The following excerpt from H. H. Munro’s “The Open Window” provides an indirect characterization of Framton Nuttel. What does it reveal about his character? She rattled on cheerfully about the shooting and the scarcity of birds, and the prospects for duck in the winter. To Framton it was all purely horrible. He made a desperate but only partially successful effort to turn the talk on to a less ghastly topic; he was conscious that his hostess was giving him only a fragment of her attention, and her eyes were constantly straying past him to the open window and the lawn beyond. It was certainly an unfortunate coincidence that he should have paid his visit on this tragic anniversary. “The doctors agree in ordering me complete rest, an absence of mental excitement, and avoidance of anything in the nature of violent physical exercise,” announced Framton, who laboured under the tolerably widespread delusion that total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for the least detail of one’s ailments and infirmities, their cause and cure. “On the matter of diet they are not so much in agreement,” he continued. “No?” said Mrs. Sappleton, in a voice which only replaced a yawn at the last moment. Then she suddenly brightened into alert attention—but not to what Framton was saying. A. Nuttel is a disciplined young man who is concerned about his health and always follows the doctor’s orders. B. Nuttel is aware of other people’s behavior, but he doesn’t understand what others might be interested in talking about. C. Nuttel is usually cheerful and jolly, but he’s opposed to hunting, so he’d rather talk about his illness. D. Nuttel is sensitive to how other people react to him and gets upset that Mrs. Sappleton is bored by his conversation. Undo Next