Question

select the correct text in the passage. which detail identifies the point where the tension eases in this excerpt? 4 they looked among the folds of her skirt, of her cloak, in her pockets, everywhere, but did not find it... 5 her husband returned about seven oclock. he had found nothing. 6 he went to police headquarters, to the newspaper offices to offer a reward; he went to the cab companies—everywhere, in fact, whither he was urged by the least spark of hope. 7 she waited all day, in the same condition of mad fear before this terrible calamity. 8 loisel returned at night with a hollow, pale face. he had discovered nothing. ... 9 at the end of a week they had lost all hope. loisel, who had aged five years, declared: 10 \we must consider how to replace that ornament.\

Explanation:

To determine where tension eases, we analyze each detail:

• Details [4]–[8] show actions of searching (looking, husband returning without finding, going to police, offering reward, waiting in fear, Loisel returning empty - handed) which are full of tension as they are trying to find the lost ornament.
• Detail [9] says "At the end of a week they had lost all hope" and Loisel declares they must replace the ornament. This is when they stop hoping to find it and accept the need to replace it, so the tension of searching/eagerly hoping eases here as they move to a new phase of accepting and planning replacement.
• Detail [10] is about the decision to replace, which follows the acceptance in [9]. But [9] is the point where the tension of the search (the main source of tension in this excerpt) eases as they give up hope of finding it.

Answer:

[9] At the end of a week they had lost all hope. Loisel, who had aged five years, declared: