from Living to Tell the Tale: Which of the following inferences about Maria Consuegra is best supported by paragraph 7? The town dignitaries came to Maria Consuegra’s house to offer her their condolences for having killed the thief. I went that night with Papalelo, and we found her sitting in an armchair from Manila that looked like an enormous wicker peacock, surrounded by the fervor of her friends who listened to the story she had repeated a thousand times. Everyone agreed with her that she had fired out of sheer fright. It was then that my grandfather asked her if she had heard anything after the shot, and she answered that the first she had heard a great silence, then the metallic sound of the picklock falling on the cement, and then a faint, anguished voice: “Mother, help me!” Maria Consuegra, it seemed, had not been conscious of this heart-breaking lament until my grandfather asked her the question. Only then did she burst into tears. Question 17 options: a) Maria feels terrible shame for what she’s done. b) Maria is stunned for a long time after she shoots the intruder. c) Maria had threatened to shoot the thief the last time he’d broken into her house. d) Maria did not own the gun she used to shoot the thief.