Answer: A. agreeableness.
Step-by-step explanation: The connotation of a word is the meaning given by the context, or even the readers, based on their emotions or personal experiences. In the given lines from James Joyce's "Araby" we can see that the write connotation, or meaning according to the context, of the word "amiability" is "agreeableness" they are synonyms so we could say "I watched my master's face pass from agreeableness to sternness."