Choose the word which most nearly captures the mood of the quotation.'But there was a cry on the hearth: the child had awakened, and Marner stooped to lift it on his knee. It clung round his neck, and burst louder and louder into that mingling of inarticulate cries with 'mammy' by which little children express the bewilderment of waking. Silas pressed it to him, and almost unconsciously uttered sounds of hushing tenderness, while he bethought himself that some of his porridge, which had got cool by the dying fire, would do to feed the child with if it were only warmed up a little.' -- From George Eliot's novel, Silas Marner

Mood is another word for the atmosphere of a play, poem, short story, or novel. Authors use character descriptions, setting and dialog to create mood. Although sometimes the atmosphere created at the beginning of a story remains until the end, it often changes at some point in the text. A good example is the play, An Inspector Calls, in which the mood changes drastically during the first act.