The Hidden Staircase, Chapter IX. The Anonymous Message quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Nancy think about the handwriting on the warning?

   • Correct answer: It is a bold scrawl that looks like a man's
   • It looks like Floretta's neat, careful writing
   • It was typed so the writer could not be traced
   • It is shaky, like the writing of a very old woman

   The note is unsigned, but Nancy fancies the bold scrawl is unmistakably a man's handwriting.

   Read the passage
2. 2

   Question 2. Why is Nancy puzzled that anyone knows her plans?

   • She wrote her plans in a code that only her father knew
   • She decided to go only that same morning at breakfast
   • Correct answer: She told the sisters only in a note sent by mail
   • She told everyone she was going to Chicago with her father

   She communicated with Rosemary and Floretta only by writing, so no third person should know.

   Read the passage
3. 3

   Question 3. What does Nancy decide to do after reading the warning?

   • Write the sisters that she cannot come after all
   • Telephone her father in Chicago and ask him what to do
   • Take the note to the police in River Heights
   • Correct answer: Go to The Mansion as planned, taking the revolver

   It would take more than a threat to keep her away, so she packs the revolver and goes.

   Read the passage
4. 4

   Question 4. Who walks in the front door while Nancy is on the stairs?

   • A stranger who has come to deliver a second note
   • Correct answer: Hannah Gruen, home from the moving picture show
   • Helen Corning, back to ask about her secret
   • Her father, who has missed his train to Chicago

   Nancy hears a step on the porch and wonders if it is another note, but it is only Hannah.

   Read the passage
5. 5

   Question 5. What music did the sisters hear the night before Nancy came?

   • A piano playing loudly somewhere downstairs
   • A violin playing a sad old song in the attic
   • An organ grinder's tune coming from the garden
   • Correct answer: A stringed instrument, perhaps a guitar, that seemed to move

   Rosemary says it seemed to come from a stringed instrument and moved from one part of the house to another.

   Read the passage
6. 6

   Question 6. Why does Rosemary give Nancy the room next to her own?

   • Because it is the only bedroom that has a key in the door
   • Because Floretta wants Nancy as far from the east wing as possible
   • Correct answer: So Nancy can rap on the wall or call out if anything happens
   • So Nancy can watch the front drive from the window

   Rosemary says that if anything happens, Nancy can rap on the wall or cry out and she will hear.

   Read the passage
7. 7

   Question 7. What do the sisters admit about Nancy's note?

   • Correct answer: They talked about it when it came, but told no one else
   • They lost it somewhere in the house after reading it
   • They read it aloud to the sheriff to prove she was coming
   • They showed it to the yard man and asked his advice

   Floretta says they talked about the note when it came but let out no hint of it to anyone.

   Read the passage
8. 8

   Question 8. What does 'facetious' mean in: 'all facetious thoughts about ghosts passed from her mind'?

   • Frightened and nervous
   • Correct answer: Joking and not serious
   • Careful and well planned
   • Sad and lonely

   Nancy stops joking about ghosts when she thinks about the real danger.

   Read the passage
9. 9

   Question 9. What does 'haggard' mean in: 'her face was white and haggard'?

   • Correct answer: Looking worn out from worry or lack of sleep
   • Rosy and healthy
   • Smiling and calm
   • Covered with face powder

   Floretta is ill and upset after the music in the night, and her face shows it.

   Read the passage
10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these events happen in Chapter 9?

    • Nancy puts her father's revolver in her traveling bag.

      Happened

    • Nancy finds a second note pinned to The Mansion's front door.

      Didn't happen

    • Rosemary tells Nancy they heard music in the night.

      Happened

    • Floretta packs her bags and leaves The Mansion.

      Didn't happen

    Read the passage