Question

the search partys find by grant allen (excerpt) in this excerpt from the beckoning hand and other stories, the narrator, a surgeon, joins an arctic expedition to escape a broken engagement. one of the expeditions members is a man by the name of lemarchant, who quickly becomes one of the teams most despised members. to the narrators horror, he learns that lemarchant is now engaged to his former love. when lemarchant learns this, he sets in motion a plan that has a terrible consequence for both men. (1) presently, i heard a noise again, and woke up quietly, without starting, but just opened my eyes and peered about as well as the dim light of the little oil - lamp would allow me. (2) to my great surprise, i could make out somehow that lemarchant was meddling with the bottles in the medicine - chest... (3) at four i woke, as i always did, and proceeded to take one of my powders. curiously enough, before i tasted it, the grain appeared to me to be rather coarser and more granular than the quinine i had originally put there. i took a pinch between my finger and (9) at last he quite genially during all m (10) i lied to chest, i said (11) he look good symp (12) he sat middle of it i sank back select the correct answer from the drop - down menu. read the ex the author the reader

Explanation:

The passage describes a tense situation where the narrator is interacting with Lemarchant. The narrator has a secret and Lemarchant's actions and knowledge seem to be a threat. The reader's reaction is likely to be one of marveling at Lemarchant's cleverness in figuring out the narrator's plan given the context of the story's intrigue and the characters' relationship.

Answer:

marvels at how clever Lemarchant is to have figured out the narrator's plan