"Sir Nigel Anstruthers," when engraved upon a visiting card, wore an air of distinction almost startling.

Sir Nigel himself was not as picturesque as his name, though he was not entirely without attraction, when for reasons of his own he chose to aim at agreeableness of bearing.

He was a man with a good figure and a good voice, and but for a heaviness of feature the result of objectionable living, might have given the impression of being better looking than he really was.
New York laid amused and at the same time, charmed stress upon the fact that he spoke with an "English accent." His enunciation was in fact clear cut and treated its vowels well.

He was a man who observed with an air of accustomed punctiliousness such social rules and courtesies as he deemed it expedient to consider.

An astute worldling had remarked that he was at once more ceremonious and more casual in his manner than men bred in America.
"If you invite him to dinner," the wording said, "or if you die, or marry, or meet with an accident, his notes of condolence or congratulation are prompt and civil, but the actual truth is that he cares nothing whatever about you or your relations, and if you don't please him he does not hesitate to sulk or be astonishingly rude, which last an American does not allow himself to be, as a rule." By many people Sir Nigel was not analysed, but accepted.