Her feeling seemed to be perceived by Santoine. "Would you rather I sent for Avery, daughter?" he asked.
"No; no!" She turned again toward Eaton and met his look defiantly.
Eaton merely waited. He was confident that much of this description of himself had been given Santoine by his daughter before the attack had been made on him and that she had told him also as fully as she could the two conversations she had had with Eaton. He could not, somehow, conceive it possible that Santoine needed to refresh his memory; the description, therefore, must have been for purposes of comparison. Santoine, in his blindness, no doubt found it necessary to get descriptions of the same one thing from several people, in order that he might check one description against another. He probably had Harriet's and Avery's description of Eaton and now was getting Harriet's again.
"He would be called, I judge, a rather likable-looking man?" Santoine said tentatively; his question plainly was only meant to lead up to something else; Santoine had judged in that particular already.
"I think he makes that impression."
"Certainly he does not make the impression of being a man who could be hired to commit a crime?"
"Very far from it."
"Or who would commit a crime for his own interest—material or financial interest, I mean?"
"No."
"But he might be led into crime by some personal, deeper interest. He has shown deep feeling, I believe—strong, personal feeling, Harriet?"