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Which passage illustrates the mood created by the protagonist's actions?

Beings no more developed than starfish. Starfish can do the same thing, you know.
I read on, hands shaking. I had really stumbled onto something here.
Presently she asked him if he would remove his arm. He immediately did so, with a smile.
Yet, to the characters in the book, it was perfectly natural—which suggested they belonged to the same species.