Question

select the correct answer.
which social perception does h. g. wells seem to be portraying in this excerpt from the time machine?
i think that at that time none of us quite believed in the time machine. the fact is, the time traveller was one of those men who are too clever to be believed: you never felt that you saw all round him; you always suspected some subtle reserve, some ingenuity in ambush, behind his lucid frankness. had filby shown the model and explained the matter in the time travellers words, we should have shown him far less scepticism. for we should have perceived his motives; a pork butcher could understand filby. but the time traveller had more than a touch of whim among his elements, and we distrusted him. things that would have made the frame of a less clever man seemed tricks in his hands.
a. clever people are usually lethargic.
b. clever people are often spontaneous.
c. clever people are sometimes whimsical.
d. clever people are very proud of themselves.
e. clever people are insensitive to others.

Explanation:

The excerpt states the Time Traveller, a very clever man, had "more than a touch of whim among his elements", and his actions were seen as suspicious tricks because of this whimsy. This directly aligns with option C, while the other options are not supported by the text.

Answer:

C. Clever people are sometimes whimsical.