Read these lines: "The prize was delivered to Tom with as much effusion as the superintendent could pump up under the circumstances; but it lacked somewhat of the true gush, for the poor fellow s instinct taught him that there was a mystery here that could not well bear the light, perhaps; it was simply preposterous that this boy had warehoused two thousand sheaves of Scriptural wisdom on his premises." What can be inferred about the superintendent as he hands over the prize?

1. The praise he offers is described as pumped up, and as lacking the true gush, so it is forced. 2. His instinct tells him there is a mystery that could not well bear the light. 3. He calls the claim simply preposterous, which means he does not believe it. 4. Yet he hands the prize over anyway, so he never puts the claim to the test. 5. Doubt without a challenge is option B. 6. Option C goes too far, because a mystery is precisely something not yet discovered. 7. Option A is ruled out by the words about the missing gush. _Source: Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), public domain_