The doctor’s early departure
An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.
Before sunrise, Doctor Meredith stood in the hall, his leather case in his hand. Clara invited him to sit while the stable boy brought the carriage round, but he remained beside the front door. For the third time, he drew out his watch. When Clara began to ask whether he wanted breakfast, he snapped the watch shut before she had finished.
“No. We have lost enough time already.”
The carriage had scarcely stopped when he pulled open the door and went down the steps. The driver was still settling the reins as the doctor called, “At once, if you please.”
Give two details from the extract which suggest Doctor Meredith is impatient to leave.
456 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE English Language 1.3 Content: prose fiction study requirements, covering 1.3.1 Read challenging prose fiction for the unseen 19th-century extract. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.