‘Well,’ began Enfield, ‘I was coming home about three o’clock on a black winter morning, when suddenly I saw two people. The first was a short man who was walking along the street, and the second was a little girl who was running as fast as she could. Well, the two bumped into each other and the child fell down. Then a terrible thing happened. The man calmly walked all over the child’s body with his heavy boots, and left her screaming on the ground. It was an inhuman thing to do. I ran after the man, caught him and fetched him back. There was already a small crowd around the screaming child. The man was perfectly cool, but he gave me a very evil look, which made me feel sick in my stomach. The child’s family then arrived, and also a doctor. The child had been sent to fetch the doctor for a sick neighbor, and was on her way home again.
‘“The child is more frightened than hurt,” said the doctor — and that, you would think, was the end of the story. But, you see, I had taken a violent dislike to the short man. So had the child’s family — that was only natural. But the doctor, who seemed a quiet, kind man, was also looking at our prisoner with murder in his eyes.
‘The doctor and I understood each other perfectly. Together we shouted at the man, and told him we would tell this story all over London so that his name would be hated.
‘He looked back at us with a proud, black look. “Name your price,” he said.
‘We made him agree to a hundred pounds for the child’s family. With another black look, the man led us to that door over there. He took out a key and let himself into the building. Presently he came out and handed us ten pounds in gold and a cheque for ninety pounds from Coutts’s Bank. The name on the cheque was a well-known one.
‘“See here,” said the doctor doubtfully, “it isn’t usual for a man to walk into an empty house at four in the morning and come out with another man’s cheque for nearly a hundred pounds.”
‘“Don’t worry,” said the man with an ugly look, “I’ll stay with you until the banks open, and change the cheque myself.”
‘So we all went off, the doctor and the prisoner and myself, and spent the rest of the night at my house. In the morning we went together to the bank. Sure enough, the cheque was good, and the money was passed to the child’s family.’
Which of the following is true according to the passage above?
A.The little girl was frightened as well as seriously hurt. |
B.The doctor did not trust the short man and disliked him. |
C.The short man willingly paid the little girl’s family a hundred pounds. |
D.The doctor was present at the spot to see what was wrong with the little girl. |
Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “Presently” in the fifth paragraph?
A.Instantly. | B.Constantly. |
C.Consequently. | D.Merely. |
Which of the following makes Enfield, the narrator of the story, puzzled most?
A.The doctor’s attitude towards the short man. |
B.The validity of the cheque accepted by the bank. |
C.The name on the cheque the short man produced. |
D.The short man’s attitude towards what he had done. |
The cheque was written by ________.
A.Mr. Utterson, an upright lawyer |
B.Mr. Jekyll, a well-known doctor |
C.Doctor Lanyon, Mr. Jekyll’s friend |
D.Mr. Hyde, the short man mentioned in the passage above |