A String of Beads

Answer

Miss Robinson is the central character. She is a governess in Miss Granger’s household. She is presented as pretty, well-dressed, cheerful, and honest.

Answer

The narrator is a first-person observer and dinner guest. He is educated, worldly, and records the events with light irony. He is not Miss Robinson.

Answer

It is a short story based on irony and social comedy. The story uses a chain of unexpected events to show class prejudice and the strange ways of fortune.

Answer

She bought the beads at a shop on Regent Street and paid fifteen shillings for them.

Answer

She thought they were imitation pearls. She bought them as a cheap and attractive ornament, not knowing that they were real pearls.

Answer

Count Borselli first identified them as genuine pearls. His trained eye changed the dinner conversation and revealed the true value of the beads.

Answer

He said they were worth at least fifty thousand pounds. This made the beads seem like a fortune and raised the moral question of whether they should be returned.

Answer

Miss Granger strongly says, “She ought to keep them. I don’t see why she should return them.” She is the most forceful voice in favour of keeping what is not hers.