The pattern we have is _a___e and we know that so far we’ve correctly guessed the letters 'a' and 'e', while 'r' was ruled out. Considering the frequency of letters in English words, the letter 't' often appears in positions that could fit this 6‐letter word (for example, 'castle' would match the pattern). 'T' is also one of the most commonly used letters and hasn’t been guessed yet. Therefore, I will guess 't'.