Answer:
A. receive water from soil
have you tried looking the word up in the Dictionary? if that doesnt help much, you can guesstimate the word by searching it in the thesaurus! it will give you synonyms of the word.
hope that helps!
The context (1899, New Orleans and Louisiana) is shown in some details. The use of some particular words like eager, composture, impaired is a sign of it. Also the fact that the money had to be transported phisically. It's also clear in the way Kate Chopin describes the like of women for the money. This is somewhat a macho point of view that has to do with the time and political context she lived in.
