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Read these lines: "It read in this fashion: THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED. We surveyed this curt announcement and the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so completely overtopped every other consideration that we both burst out into a roar of laughter." What does the reaction of the two men show?
AThey thought the affair too dull to look into
BThey were angry at being called out so early
CThey already knew who had put up the card
DThey found the whole business absurdly funny
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: D. They found the whole business absurdly funny
1. The card is called a curt announcement and the client's face is called rueful, so the moment is a bleak one for him.
2. The narrator says the comical side overtopped every other consideration.
3. Overtopped means it rose above everything else they might have felt, including sympathy.
4. The result is a roar of laughter, which is the plainest possible sign of finding it funny.
5. Anger and boredom would both need the laughter explained away, and it cannot be.
_Source: Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892), The Red-Headed League_
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