Dear Departed

  

1. Why do you think Amelia asked Victoria to change her dress?

   - Victoria’s grandfather was lying dead upstairs. According to their custom, they wear black dress in mourning. Victoria was in colours. So Amelia asked her to change her dress.

 

2. What made Elizabeth say that she would not set her foot in the house again?

   - The relationship between Amelia and Elizabeth was not cordial. When they met last time, they quarrelled with each other. So Elizabeth said that she would not set her foot again in Slater’s house.

 

3. Why were Elizabeth and Ben coming to Slater’s house?

   - Elizabeth and Ben received a telegram from Henry that Abel Merryweather was dead. So they were coming to Slater’s house to attend to his funeral and talk about his affairs.

 

4. Who sent the telegram to Elizabeth and Ben? Why?

   - Amelia found her father lying dead upstairs. She wanted to send the information of her father’s death to her sister Elizabeth. So her husband Henry sent a telegraph to Elizabeth and Ben.

 

5. Why did Henry get his coat off?

   - Amelia wanted to own the bureau of her father. She wanted to bring it down from her father’s room. She asked Henry to help her. So he got his coat off to bring the bureau downstairs.

 

6. “Are you planning to pinch it?” What was ‘it’ here? Who were planning to pinch it? Why?

   - The word ‘it’ refers to the bureau. Amelia wanted to pinch it from her father’s room. The bureau was attractive. She always wanted to own it after her father was dead.

 

7. “He’s gone at last”. Who does the word ‘he’ refer to? Why were the sisters not worried about his death?

   - ‘He’ refers to Abel Merryweather. The attitude of the two sisters towards him was not good. They never took care of him. They were more interested in his wealth than his health. It seemed that they were waiting his death.

 

8. In what way Abel was thoughtful according to Mrs. Jordan?

   - Mrs. Jordan thought that Abel Merryweather had paid insurance premium before his death. She felt that her father wanted to leave some amount of insurance to them after his death. So she said that he was thoughtful.

 

9. Why did they decide to make a list of Abel’s bits of things?

   - Slaters and Jordans thought that Abel was dead. They wanted to divide things between them. So they decided to make a list of Abel’s bits of things.

 

10. How did they come to know that Abel hadn’t paid insurance premium?

    - They thought that Abel had paid insurance premium. But Victoria said that Abel had gone towards St. Philip’s Church with his friend Tattersall. He didn’t go into the town. So they came to know that he had not paid his insurance premium.

 

11. Ben said ‘the drunken old beggar!’. Who was the drunken old beggar? Why did he say so?

    - Abel Merryweather was the ‘drunken old beggar’ according to Ben. He was very angry over him for not paying insurance premium before his death. So he said so.

 

12. Do your parents pay insurance premium? Is it necessary? Give reasons for your answer

    - Yes, my parents pay insurance premium every month. It is quite necessary. The insurance amount received after the death of the head of the family provides some financial support to the family.