Quiz on the Story

Which of the following is part of the exposition in the story?

• The landlady and Billy

• A bed and breakfast in Bath

• Billy, a businessman, is looking for a place to spend the night in Bath.

• All of these

Why do the other names in the guestbook seem so familiar to Billy?

• Both young men were famous football players.

• Both young men were in the newspaper for their disappearances.

• Both young men were Eaton schoolboys.

• Both young men were writers.

Which statement below is a valid theme of the story?

• People are not always what they seem to be.

• Bed and Breakfasts are safe establishments.

• Never look for a place to stay the night after dark.

• Women are natural caretakers.

Which excerpt below best supports your answer to the previous question? Which supports the theme?

• Billy found himself automatically starting forward into the house. The compulsion or, more accurately, the desire to follow after her into that house was extraordinarily strong.

• “I stuff all my little pets when they pass away. Will you have another cup of tea?”

• On the other hand, a pub would have been more congenial than a boarding house.

• “I’m not a bit hungry, thank you,” he said. “I think I’ll just go to bed as soon as possible because tomorrow I’ve got to get up rather early and report to the office.”

Which excerpt below best shows how Billy first feels about the landlady?

• Good gracious me,” he said. “How absolutely fascinating.

• She seemed terribly nice. She looked exactly like the mother of one’s best school-friend welcoming one into the house to stay for the Christmas holidays.

• I’m always ready. Everything is always ready day and night.

• On the carpet in front of the fire, a pretty little dachshund was curled up asleep with its nose tucked into its belly.

Which sentence from the introduction includes foreshadowing that something bad will happen to Billy?

• But the air was deadly cold and the wind was like a flat blade of ice on his cheeks.

• By the time he got to Bath it was about nine o’clock in the evening and the moon was coming up out of a clear starry sky over the houses opposite the station entrance.

• Excuse me,” he said, “but is there a fairly cheap hotel not too far from away from here?

• Billy thanked him and picked up his suitcase and set out to walk the quarter-mile to the Bell and Dragon.

Which sentence below describes the resolution of the story?

• Billy checks out of the bed and breakfast the following morning.

• The landlady explains to Billy that he will stay on the second floor.

• The reader can assume that Billy will end up dead and stuffed as one of the landlady’s pets.

• The landlady told Billy that he was the only guest at her bed and breakfast since the other gentlemen from the guestbook.

Billy had decided that ________ was the one common characteristic of all successful businessmen.

• Honesty

• Mindfulness

• Briskness

• Courtesy

How did Billy feel when he first walked up to the bed and breakfast?

• Completely normal

• Strangely hypnotized

• Somewhat seasick

• Too exhausted to read the sign

After showing him to his room, the landlady asked Billy to come downstairs to...

• Talk to her parrot

• Sign her guestbook

• View the portraits on her walls

• Sign the lodging contract