Based on the data provided in this sentence, the most that can be said about the annual event is indicated by the key expression “gathered together.”  A “convocation” is a “calling together” or a meeting of this sort where a group comes together, often as a formal ceremony.  The word comes from the prefix “con-,” meaning “with” or (by extension) “together” and “vocation,” meaning “to call.”  The former is found in words like “contiguous” and “congruent,” as well as “colloquy” and “cooperate.”  The later is related to words like “vocal,” “vocative,” and “advocate.”

The sentence wishes to indicate that Catherine thought that her story was short, but not so short as to merit such seeming scorn.  A “novella” is a short novel (or a long short story), the word being derived from the obvious base “novel” with an added diminutive ending.  Diminutive endings make the word to mean something “smaller” than the base word.  The forms of such endings often differ from language to language.  “Novella” comes from Italian roots, and such diminution can be found in a name like “Monticello,” Thomas Jefferson’s House, whose name literally means “little mountain” after the hill upon which it sits.

The implication in this sentence is that the summer heat had modified Mary’s body temperature extremely (clearly by increasing it).  Since she needed to cool herself, it is arguable that her condition was one of “hyperthermia.”  The “hyper-” prefix means “beyond or above,” as when one is “hyperactive,” he or she is “beyond” being merely active.  The “-thermia” portion is related to other English “temperature” words like “thermal,” “geothermal,” and “hypothermia.”

The contrast and surprise found here is in the fact that the wealthy man so often could be a miser, that is, one who is very sparing in the outlaying of money.  Such a disposition can be called “meanness,” not in the sense of being nasty or rude but being sparing or ungenerous.

The sense that this sentence conveys is that the author does not live in accord with the tone and content of his own writing.  Therefore, his writing and life are “out of harmony” with each other.  The word “dissonance” literally means “bad sounding,” from the prefix “dis+” meaning “apart from” or even (in some contexts) “bad / negative” and the base “-sonance,” which is related to other “sound words” like “sonar,” “resonance,” and “consonant.”  The term can be applied more broadly to any situation in which two incompatible things are compared to each other.

Since the sentence explicitly mentions the burning of such persons, the best option is “pyres,” which are large structures of material used in burning, particularly in funerals.  The word “pyre” comes from the Greek word for “fire,” which itself is the root for words in English related to “purity” (as though such pure items were cleansed by fire).

Here, specific vocabulary knowledge helps, as all of the options are acceptable on some level.  An “inquest” is an investigation that is related to a judicial process; hence, it is a better option than the other more general terms.  The word is related to similar terms like “inquisition,” “question,” “inquire,” and “inquisitive”—all words pertaining to the asking of questions.

Since the soldier was looking to return to his house, it can be said most properly that he was looking to have returned to his “domicile,” a word taken from the Latin root for “home” and found in other words such as “domestic” and “domesticate.”  All of the other options indicate other reasons that might or might not be the case.  The only clue that we have in our sentence is that he was “away from his house.”  There is nothing related to an alteration in his routine or his diet.

Since the sentence clearly indicates that Nathanael’s face gave away his inward disposition, the best option is “countenance,” which refers to a person’s face or the expressions found thereupon.  The other options are too vague, given the direct clue in the main clause of the sentence.   

King Wulfric is looking for one person who knows all of the languages that he needs.  A “pantoglot” is a person said to know “all languages.”  The expression might be a bit of an overstatement, but its literal parts do mean “all-tongues.”  The prefix “panto-” comes from the Greek for “all or complete” and is found in words like “pantheistic”—all of nature is God—and panacea—something that cures everything.  The “-glot” portion comes from the Greek for “tongue,” which is related to words like “glossary,” “glottal,” and “polyglot.”  The last word means “one knowing many languages” and clearly is related to “pantoglot.”