Student Name:
Date:
Page 2
DIRECTIONS: Read the passage “A Scandal in Bohemia,” and answer the questions.
Excerpt from “A Scandal in Bohemia” from
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Miss Irene Adler has hidden a compromising photograph of a royal client of the famous English detective, Sherlock Holmes. Dr. Watson, Holmes’ right-hand man, narrates the story.
1 I watched Holmes play his part. He dashed into the crowd, appearing to protect the lady; but, just as he reached her, he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood running freely down his face just as he had planned. At his fall the guardsmen took to their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while a number of better dressed people, who had watched the scuffle without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking back into the street.
2 “Is the poor gentleman much hurt?” she asked.
3 “He is dead,” cried several voices.
4 “No, no, there’s life in him!” shouted another. “But he’ll be gone before you can get him to hospital.”
5 “He’s a brave fellow,” said a woman. “They would have had the lady’s purse and watch if it hadn’t been for him. They were a gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he’s breathing now.”
6 “He can’t lie in the street; may we bring him in, Miss Adler?”
7 “Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room where there is a comfortable sofa. This way, please!”
Page 3
8 Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Irene Adler’s house and laid out in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay upon the couch. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the signal I tossed my smoke rocket into the room with a cry of “Fire!” The word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of spectators, well dressed and ill—gentlemen, jostlers, and servant maids—joined in a general shriek of “Fire!” Thick clouds of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my friend’s arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the Edgeware Road.
9 “You did it very nicely, Doctor,” he remarked. “Nothing could have been better; it is all right.”
10 “You have the photograph?”
11 “I know where it is.”
12 “And how did you find out?”
13 “She showed me, as I told you she would.”
14 “I am still in the dark.”
Page 3
15 “I do not wish to make a mystery,” said he, laughing. “The matter was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening. Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand to my face, and became a pitiable sight; it is an old trick. Then they carried me in; she was bound to have me in. What else could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your chance.”
16 “How did that help you?”
17 “It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more than once taken advantage of it; in the case of the Darlington Substitution Scandal it was of use to me, and also in the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious to her than what we are in quest of and she would rush to secure it. The alarm of fire was well done, for the smoke and shouting were enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a glimpse of it as she half drew it out. When I cried out that it was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had come in, and as he was watching me narrowly, it seemed safer to wait, for a little hastiness may ruin all.”
Page 13
1a. / Part AWhich one sentence summary best captures the key idea of the “A Scandal in Bohemia?”
A. / Sherlock Holmes was injured and successfully escaped death.
B. / Sherlock Holmes created a diversion to successfully locate the photograph.
C. / Irene Adler’s house caught fire and Sherlock Holmes found the photograph.
D. / Irene Adler stole a photograph and successfully hid it in a jewelry box.
1b. / Part B
Select two pieces of evidence that support your answer to Part A
A. / Paragraph 4: “No, no, there’s life in him!” shouted another. “But he’ll be gone before you can get him to hospital.”
B. / Paragraph 8: Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my friend’s arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar.
C. / Paragraph 15: I motioned for air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your chance.
D. / Paragraph 17: A married woman grabs at her baby; an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box.
E. / Paragraph 17: She was there in an instant, and I caught a glimpse of it as she half drew it out.
Page 13
2. / Which of the following includes an example of alliteration?
A. / “…glanced at the rocket, rushed from the room…”
B. / “It is a perfectly overpowering impulse…”
C. / “…her superb figure outlined against the lights …”
D. / “…rush to the thing which she values most…”
3. / What does the word borne mean in the following quote?
“Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Irene Adler’s house and laid out in the principal room…”
A. / Carried
B. / Supported
C. / Endured
D. / Birthed
Page 13
4. / What does the word compelled mean in the following quote?“They laid me on a couch, I motioned for air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your chance.”
A. / Driven
B. / Secured
C. / Opposed
D. / Empowered
5. / Why does Sherlock want to get inside of Irene Adler’s house?
A. / To lie on the couch.
B. / To get to know Irene better.
C. / To find the photograph.
D. / To get help because he is hurt.
Page 13
6. / Use the following graphic organizer to compare and contrast Sherlock’s and Irene’s perspectives about what is happening in the story. Write one sentence describing Sherlock and Irene’s unique perspectives. Then one sentence describing how their perspectives are the same.
Page 13
DIRECTIONS: Read the passage “The Purloined Letter,” and answer the questions.
Adapted from “The Purloined Letter”
By Edgar Allen Poe
The unethical Minister Expery has hidden a compromising letter that the famous French detective, C. Auguste Dupin, needs to recover for his royal client. The police have searched the home of Minister Expery and cannot find it. Dupin is relating how he found it.
1 "At length my eyes, in going the circuit of the room, fell upon a little brass knob just beneath the middle of the mantel-piece, from which was tied a rack with a blue ribbon. In this rack, which had three or four compartments, were five or six visiting cards and a single letter. This last was much soiled and crumpled. It was torn nearly in two, across the middle—as if a design, in the first instance, to tear it entirely up as worthless, had been altered, or stayed, in the second. It had a large black seal, bearing the Minister’s cipher very noticeably, and was addressed, in a short female hand, to the minister, himself. It was thrust carelessly, and even, as it seemed, contemptuously, into one of the uppermost divisions of the rack.
2 "No sooner had I glanced at this letter, than I concluded it to be that of which I was in search. To be sure, it was, to all appearance, radically different from the one of which I had been assigned to find. Here the seal was large and black, with the Minister cipher; there it was small and red, with the ducal arms of the Prefect’s family. Here, the address, to the Minister, short and feminine; there the superscription, to a certain royal person, was markedly bold and decided; the size alone formed a point of correspondence. These differences, which were excessive--the dirt; the soiled and torn condition of the paper--and the fact that it was in full in the view of every visitor, led me to the conclusions to which I had previously arrived. The fact that it was in plain sight suggests that he meant to mislead anyone who had suspicions into thinking that it was a document of any worth. All these things, confirmed my suspicions that this letter was indeed the one in which I was in search, and that the Minister was the key player in this political scheme.
Page 13
3 "I extended my visit as long as possible, and, while I maintained a most animated discussion with the Minister upon a topic which I knew well had never failed to interest and excite him, I kept my attention really riveted upon the letter. In this examination, I committed to memory its external appearance and arrangement in the rack; and also fell, at length, upon a discovery which set at rest whatever minor doubt I might have entertained. In examining the edges of the paper, I observed them to be more chafed than seemed necessary. They presented the broken appearance which is manifested when a stiff paper, having been once folded and pressed with a folder, is refolded in a reversed direction, in the same creases or edges which had formed the original fold. This discovery was sufficient. It was clear to me that the letter had been turned, as a glove, inside out, re-directed, and re-sealed. I wished the Minister a good morning, and took my departure at once, leaving a gold snuff-box upon the table.
4 "The next morning I called for the snuff-box, when we resumed, quite eagerly, the conversation of the preceding day. While thus engaged, however, a loud report, as if of a pistol, was heard immediately beneath the windows of the hotel, and was succeeded by a series of fearful screams, and the shoutings of a terrified mob. Minister Expery rushed to a casement, threw it open, and looked out. In the meantime, I stepped to the card-rack, took the letter, put it in my pocket, and replaced it with a replica (from the outside), which I had carefully prepared at my lodgings—imitating the Minister’s cipher, very readily, by means of a seal formed of bread.
5 "The disturbance in the street had been occasioned by the frantic behavior of a man with a musket. He had fired it among a crowd of women and children. It proved, however, to have been without ball, and the fellow was suffered to go his way as a lunatic or a drunkard. When he had gone, Minister Expery came from the window, whither I had followed him immediately upon securing the object in view. Soon afterwards I bade him farewell. The pretended lunatic was a man I myself had paid."
6 "But what purpose had you," I asked, "in replacing the letter by a facsimile? Would it not have been better, at the first visit, to have seized it openly, and departed?"
Page 13
7 "Minister Expery" replied Dupin, "is a desperate man, and a man of nerve. His hotel, too, is not without attendants devoted to his interests. Had I made the wild attempt you suggest, I might never have left the Ministerial presence alive. The good people of Paris might have heard of me no more. But I had an object apart from these considerations. You know my political views. In this matter, I act as a partisan of the lady concerned. For eighteen months the Minister has had her in his power. She has now him in hers—since, being unaware that the letter is not in his possession, he will proceed with his exactions as if it was. Thus will he inevitably commit himself, at once, to his political destruction. His downfall, too, will not be any quicker than awkward. In the present instance I have no sympathy—at least no pity—for him who descends. He is that monstrum horrendum, an unprincipled man of genius. I confess, however, that I should like very well to know the precise character of his thoughts, when, being defied by her whom the Prefect terms 'a certain person' he is reduced to opening the letter which I left for him in the card-rack."
Page 13
7. / As revealed in paragraph 2, one of the themes of the story is:A. / Family pride and honor matter.
B. / You can’t always have what you want.
C. / There are evil people in the world.
D. / It is difficult to maintain a lie.
8. / What does the word circuit mean in the following quote?
“At length my eyes, in going the circuit of the room, fell upon a little brass knob…”
A. / A complete and closed path around which a circulating electric current can flow.
B. / An established itinerary or events used for a particular activity, typically involving public performance.
C. / A roughly circular line, route or movement that starts and finishes in the same place.
D. / A series of athletic exercises performed consecutively in one training season.
9. / When the narrator writes that he “maintained a most animated discussion with the Minister” in paragraph 3, he means that he:
A. / wished for an exciting talk.
B. / entertained with cartoons.
C. / kept a personal connection.
D. / had a lively conversation.
Page 13