Hi,
I believe that the question asks you to fill in the gaps and that the options for the gaps are:
1) after "the" : ardent, dark, placid
Here the answer is "dark" since the other two describe mental states, not a place.
2) after "was": zealous, palpable, mocking
Here the correct answer is "palpable" - you could feel the fear. give me a hart plz