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Milligan
Number Two is Mr. Benedict’s right-hand woman. She is steadfastly loyal to him, and she usually stands at his side to catch him if he suddenly falls asleep. She is also an insomniac, which directly contrasts Mr. Benedict’s narcolepsy, and she eats constantly to make up for the energy she loses from lack of sleep. Number Two is the first member of Mr. Benedict’s household that Reynie encounters, as she is the one who administers the entrance exams. Her strange appearance and behavior in these early chapters hints at the unexpected ways Reynie’s life changes once he meets Mr. Benedict. Number Two is thin, with stiff posture and a penchant for yellow clothes, which gives her the appearance of a pencil. She is polite but evasive when Reynie asks her questions, and it is only later revealed that her unhelpful answers are another feature of the test. Once Reynie and the other children pass the tests and join Mr. Benedict, Number Two assists them with the plan to infiltrate the Institute. She has absolute faith in Mr. Benedict. She passed Mr. Benedict’s tests when she was a child, and Reynie learns at the end of the story that Number Two is Mr. Benedict’s adopted daughter.
Number Two Quotes in The Mysterious Benedict Society
The The Mysterious Benedict Society quotes below are all either spoken by Number Two or refer to Number Two. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 3 Quotes
“Do you suppose we’re going to meet anybody normal today?” Kate asked.
“I’m beginning to doubt it,” Reynie said.
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Chapter 39 Quotes
“Just a few minutes more, Number Two. Let them play. They are children, after all.”
And this was certainly true, if only for the moment.
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Number Two Character Timeline in The Mysterious Benedict Society
The timeline below shows where the character Number Two appears in The Mysterious Benedict Society. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
The test administrator watches the children carefully as she eats an apple. She is a thin woman with...
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After only a few minutes, the test administrator returns with the results. She announces that she will read the names of the children...
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The room quiets as the test administrator prepares to read the names. She calls Reynie’s full name, Reynard Muldoon, and then says,...
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...be tempted to cheat, Reynie chooses to sit in front of Rhonda. The pencil-like test administrator goes over the rules. From this moment on, she says, the children must not talk....
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The test administrator distributes the tests. As the children before Reynie receive theirs, several burst into tears and...
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...and he is the only child besides Rhonda who is not in distress once the administrator calls that time is up.
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The administrator grades the tests, and while she is marking Reynie’s, Rhonda congratulates him on managing on...
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Chapter 2
Reynie waits in the testing room, puzzling over why Rhonda didn’t pass the test. The administrator rejoins Reynie. He asks for her name, but she doesn’t tell it to him. Reynie...
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The administrator leaves. Reynie is confused by her behavior, but his thoughts are interrupted by a “timid...
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...she wasn’t running from anything; she was simply running to the room, since the test administrator told her to come. She introduces herself as Kate Wetherall, and Reynie introduces himself and...
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...puzzle or know the answers, and she refused Rhonda’s help to cheat. Instead, the test administrator let Kate pass because she distracted the angry parents long enough for the administrator to...
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Chapter 3
...but Sticky changes the subject and asks if Kate shared their experience with the test administrator and her telephone. She shrugs and says she has no one to call––her mother is...
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The pencil-like test administrator blindfolds Reynie and has him run the maze again, to prove that he has figured...
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Chapter 4
...more than an hour to finish the maze test, but she still passed. The test administrator, who Reynie thinks of as “pencil woman,” enters the dining room and remarks that Rhonda...
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...them by name, and congratulates them on doing so well on the tests. He asks Number Two ––the pencil woman, who only goes by her codename––to meet Milligan and “our missing young...
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Constance comes in with Milligan and Number Two , but she is so tiny that the other children almost don’t notice her. Number...
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...Benedict’s emotion makes Reynie miss Miss Perumal. Mr. Benedict wakes up, and after Rhonda and Number Two help him to his feet, he mentions that his narcolepsy is usually triggered by laughter....
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Chapter 5
...is looking to call Miss Perumal. He compliments Reynie for being “polite yet steadfast” when Number Two refused to let him call Miss Perumal during the tests, revealing this to have been...
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...and Rhonda tells the children never to leave the house without Milligan. Mr. Benedict and Number Two come in. Number Two sticks close to his side until he is seated, at which...
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...remarks that he has been unsuccessful in learning who sends the messages and why, but Number Two and Rhonda defensively say that he has uncovered much about the Sender.
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...watches television. Constance yawns and announces that she doesn’t hear anything unusual. Mr. Benedict asks Number Two to engage the Receiver; she types something into the computer, and the sounds of the...
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Chapter 8
Rhonda sits down with the children to review the mission. She gives them notes that Number Two prepared, and all of them but Constance eagerly read them. They learn that the Institute...
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Chapter 9
...study to tell Mr. Benedict, but when he arrives, he hears Mr. Benedict complaining to Number Two that putting the children in danger goes against everything he believes in. Number Two agrees...
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Number Two leaves the study, and Reynie goes in to tell Mr. Benedict that all the children...
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Chapter 37
...is strapped into the Whisperer. As the boys try to free her, Rhonda Kazembe and Number Two come in, followed by Mr. Benedict. Mr. Benedict congratulates the children on doing so well....
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...secret exit and Mr. Benedict takes his brother’s place in the Whisperer. The others, even Number Two , are astounded to realize Mr. Benedict plans to stay behind and disable the machine,...
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Chapter 38
...identified Mr. Benedict by the man’s unwieldy driving of the wheelchair. With the group reunited, Number Two drives the station wagon away from the island.
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Chapter 39
During the party, Number Two finds Mr. Benedict asleep on his desk with an expression of pure joy. He has...
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...so happy that he laughs himself to sleep over and over until the sun sets. Number Two wakes him and asks him to call the children inside for dinner. Mr. Benedict says...
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