Read this excerpt from paragraph 9 of "The Black Cat" and answer the question.




Why did the author most likely include the underlined sentence?

to disprove the connection between the fire, the cat, and the narrator
to explain how the cat's death may be a remote factor in the fire
to explore the possibility of the fire smoldering long before the cat was dead
to negate any idea that there is a supernatural link between the cat and the fire