Answer: A hard money loan is simply a short-term loan secured by real estate. They are funded by private investors (or a fund of investors) as opposed to conventional lenders such as banks or credit unions. The terms are usually around 12 months, but the loan term can be extended to longer terms of 2-5 years.
The correct answer is actually D - Spying.
The reason why D is the correct answer is because during those times, musicians could be invited to parties, balls, and festive occasions that were hosted by one family or another family or nobility or any other important group of people who could pay them a hefty sum to tell them what another family was doing and vice versa. That is why their job offered them the opportunity to work as part-time spies.