by Katherine Mansfield
Of course, the car was there. She’d only to cross the pavement. But still she waited. There are moments, horrible moments in life, when one emerges from shelter and looks out, and it’s awful. One oughtn’t to give way to them. One ought to go home and have an extra-special tea. But at the very instant of thinking that, a young girl, thin, dark, shadowy—where had she come from?—was standing at Rosemary’s elbow and a voice like a sigh, almost like a sob, breathed: “Madame, may I speak to you a moment?”
“Speak to me?” Rosemary turned. She saw a little battered creature with enormous eyes, someone quite young, no older than herself, who clutched at her coat-collar with reddened hands, and shivered as though she had just come out of the water.
“M-madame,” stammered the voice. “Would you let me have the price of a cup of tea?”
“A cup of tea?” There was something simple, sincere in that voice; it wasn’t in the least the voice of a beggar. “Then have you no money at all?” asked Rosemary.
“None, madam,” came the answer.
“How extraordinary!” Rosemary peered through the dusk, and the girl gazed back at her. How more than extraordinary! And suddenly it seemed to Rosemary such an adventure. It was like something out of a novel by Dostoevsky, this meeting in the dusk. Supposing she took the girl home? Supposing she did do one of those things she was always reading about or seeing on the stage, what would happen? It would be thrilling.
"A Cup of Tea" by Katherine Mansfield
Question
Use the passage to answer the question.
Which quotation best reveals the main character’s thoughts?
(1 point)
Responses
Rosemary peered through the dusk, and the girl gazed back at her.
Rosemary peered through the dusk, and the girl gazed back at her.
“M-madame,” stammered the voice. “Would you let me have the price of a cup of tea?”
“M-madame,” stammered the voice. “Would you let me have the price of a cup of tea?”
Supposing she did do one of those things she was always reading about or seeing on the stage, what would happen?
Supposing she did do one of those things she was always reading about or seeing on the stage, what would happen?
She saw a little battered creature with enormous eyes, someone quite young, no older than herself, who clutched at her coat-collar with reddened hands and shivered as though she had just come out of the water.
She saw a little battered creature with enormous eyes, someone quite young, no older than herself, who clutched at her coat-collar with reddened hands and shivered as though she had just come out of the water.
1 answer
The quotation that best reveals the main character’s thoughts is:
"Supposing she did do one of those things she was always reading about or seeing on the stage, what would happen?"
This line shows Rosemary's internal contemplation and excitement about the possibility of taking action in a way that aligns with the adventurous and romantic ideas she has from novels and plays.
