Read the passage from Candide, by Voltaire. Then, answer the question
In the country of Westphalia, in the castle of the most noble Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh, lived a youth whom Nature had endowed with a most sweet disposition. His face was the
true index of his mind. He had a solid judgment joined to the most unaffected simplicity, and hence, I presume, he had his name of Candide. The old servants of the house suspected
him to have been the son of the Baron's sister, by a very good sort of a gentleman of the neighborhood, whom that young lady refused to marry, because he could produce no more
than threescore and eleven quarterings in his arms, the rest of the genealogical tree belonging to the family having been lost through the injuries of time
Which words best describe the tone of this selection?
O O O O
A informal and friendly
B. serious and forbidding
OC. mocking and matter-of-fact
D. excited and respectful