Answer:
B . through Hovenden's opinions of others
Step-by-step explanation:
Option B is the correct answer.
From the given passage, we discover that Peter Hovenden, who was known as a retired watchmaker and former master of Warland, is known by readers through his opinion of others.
During his conversation with his daughter, Annie, he spoke about Warland in such a way that revealed that he didn't believe that anything creative will come out of Warland. In other words, one can infer that Hovenden dosen't believe that someone can be better than how he was before.
Hovenden had known Warland to be someone who doesn't have that ingenuity to be creative.