From what I've understood from the excerpt, the author wants to portray Elizabeth Van Lew's undercover attitude and skills in order to gather intelligence. In order for her to get inside the premises and spy, she must maintain a good act in order for the guards not to be suspicious. Therefore, the answer is A.
<span>1) The excerpt is a description from a Victorian novel. The author engages in social criticism in critical tone. The main figure that is being under discussion in this excerpt is description of people's social behaviour that delivers sort of estimation for depicted society in general. The speaker's attitude is shown in the word order and figurative language. Using a bit sarcastic critical tone author depicts the situation in a way readers can understand its problematic without direct prompts or persuasive tools.
2) </span><span>The excerpt suggests that the novel is written in a realistic style. The facts stated in the text are demonstrated as representation of reality, showing how 'life works'. The context does not contain any unreal situations, all the things described there take place in real life, in regular world. </span>
Making the class laugh enough will be your answer. A gerund phrase is phrase that begins with an 'ing' word. It will include other modifiers and/or objects. The gerund phrase functions as a noun, so they will be subjects, subject complements, or objects in the sentence.
*hope this gave you more insight on your question : )