Question

hatch: hush! look there!
alice: (whispering) hush! dont make a noise. dont make a noise, please.
hatch: (in a threatening whisper) dont you make a noise.
alice: i dont mean to. my mother is asleep upstairs and she is very ill. and i dont want to wake her—and i dont want you to wake her, either.
reddy: well...we wont get well away until ive had something to eat.
alice: (to reddy.) youll find plates in the pantry, please.
reddy: oh, i dont use them things.
alice: youll use \them things\ when you eat with me. go, do as i tell you, please.
(reddy exits.)
alice: do you know, ive always wanted to meet a burglar. but its so difficult. they go out so seldom.
hatch: yes, and they arrive so late.
alice: (laughingly) now, thats much better. its so nice of you to have a sense of humor...
(three locomotive whistles are heard from just outside the house.)
alice: ah! at last! theyve come. theyve come!
hatch: (fiercely) theyve come! what is it? what does that mean?
(reddy runs to window and opens the shutters.)
alice: (jubilantly) it means—it means that twenty men are crossing that lawn. it means that while you sat drinking there, civilization was racing toward you at seventy miles an hour!
(she drags open the curtains, disclosing captain lucas and two other policemen.)
captain lucas: hold up your hands, all of you!
alice: (speaking with an effort and swaying slightly) hush, please. dont—dont alarm my mother. mothers not as strong as—as i am.
what does alices joke about burglars going out so seldom reveal?
○ her disdain for burglars
○ her nervousness
○ her ability to maintain humor in tense situations
○ her ignorance of criminal activities

Explanation:

Alice is in a tense situation with intruders while caring for her ill mother, yet she makes a light joke about burglars going out seldom and laughs at HATCH's follow-up. This shows she can use humor to cope in a stressful moment, rather than showing disdain, nervousness, or ignorance of criminal activities.

Answer:

Her ability to maintain humor in tense situations