The answer is tells because the other answers are not neutral.
Explanation:
The house of mirth is a old woman back in the day a long time ago
Answer: From the outset we know that this is a child speaking to the father about the smell of alcohol (whiskey, your breath). If life is a dance then this child is having a tough time because the dance was not easy - note the lack of a contraction which makes the line more formal.
Romped implies a sense of fun but lacking control because things fall from the shelf as a result of the dance and mother isn't well pleased. The use of the word countenance and unfrown is unusual. The former refers to the mother's facial expression, the latter isn't a proper word.
The words battered and scraped, beat and hard suggest the father's rough handling of the boy but these are neutralised almost by the use of waltzed, which implies some sort of carefree innocence.
Don't know if this helps, but hopefully you gained something from this!
