from The Nice People
by Henry Cuyler Bunner
"They certainly are nice people," I assented to my wife's observation, using the colloquial1 phrase with a consciousness that it was anything but "nice" English, "and I'll bet that their three children are better brought up than most of—"
"Two children," corrected my wife.
"Three, he told me."
"My dear, she said there were two."
"He said three."
"You've simply forgotten. I'm sure she told me they had only two—a boy and a girl."
"Well, I didn't enter into particulars."
"No, dear, and you couldn't have understood him. Two children."
"All right," I said; but I did not think it was all right. As a near-sighted man learns by enforced observation to recognize persons at a distance when the face is not visible to the normal eye, so the man with a bad memory learns, almost unconsciously, to listen carefully and report accurately. My memory is bad; but I had not had time to forget that Mr. Brewster Brede had told me that afternoon that he had three children, at present left in the care of his mother-in-law, while he and Mrs. Brede took their summer vacation.
"Two children," repeated my wife; "and they are staying with his aunt Jenny."
"He told me with his mother-in-law," I put in. My wife looked at me with a serious expression. Men may not remember much of what they are told about children; but any man knows the difference between an aunt and a mother-in-law.
"But don't you think they're nice people?" asked my wife.
"Oh, certainly," I replied. "Only they seem to be a little mixed up about their children."
"That isn't a nice thing to say," returned my wife. I could not deny it.
And yet, the next morning, when the Bredes came down and seated themselves opposite us at table, beaming and smiling in their natural, pleasant, well-bred fashion, I knew, to a social certainty, that they were "nice" people.

1. informal

1
How does the point of view affect the plot of the story?
A.
It gives the reader a sense of what every character thinks and feels.
B.
It helps the reader understand the narrator's relationship with his wife.
C.
It gives the reader a sense of what the Bredes think and feel.
D.
It helps the reader understand why the narrator thinks his memory is poor.