Read the excerpt below and answer the question. "Why, Eliza child, what ails you?" said her mistress.

"O! Missis, missis," said Eliza, "there's been a trader talking with master in the parlor! I heard him."

"Well, silly child, suppose there has."

"O, missis, do you suppose mas'r would sell my Harry?" And the poor creature threw herself into a chair, and sobbed convulsively.

"Sell him! No, you foolish girl! You know your master never deals with those southern traders, and never means to sell any of his servants, as long as they behave well. Why, you silly child, who do you think would want to buy your Harry?" (p.10)

The excerpt above, and its relationship to the rest of the novel, is an example of .

A. dramatic irony
B. comedic irony
C. verbal irony
D. situational irony