Read the excerpt from “The Monkey's Paw.”
But the days passed, and expectation gave place to resignation – the hopeless resignation of the old, sometimes miscalled, apathy. Sometimes they hardly exchanged a word, for now they had nothing to talk about, and their days were long to weariness.

Which choice best helps show the mood in the excerpt?

the hope that Herbert will come home
the use of such words as “expectation” and “hardly exchanged”
the number of days that pass after Herbert’s death
the use of such words as “hopeless resignation” and “weariness”