"Tell me, Mr. Fletcher, did you know your uncle well?"
"I expect it'll save time if I say no," answered Neville. "I can see we are on the verge of talking at cross-purposes."
"Why?" Hannasyde asked bluntly.
"Oh, one doesn't know people. Mothers say they know their children through and through. Fallacy. Rather disgusting, too. Indecency inherent in over-probing, and results misleading, and probably disquieting."
"Oh!" said Hannasyde, who had followed this rapid and telegraphic speech with some difficulty. "I see what you mean, but it doesn't answer my question. As well as one person may know another, did you know your uncle?"
"No. Interest being the natural forerunner to understanding."
"You'd none in him?"
"Nor anyone, "cept objectively. An' I'm not sure of that either. Do you like people?"
"Don't you?"
Neville spread his hands out, slightly hunching his thin shoulders. "Oh, some - a little - at a distance."