The Hidden Staircase, Chapter VII. What Can It Mean? quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Why don't Rosemary and Floretta want to call the police?

   • Correct answer: The police laughed before and never sent a man to look
   • The sheriff is a cousin who would tell the whole town
   • They think the police would blame the iceman for the theft
   • Floretta is afraid the thief will come back if they do

   Floretta says the police thought it was a joke and did not even send a man to investigate.

   Read the passage
2. 2

   Question 2. What does Nancy say about being paid for her help?

   • She will take payment only if she catches the thief
   • She will ask her father to set a fair price for the work
   • Correct answer: She will gladly help, but she will not take money
   • She will accept the pin as a reward if she finds it

   Nancy promises to do anything she can, but says of course she will not take money.

   Read the passage
3. 3

   Question 3. Why will Nancy send a note instead of calling the sisters?

   • The telephone line to Cliffwood is down
   • Correct answer: The Mansion has no telephone
   • Her father does not allow long telephone calls
   • The sisters cannot hear well on the telephone

   Floretta asks how Nancy will let them know, since they have no telephone.

   Read the passage
4. 4

   Question 4. What does Nancy decide about the ghost on her drive home?

   • It is the spirit of a Turnbull ancestor
   • It is only the wind blowing through the trees
   • It is just Floretta's nerves playing tricks on her
   • Correct answer: It is a flesh and blood ghost, a real person

   She tells herself The Mansion is haunted by a flesh and blood ghost unless she misses her guess.

   Read the passage
5. 5

   Question 5. Why is Carson Drew worried when Nancy gets home?

   • A neighbor saw her driving much too fast through town
   • Hannah told him Nancy had gone to a haunted house
   • Correct answer: She is home after dark, and he feared car trouble
   • He heard there was a bad storm on the river road

   She had promised to be home before dark, and he thought she might have had car trouble.

   Read the passage
6. 6

   Question 6. What does Nancy give up so she can stay at The Mansion?

   • A visit with Abigail Rowen at her cottage
   • A tennis match she had planned for Saturday
   • A party at the home of the Horner girls
   • Correct answer: A week in Chicago with her father

   Her father offers to take her on his week-long trip to Chicago, and she chooses the mystery instead.

   Read the passage
7. 7

   Question 7. What does Carson Drew hand Nancy at the end of the chapter?

   • Money to pay for her meals at the hotel
   • Correct answer: His revolver, to take with her to The Mansion
   • A key to the front door of The Mansion
   • A letter of introduction to the sheriff

   He takes his revolver from a desk drawer and says it pays to be prepared.

   Read the passage
8. 8

   Question 8. What does 'eloquence' mean in: 'Your eloquence would convince a jury.'?

   • Correct answer: Skill at speaking in a way that persuades
   • A habit of telling small lies
   • Shyness when speaking to adults
   • Loud and stubborn arguing

   Nancy argues so well that her father says she could convince a jury.

   Read the passage
9. 9

   Question 9. What does 'ferret' mean in: 'Are you willing to give up the trip for the chance to ferret out this mystery?'?

   • To make larger and worse
   • Correct answer: To search out and discover
   • To write down in a notebook
   • To run away from and avoid

   To ferret out a mystery is to search hard until you uncover the answer.

   Read the passage
10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these events happen in Chapter 7?

    • Nancy tells her father the whole story of her afternoon.

      Happened

    • Nancy telephones the Turnbull sisters that evening to say she will come.

      Didn't happen

    • Carson Drew says he is leaving for Chicago on Thursday.

      Happened

    • Nancy hires a man to guard The Mansion at night.

      Didn't happen

    Read the passage