The servants do not "abscond" because Montresor tells them to stay at home; they do so because he tells them he will be gone all night. They don't care if he finds out that they all left to join in the carnival. He can't fire them because he can't get anybody to replace them.
B.....................................
It is 1) neutral
it is neither negative nor positive
That would be false, wouldn't it?
A mirage is an optical phenomenon
The word I can think of that best fits instead of "mirage" would be oasis, though I could be wrong.
Answer:
self-fulfilling prophecy is a belief or expectation that an individual holds about a future event that manifests because the individual holds it
Explanation: example would be if you think it's going to be a good day you would promote positive thoughts and you would actually have a good day, or if you start out negatively you would end up with negative results.