the phrasal verb to take someone/something in has a surprising amount of flexibility in its usages, not just the two you mentioned.
For example, it can mean:
to understand and remember something that you hear or read
I’m not sure how much of his explanation she took in.
to allow someone to stay in your house or your country
- refugees who were taken in during the war
- We decided to take in lodgers.
to trick someone into believing something that is not true
- Don’t be taken in by their promises.
to alter an item of clothing so that it fits you.
Shhe lost weight recently, and had to have her dress taken in.
to accept something as real or true
- He still hasn’t really taken in his father’s death.
to do work for someone else in your home
- She has started taking in ironing.
to go to an entertainment or sport
- We took in a couple of films.
to furl a sail.
- The wind began to blow hard, so we decided to take in the mainsail.
to receive a specified amount of money as payment or earnings.
- Our club took in nearly $800,000 in its first year"
to spend time looking at something
- We sat there taking in the scenery.
The usage you are looking for is a variation of the last one - to spend time looking at someone. In the context of taking in another person in this manner, it generally means more than simply looking at them - there's an element of getting a measure of that person involved, or looking at them more carefully or in a new light than one normally would, which seems to fit the case here.
British people often express a probability as "betting odds". In Britain, and some other countries, it is legal to place bets on whether some future event will happen. The event could be a particular horse winning a race, a football team winning a match, etc. Events are not restricted to sporting activities*. You can bet on. e.g. whether snow will fall somewhere in England on a certain date.
You can ask an individual or company specialising in taking bets (often called "bookmakers") to "give you odds" on the event happening. If they decide they want to take the bet, they quote ("give") you "odds", a figure, expressed as [number] to [number], such as "three to one", "seven to four", etc. These can be written as 3/1 and 7/4. They are the ratio of the amount of money you will win (the "winnings") to the amount you pay to place the bet (the"stake"). You also get the stake back if you win. Bookmakers advertise odds on popular events.
The odds reflect how likely the bookmaker thinks an event is to happen. An unlikely event will get bigger ("longer") odds than a likely one. Thus you might get odds of 1000 to 1 that it will snow in England on August 1st, but 2 to 1 that a well-regarded horse and jockey will win a particular race. Very "short" odds, often less than 2 to 1, means the bookmaker thinks the event is very likely. In the example given, the odds are 7/4, which is the same as 1.75 to 1. Odds are always given as whole numbers. If a bookmaker thinks an event is exceedingly likely to happen, so much so that they don't want to take bets, they will give bets where the ratio of winnings to stake is less than 1 to 1, e.g. three to five (3/5). These are called "on" odds, and described as "three to five on". You would have to bet £5 to get £3 back (plus your stake). An "odds-on favourite" is considered sure to win a race. The expression means something like the American "slam-dunk".
So, the narrator "I" is saying that, based on his understanding of the meaning of the look that Will gave to Louise, something is very likely. Could this be that Will is attracted to Louise?
*In 1964, a British man asked a bookmaking company for odds on whether a human would stand on the moon before January 1971. He was quoted 1000 to 1, and placed a bet of ten UK pounds, equivalent to around $223 in present values. On July 21, 1969, he was paid his winnings live on TV, after Neil Armstrong landed. Now his winnings would be equivalent to around $250,000.
Best Answer
When a character in a story or a novel is "on the page", this means he is mentioned in that part of the book: he is doing something - loving, hating, communicating etc.
When a character is "off the page", this means the narrative is taking its course without him/her. Some other characters are mentioned, but this particular character is not mentioned.
So then Daddy was "on the page", this means he suddenly turned into an active person, playing his part in life, instead of being a listless person, "part of the backdrop". It's a nice literary metaphor.
Example of usage:
P.S.
The phrase "on the page" adopts different meanings depending on context. It could used be to refer not to a hero's presence in some particular part of a book, but to his presence in a literary work generally.
It could also be used to compare the impression a writer leaves in real life to the impression he delivers through his writing.
So it's kind of versatile phrase.