A SECRET FOR TWO

By Quentin Reynolds
WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE STRENGTHS AND
CHALLENGES OF OLD AGE?

STRENGTHS CHALLENGES
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS
HAPPENING IN THE PICTURE?

WHAT DO YOU PREDICT THE

STORY ‘A SECRET FOR TWO’
WILL BE ABOUT ?
 Do you know these words?

WAGON ROUTE REINS

STABLES RETIRE
LET’S READ THE PREVIEW OF THE
STORY
Can you guess the
meanings of the
words in bold?
wagon
route
reins
stables
retire
 SETTING
• ‘The story is set in he first part of the twentieth century in Montreal,
Canada where........’
BOTH FRENCH AND ENGLISH ARE SPOKEN
IN CANADA. DO YOU KNOW WHY?
Canada’s two colonizing peoples are the French and the
British. They controlled land and built colonies alongside
Indigenous peoples, who had been living there for millennia.
They had two different languages and cultures. The French
spoke French and The British spoke English.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LET’S READ THE STORY
Why did Pierre know Prince Edward
Street better than anyone else?

Why do you suppose the author

mentions that where Pierre lived, both
animals and children are given names of
saints?

How did Pierre feel about the horse

when he first saw him?

Why did he give him the name of a

saint?
What does the fact that Joseph ‘did
not need reins’ show ?

How did Pierre greet Joseph every

morning? What does this indicate?

What does ‘this splendid

combination’ refer to?

What do you think ‘splendid’ means?

Why do you think the author uses this

phrase?
 LET’S DISCUSS
DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE? WHY?
How do we know that
Joseph is a smart horse?
Support your answer
with evidence.
What was the indication
that both Pierre and
Joseph were ageing
together?

What does ‘everything

else’ refer to with regard
to the work the horse did?
Pierre knows all of the families
that he serves personally.
Based on his relationships with
other characters, what type of
person do you suppose Pierre
is?

What three adjectives would

you choose to describe Pierre?
Why?

What does ‘this task’ refer to’?

How did Jacques feel about the
relationship between Pierre
and Joseph? Give evidence to
support your answer.

Why did Joseph say ‘I think

these two share a secret?

How did the president

appreciate Pierre’s service to
the milk company? Give
evidence to support your
answer.
 WHAT ARE YOUR PREDICTIONS?
Do you think Pierre will accept the manager’s offer and retire?
Why? Why not?
Do you think Pierre and Joseph share a secret? If so what could
their secret be?
Why do you suppose Pierre
refuses to retire? What does
this suggest about his
relationship with Joseph?

What does ‘wear out’ mean?

Why do you think the writer

says ‘It was as though each
drew some hidden strength
from the other’? Support
your answer with evidence
from the text.
What Pierre mean when
he says ‘No.. No.. you
don’t understand
Jacques’?
How does the writer
describe the feelings
of Pierre upon
hearing the bad
news?
What do we discover
about Pierre at the end
of the story? What was
the secret that Pierre
and Joseph shared?
LET’S COMPLETE OUR K-W-L CHART
• How did you react when you discovered Pierre's secret at
the end of the story?
• Did you guess what it was before the story revealed it? If so
HOW?
 LITERARY ANALYSIS

DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT FORESHADOWING IS?

If you read mystery stories, you probably look for clues that tell
you how the mystery is going to be solved. In any story of
suspense, the writer will drop some hints along the way to
prepare you for the ending. These hints are called foreshadowing.
 Pierre’s secret, as we have learned, is that he is
blind.
• Now go through the story again and try to find clues that the writer put to
foreshadow Pierre’s secret. The following three types of clues are used;
1. Clues related to Joseph and the wagon
2. Clues related to Pierre’s appearance, something Pierre says or does, or
something the writer tells us about Pierre
3. Clues related to something Jacques says or does
FORESHADOWING
THEME
 PERSONIFICATION
• What do you think personification is?

• Personification is the projection of characteristics that normally belong

only to humans onto inanimate objects, animals, deities, or forces of
nature. These characteristics can include verbs of actions that only
humans do or adjectives that describe a human condition.
WHAT HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS ARE GIVEN TO JOSEPH IN THE
STORY?
 PLOT
Go through the story and fill in the chart below.

1. Exposition 2. Rising Action 3. Climax 4. Falling Action 5. Resolution

1. EXPOSITION: 3. CLIMAX: One day Pierre came
Setting: Montreal (Prience Edwards Street)/ Canada to the stable finding Joseph dead.
Characters: Pierre (The old man who delivered milk)
Joseph (The milkman’s horse)
Jacques ( Pierre’s boss) 4. FALLING ACTION: Hearing
2. RISING ACTION the bad news, Pierre leaves the
Pierre and his horse Joseph delivered milk every day. They stable and got hit by a truck. The
had a special bond. They had been together for years and truck driver was shocked. He
thus had aged together. They were both old. said ‘he walked into the street as
if he were blind.’

5. RESOLUTION: The doctor

confirmed that Pierre was
blind and that was the secret
between Pierre and Joseph.
 FOLLOW UP
Imagine that Pierre had to depend on a person in the same ways that he
depended on Joseph. How might things have turned out differently?
Why do you think the author chose Joseph, a horse as Pierre's
companion? What does this choice add to or take away from the story?
At the end of the story, the truck driver assumes that Pierre did not
avoid the truck because it was “as though he were blind.” However, the
text tells us that there was a warning yell and the scream of brakes. In
your opinion, do you feel that Pierre knew that the truck was coming
and allowed himself to be killed or was he so depressed that he
genuinely did not notice it? Explain your answer using concrete
support.