Question

just where the village abruptly ended, and the green mowing fields began, stood mrs. bicklords house, looking down the road with all its windows, and topped by two prim chimneys that stood up like ears. it was placed with an end to the road, and fronted southward; you could follow a straight path from the gate past the front door and find mrs. bickford sitting by the last window of all in the kitchen, unless she were solemnly stepping about, prolonging the stern duties of her solitary housekeeping.

one day in early summer, when almost every one else in fairfield had put her house plants out of doors, there were still three flower pots on a kitchen window sill. mrs. bickford spent but little time over her rose and geranium and jerusalem cherry-tree, although they had gained a kind of personality born of long association. they rarely undertook to bloom, but had most courageously maintained life in spite of their owners unsympathetic but conscientious care. later in the season she would carry them out of doors, and leave them, until the time of frosts, under the shade of a great apple-tree, where they might make the best of what the summer had to give.

in the second sentence of the second paragraph, the word association refers to:

• the specific arrangement mrs. bickford had for her plants.
• a peculiar fondness mrs. bickford had for her plants.
• the particular group of plants mrs. bickford placed on her window sill.
• the time mrs. bickford and the flowers had spent in company with each other.

Explanation:

The sentence states the plants "had gained a kind of personality born of long association" with Mrs. Bickford. "Association" here refers to the extended period of time they have been together, as the context focuses on their long-term coexistence, not arrangement, fondness, or the group itself.

Answer:

the time Mrs. Bickford and the flowers had spent in company with each other.