Read the line from "lather and nothing else." “are you going to punish all of them? ” i timidly ventured. the underlined word creates a(n) mood.

The answer is in fact Anxious. I am putting this answer here not to take credit, but merely because despite the fact that the other answer has a low rating by a lot of people, I just got this question, gave this answer, and got it right(on e2020/Edge). So I can confirm that Anxious is the correct answer, at least on those previously mentioned platforms.

P.S. It would not let me comment directly on the other answer so that is why I am putting this as a separate answer.