The physician at the door
An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.
“There is no cause for alarm,” Dr Mercer told Mrs Lane. “Your brother requires only rest.” He closed his case, pulled on his gloves and took his hat from the peg. As the servant opened the front door, a cough sounded from the room upstairs, slight but followed by a long silence. Dr Mercer looked towards the staircase. Then he returned his hat to the peg.
Identify the phrase which suggests that Dr Mercer no longer believes what he has told Mrs Lane.
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.