Question

read the excerpt from \the lady maids bell.\
but that wasnt the only queer thing in the house. the ve nurse; and then i asked agnes about the woman i had se she had seen no one, and i saw that she thought i was d the passage, and she had excused herself for not bringin know her again if we should meet. i decided that she mu other women servants: perhaps she had come down fro kept secret. some ladies are very stiff about having their i made up my mind to ask no more questions.
how does this excerpt support the idea that the story is told

the narrator tries to justify having seen a woman.
the narrator does not trust what agnes tells her.
the narrator wants to meet the servants visiting friends
the narrator wants to know who mrs. brymptons nurse

Explanation:

Analyze the narrator's internal thoughts

The narrator is trying to make sense of seeing a mysterious woman. Since Agnes claims she saw no one, the narrator feels the need to rationalize her experience. She thinks to herself that the woman "must be one of the other women servants" or a visitor, trying to find a logical explanation for what she witnessed. This internal rationalization is a key aspect of Literary Analysis when evaluating character motivations.

Connect to the question prompt

The question asks how this excerpt supports the idea that the story is told from a specific perspective (implied to be a first-person, subjective, or limited narrator who must interpret events). By showing the narrator's internal attempts to explain away the mysterious sighting ("I decided that she must...", "perhaps she had come down..."), the text demonstrates the narrator trying to justify having seen a woman to herself and to others.

Evaluate the given options

• Option 1: "The narrator tries to justify having seen a woman." This directly matches the narrator's internal monologue where she invents plausible scenarios (like being another servant or a secret visitor) to justify her sighting after Agnes doubts her.
• Option 2: "The narrator does not trust what Agnes tells her." The text shows she notices Agnes's reaction, but the focus is on justifying her own vision.
• Option 3: "The narrator wants to meet the servants' visiting friends." This is a misinterpretation of her rationalization.
• Option 4: "The narrator wants to know who Mrs. Brympton's nurse is." This is not supported by the main focus of the excerpt.

Answer:

• (A) The narrator tries to justify having seen a woman. (Correct answer)
• (B) The narrator does not trust what Agnes tells her.
• (C) The narrator wants to meet the servants’ visiting friends.
• (D) The narrator wants to know who Mrs. Brympton’s nurse is.