Read the excerpt from "The Lady Maid's Bell."
But that wasn't the only queer thing in the house. The very next day I found out that Mrs. Brympton had no
nurse; and then I asked Agnes about the woman I had seen in the passage the afternoon before. Agnes said she
had seen no one, and I saw that she thought I was dreaming. To be sure, it was dusk when we went down the
passage, and she had excused herself for not bringing a light; but I had seen the woman plain enough to know
her again if we should meet. I decided that she must have been a friend of the cook's, or of one of the other
women servants: perhaps she had come down from town for a night's visit, and the servants wanted it kept
secret. Some ladies are very stiff about having their servants' friends in the house overnight. At any rate, I made
up my mind to ask no more questions.
Which statement describes a gothic element in this excerpt that reflects a social attitude of Wharton's time?
O The narrator feels inadequate when she reports seeing a supernatural being and nobody believes her.
The narrator feels like she lacks control of her own fate when her superiors refuse to answer her questions.
O The narrator is dismissed by her superiors when she asks questions about an occurrence that may have been
supernatural.
O The narrator fears that she may be doomed when she witnesses a strange woman walking around the home.