Question

As you read this excerpt from “An Uncomfortable Bed” by Guy de Maupassant, look for details that create suspense.

One autumn I went to spend the hunting season with some friends in a chateau in Picardy. My friends were fond of practical jokes. I do not care to know people who are not.

When I arrived, they gave me a princely reception, which at once awakened suspicion in my mind. They fired off rifles, embraced me, made much of me, as if they expected to have great fun at my expense.

I said to myself: "Look out, old ferret! They have something in store for you."

During the dinner the mirth was excessive, exaggerated, in fact. I thought: "Here are people who have more than their share of amusement, and apparently without reason. They must have planned some good joke. Assuredly I am to be the victim of the joke. Attention!"

During the entire evening every one laughed in an exaggerated fashion. I scented a practical joke in the air, as a dog scents game. But what was it? I was watchful, restless. I did not let a word, or a meaning, or a gesture escape me. Every one seemed to me an object of suspicion, and I even looked distrustfully at the faces of the servants.

The hour struck for retiring; and the whole household came to escort me to my room. Why?


Which detail is most likely to make readers to feel the suspense?

“During the dinner the mirth was excessive--exaggerated, in fact.”

"Look out, old ferret! They have something in store for you."

“The hour struck for retiring; and the whole household came to escort me to my room.”

“My friends were fond of practical jokes. I do not care to know people who are not.”

Answer 1

“The hour struck for retiring; and the whole household came to escort me to my room.”

This detail is most suspenseful because it’s an unusual, ominous action that raises immediate questions (Why?) and suggests a planned, possibly threatening setup—creating tension and anticipation more strongly than the earlier hints.