This followed, Carol, immediately on the series of questions I ref'd to above, so must surely be construed as being similarly interrogatve - part of the same discursive series. The words 'as you appear to be' seem to me to make the point speculative, predicated on the supposition that the answers to my questions might be affirmative; so the point was conditional (i.e. "if that is what you mean then it could perhaps be interpreted as") rather than putting any actual words in your mouth.