correct answer: He grows afraid and begs her not to telephone

   His angry look turns to genuine fear, and he says, almost like a child, that he will go if she does not telephone.

   Read the passage
3. 3

   Question 3. Why does Nancy decide not to call the police after Gombet leaves?

   • She is sure he is too frightened ever to come back again
   • Correct answer: The publicity from a scandal might hurt her father
   • The telephone line in the house is not working that day
   • She wants to catch him herself and surprise her father

   She has no wish to start a scandal in River Heights, since the resulting publicity might not do her father any good.

   Read the passage
4. 4

   Question 4. What job did Carson Drew once hold?

   • Owner of the biggest bank in the Middle West
   • Judge of the highest court in the whole state
   • Correct answer: District attorney of the city of River Heights
   • Head of the police in a small town near the river

   The chapter calls him the former district attorney at River Heights, a city in the Middle West.

   Read the passage
5. 5

   Question 5. What mystery did Nancy solve the summer before this story?

   • She learned who had been stealing from her father's office
   • Correct answer: She found the missing will that Josiah Crowley left
   • She caught a thief who was robbing the banks in town
   • She found a lost child who had wandered off at a fair

   When no one could locate Josiah Crowley's missing will, Nancy took over the task to help Abigail Rowen and Allie and Grace Horner.

   Read the passage
6. 6

   Question 6. Why does Nancy have to rip out nearly all of her sewing?

   • Correct answer: She cannot keep her mind on it after Gombet's visit
   • The needle on the machine breaks partway through
   • She sews it the wrong size by measuring too quickly
   • Hannah tells her she has used the wrong color of thread

   The unpleasant visit has ruined her afternoon, and she sighs that she cannot keep her mind on what she is doing.

   Read the passage
7. 7

   Question 7. What is Nancy doing when the doorbell rings near the end of the chapter?

   • Fixing supper in the kitchen before Hannah gets home
   • Reading her book in a comfortable chair by the window
   • Talking on the telephone with her father about Gombet
   • Correct answer: Going through papers in the desk to find the deed

   She is going over the papers in her father's desk to find the deed and put it in the safe when the bell rings. She locks the desk before answering.

   Read the passage
8. 8

   Question 8. What does 'relinquishing' mean in: 'she said curtly, without relinquishing her hold on the telephone'?

   • Talking into
   • Tightening
   • Correct answer: Letting go of
   • Wiping clean

   Nancy keeps hold of the telephone the whole time, so she does not let go of it, which is what relinquishing means.

   Read the passage
9. 9

   Question 9. What does 'premonition' mean in: 'she had a certain premonition of trouble ahead'?

   • A memory of something long ago
   • Correct answer: A feeling that something will happen
   • A plan written down on paper
   • A promise made to a friend

   A premonition is a feeling that something, often something bad, is going to happen. Nancy senses Gombet may cause more trouble.

   Read the passage
10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these events happen in Chapter 2?

    • Gombet begs Nancy not to telephone and says he will go.

      Happened

    • Gombet knocks the telephone out of Nancy's hand.

      Didn't happen

    • Nancy sits down at her father's desk to look for the deed.

      Happened

    • Nancy runs to a neighbor's house to ask for help.

      Didn't happen

    Read the passage