Read this excerpt from Chapter 14 of The Secret Garden.

And they laughed so that in the end they were making as much noise as if they had been two ordinary healthy natural ten-year-old creatures—instead of a hard, little, unloving girl and a sickly boy who believed that he was going to die.

What is the effect of the word choice on the meaning of the excerpt?


A)It highlights how loud the children are when they are together.

B)It shows the positive effect their interaction has had on them.

C)It reminds the reader of the children's underlying unhappiness.

D)It emphasizes how much effort it will take the children to behave themselves.