"My dearest child," said her mother laughing, "at this rate you must be in continual terror of my decay, and it must seem to you a miracle that my life has been extended to the advanced age of forty."

The tone of the seventh paragraph "(My dearest child... age of forty") is best described as
O a. emphatic
Ob. indifferent
Oc. indulgent
Od. pragmatic
Oe. sarcastic