1. Read the following extract
antistatic
"My duty," said Griselda. "My duty as the Vicaress. Tea and scandal at four thirty."
"Who is coming?"
Griselda ticked them off on the fingers with a glow of virtue on her face.
"Mrs Price Ridley, Miss Whetherby, Miss Hartwell, and that terrible Miss Marple."
"I rather like Miss Marple," I said. "She has, at least, a sense of humour."
"She is the worst cat in the village," said Griselda. "And she always knows every single thing that happens -
and draws the worst inferences from it." [...]
CHOACE
Griselda Clement, the vicar's wife, is organising a tea party at the vicarage of Saint
Mary Mead. She and her husband are discussing who they are going to invite.
M
"I wonder what we shall have for tea," said Griselda, seating herself on my writing table. "Dr. Stone and
Miss Cram, I suppose, and perhaps Mrs Lestrange. By the way, I called on her yesterday, but she was out.
Yes, I'm sure we shall have Mrs Lestrange for tea. It's so mysterious, isn't it, her arriving like this and taking
a house down here, and hardly ever going outside it? Makes one think of detective stories. You know -
Who was she, the mysterious woman with the pale, beautiful face? What was her past history? Nobody
knew. There was something faintly2 sinister about her.' I believe Dr Haydock knows something about her."
"You read too many detective stories, Griselda," I observed mildly.
Agatha Christie, Murder at the Vicarage, 1930

1. compter un à un

2- Answer the questions
a. Find the Vicaress's favourite activity.

b. Focus on the enumeration of people. Why do people gossip about Miss Marple and Miss Lestrange?

c. Why is the newcomer's family name (Lestrange) particularly relevant?

d. Comment on "You read too many detective stories" (last line)

e. Miss Marple is a fictional old lady who lives in the village of Saint Mary Mead and spends her time
solving crimes as an amateur detective. Look at the map of Saint Mary Mead and say why Miss Marple’s house in well-located

f. Identify the
- composition of the text
- narrator and speaker(s)
- tense(s) used

g. Dialogue.
Focus on the punctuation. What do you notice?