Question

the last class
by alphonse daudet (excerpt)
(1) i was very late for school that morning, and i
was afraid of being scolded, especially as
monsieur hamel had told us that he should
examine us on participles, and i did not know the
first thing about them. for a moment i thought of
staying away from school and wandering about
the fields. it was such a warm, lovely day. i could
hear the blackbirds whistling on the edge of the
wood, and in the rippert field, behind the sawmill,
the prussians going through their drill. all that
was much more tempting to me than the rules
concerning participles; but i had the strength to
resist, and i ran as fast as i could to school. as i
passed the mayors office, i saw that there were
people gathered about the little board on which
notices were posted. for two years all our bad
news had come from that board—battles lost,
conscriptions? orders from headquarters; and i
thought without stopping:
select the correct text in the passage.
which sentence slows down the pace to create mystery in the passage?
(6) usually, at the beginning of school, there was a great uproar which could be heard in the street, desks opening and
closing, lessons repeated aloud in unison, with our ears stuffed in order to learn quicker, and the teachers strut strout
(7) \a little more quiet!\
(8) i counted on all this noise to reach my bench unnoticed, but as it happened, that day everything was quiet, like a
sunday morning. through the open window i saw my comrades already in their places, and monsieur hamel walking back
and forth... i had to open the door and enter, in the midst of that perfect silence. you can imagine whether i blushed and
whether i was afraid!
(9) but no! monsieur hamel looked at me with no sign of anger and said very gently:
\go at once to your seat, my little franz; we were going to begin without you.\
(10) i stepped over the bench and sat down at once at my desk. not until then, when i had partly recovered from my fright,
did i notice that our teacher had on his handsome blue coat, his plaited ruff, and the black embroidered breeches, which he
wore on days of inspection or of distribution of prizes. moreover, there was something extraordinary, something solemn
about the whole class...

Explanation:

The question asks to select the sentence that slows down the pace to create mystery. Sentence (7) "A little more quiet!" is a simple exclamation and doesn't create mystery. Sentence (8) is about counting on noise and entering the class. Sentence (9) is a dialogue. Sentence (10) is about moving to the seat. Sentence (11) describes the teacher's appearance and the extraordinary and solemn something, which creates a sense of mystery as it makes the reader wonder what is so special.

Answer:

(11) I stepped over the bench and sat down at once at my desk. Not until then, when I had partly recovered from my fright, did I notice that our teacher had on his handsome blue coat, his plaited ruff, and the black embroidered breeches, which he wore on days of inspection or of distribution of prizes. Moreover, there was something extraordinary, something solemn about the whole class...