I believe that the answer is A, interest and hospitality. Mrs. Farquhar is happy to serve the soldier and get him a glass of water, while Mr. Farquhar inquires about news about the war.
Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence At Old Creek Bridge" is a story of how a man named Peyton Farquhar was to be hanged on a railroad bridge in Alabama. The whole story later turns out to the imagination of the character, as it turns out that he had never escaped from the hanging.
While Farquhar was on the bridge waiting to be hanged, he imagined and thinks that he had escaped, diving int the water underneath the bridge. During his wait, he has a flashback of when he and his wife had welcomed a soldier who had come to their plantation. They welcomed him warmly, with Mrs. Farquhar bringing a glass of water for the weary soldier. Farquhar himself also asked him about the ongoing war, and began discussing about the Old Creek Bridge.
