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The excerpt from 'Lost Hearts' by M.R. James introduces a young boy arriving at Aswarby Hall in 1811, where he is to live with his cousin after becoming an orphan. The narrative sets a melancholic yet pleasant atmosphere, describing the hall's architecture and the surrounding park as the boy waits for the door to open. The story takes a darker turn as the boy experiences a terrifying dream involving a mysterious figure in an old bathroom, evoking themes of fear and curiosity.

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28 views

mini-mock-3

The excerpt from 'Lost Hearts' by M.R. James introduces a young boy arriving at Aswarby Hall in 1811, where he is to live with his cousin after becoming an orphan. The narrative sets a melancholic yet pleasant atmosphere, describing the hall's architecture and the surrounding park as the boy waits for the door to open. The story takes a darker turn as the boy experiences a terrifying dream involving a mysterious figure in an old bathroom, evoking themes of fear and curiosity.

Uploaded by

crinsoncairo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Paper 1 mini mock: Lost Hearts

Source A: The opening of a short story called ‘Lost Hearts’ by M.R.James, published
in 1904.
1 It was, as far as in September of the year 1811 that a post-chaise1 drew up before the door of
Aswarby Hall, in the heart of Lincolnshire. The little boy who was the only passenger in the chaise, and
who jumped out as soon as it had stopped, looked about him with the keenest curiosity during the
short interval that elapsed between the ringing of the bell and the opening of the hall door. He saw a
5 tall, square, red-brick house, built in the reign of Anne; a stone-pillared porch had been added in the
purer classical style of 1790; the windows of the house were many, tall and narrow, with small panes
and thick white woodwork. A pediment, pierced with a round window, crowned the front. There were
wings to right and left, connected by curious glazed galleries, supported by pillars, with the central
block. These wings plainly contained the stables and offices of the house. Each was surmounted by
10 an ornamental dome with a gilded vane.
An evening light shone on the building, making the window-panes glow like so many fires. Away
from the Hall in front stretched a flat park studded with oaks and fringed with firs, which stood out
against the sky. The clock in the church-tower, buried in trees on the edge of the park, only its golden
weather-cock catching the light, was striking six, and the sound came gently beating down the wind. It
15 was altogether a pleasant impression, though tinged with the sort of melancholy2 appropriate to an
evening in early autumn, that was conveyed to the mind of the boy who was standing in the porch
waiting for the door to open to him.
The post-chaise had brought him from Warwickshire, where, some six months before, he had been
left an orphan. Now, owing to the generous offer of his elderly cousin, Mr Abney, he had come to live
20 at Aswarby.
That night he had a curious dream. At the end of the passage at the top of the house, in which his
bedroom was situated, there was an old disused bathroom. It was kept locked, but the upper half of
the door was glazed, and, since the muslin curtains which used to hang there had long been gone,
you could look in and see the lead-lined bath affixed to the wall on the right hand, with its head
25 towards the window.
On the night of which I am speaking, Stephen Elliott found himself, as he thought, looking through
the glazed door. The moon was shining through the window, and he was gazing at a figure which lay
in the bath.
His description of what he saw reminds me of what I once beheld myself in the famous vaults of St
30 Michan’s Church in Dublin, which possesses the horrid property of preserving corpses from decay for
centuries. A figure inexpressibly thin and pathetic, of a dusty leaden colour, enveloped in a shroud-like
garment, the thin lips crooked into a faint and dreadful smile, the hands pressed tightly over the region
of the heart.
As he looked upon it, a distant, almost inaudible moan seemed to issue from its lips, and the arms
35 began to stir. The terror of the sight forced Stephen backwards and he awoke to the fact that he was
indeed standing on the cold boarded floor of the passage in the full light of the moon. With a courage
which I do not think can be common among boys of his age, he went to the door of the bathroom to
38 ascertain if the figure of his dreams were really there. It was not, and he went back to bed.
1 – post-chaise: a horse drawn carriage. 2 – melancholy: deep sadness, sorrow.

Questions
Q1 – 1 mark – 2 minutes Q4 – 15 marks – 30 minutes
Use lines 1-5. Use lines 21-38
Find and copy one word which shows In this extract, there is an attempt to build tension and
that the boy was excited to arrive. create a vivid image of the dream.
Q2 – 2 marks – 3 minutes Evaluate how successfully this is achieved.
Use lines 1-10. Support your views with references to the text.
Find and copy 2 things you learn about
Q5 – 40 marks – 45 minutes
the house the boy arrives at.
Q3 - 6 marks – 20 minutes Write about a time when you were scared.
Use lines 11-17
How does the writer use language and Your response can be real or imagined.
structure to describe the evening?

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