At first sight he certainly was a most prepossessing-looking
person. His face, if a little hard, was distinguished by a strength
which for the size of his features was somewhat surprising. His chin
was like a piece of iron, and although his mouth had more sensitive
and softer lines, his dark-blue eyes and jet-black eyebrows completed
a general impression of vigour and forcefulness. His figure was a
little thin but lithe, and his movements showed all the suppleness of
a man who has continued the pursuit of athletics into early
middle-life. His hair, only slightly streaked with grey, was thick and
plentiful. His clothes were carefully chosen and well tailored. He had
the air of a man used to mixing with the best people, to eating and
drinking the best, to living in the best fashion, recognising nothing
less as his due in life. Yet as he stood there waiting for his
visitor, listening intently for the sound of her footsteps outside, he
permitted himself a moment of retrospection, and there was a gleam of
very different things in his face, a touch almost of the savage in the
clenched teeth and sudden tightening of the lips. One might have
gathered that this man was living through a period of strain.
The entrance of the young lady of the house, after a delay of about
ten minutes, was noiseless and unannounced.
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