Read the excerpt from "the adventure of the mysterious stranger," by washington irving.

when he found i really took an interest in him he threw himself entirely upon my friendship. he clung to me like a drowning man. he would walk with me for hours up and down the place of st. mark—or he would sit until night was far advanced in my apartment.
what does this excerpt reveal about the narrator of the story?
it describes what the narrator knows from his past.
it describes what the narrator experiences in the story.
it provides an inference drawn by the narrator.
it provides a criticism voiced by the narrator.

Read the following excerpt from "dark tower" by claude mckay before you choose your answer. "we shall not always plant while others reap the golden increment of bursting fruit, nor always countenance, abject and mute, that lesser men should hold their brothers cheap; not everlastingly while others sleep shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute, not always bend to some more subtle brute. we were not made eternally to weep. the night, whose sable breast relieves the stark, white stars, is no less lovely being dark; and there are buds that cannot bloom at all in light, but crumple, piteous, and fall. so in the dark we hid the heart that bleeds, and wait, and tend our agonizing needs." in context, the expression "the night, whose sable breast relieves the stark,/ white stars, is no less lovely being dark; " is best interpreted as a. the light of the stars overpowers the black of night b. the black of night overpowers the light of the stars c. black and white contribute equally to the beauty of the night sky d. black and white continuously compete for prominence in the night sky