Read the following passage from "my father writes to my mother." years went by. as my mother's ability to speak french improved, while i was still a child of no more than twelve, i came to realize an irrefutable fact: namely that, in the face of all these womenfolk, my parents formed a couple. one thing was an even greater source of pride in me: when my mother referred to any of the day-to-day incidents of our village life—which in our city relatives' eyes was very backward—the tall figure of my father—my childhood hero—seemed to pop up in the midst of all these women engaged in idle chit-chat on the age-old patios to which they were confined. which word best describes the speaker's tone in these lines? a. awestruck b. haughty c. optimistic d. reverent