Edgar Allan Poe
7) Keeping these impressions in view, I was cautious in what I said before the young lady; for I could not be sure that she was
sane; and, in fact, there was a certain restless brilliancy about her eyes which half led me to imagine she was not. I confined my
remarks, therefore, to general topics, and to such as I thought would not be displeasing or exciting even to a lunatic. She replied
in a perfectly rational manner to all that I said; and even her original observations were marked with the soundest good sense,
but a long acquaintance with the metaphysics of mania, had taught me to put no faith in such evidence of sanity, and I continued
to practice, throughout the interview, the caution with which I commenced it.
Which sentence would be the MOST concise wording for the selected sentence without changing its meaning? It is an excerpt from
paragraph 7.
I did not remark on anything, not even general topics, for fear of revealing
my true purpose for being here.
I limited my conversation to general things, like the weather, so as not to
arouse or upset even a person with mental problems.
I was not a very exciting conversationalist, so I kept my remarks to only
general topics that she brought up, even crazy ideas.
While it may have been more interesting to talk about more in-depth
topics, I confined myself to discussing only that which pleases or excites
mentally unstable people.