Answer: d) money
Step-by-step explanation:
In the short story, "The Devil" by Guy de Maupassant, Mother Bontemps was on the verge of death and the Doctor had given her but a few hours to live. The problem was that her son, Honoré Bontemps, a peasant, had to go gather up the harvest as they were poor and it needed to be harvested. The Doctor refused that he leave his mom with no company and threatened to deny him treatment when he himself was sick if he did.
On hearing this he relented and decided to pay La Rapet to be with his mother. He knew however that he could not ask for a daily rate for his mother was strong and resilient and could till last the week so he tried to get a fixed rate so he would not overpay if she did indeed, stay alive for longer.
La Rapet suspected the ruse and agreed only after setting a high price.
And so it became that for every extra day she stayed alive, La Rapet was worried that she would not make any profit while Honoré wanted her to last as long as possible so that he would not overpay. Thus, they were both Speculating on Mother Bontemps' life and thinking only of money.