There was some little mumbling talk in the lobby before the two men came in, and then Mrs.Tadman's curiosity was relieved by a closer view of the stranger.
Yes, he was certainly handsome, remarkably handsome even, for a man whose youth was past; but there was something in his face, a something sinister and secret, as it were, which did not strike Mrs.Tadman favourably.

She could not by any means have explained the nature of her sensations on looking at him, but, as she said afterwards, she felt all in a moment that he was there for no good.

And yet he was very civil-spoken too, and addressed both the ladies in a most conciliating tone, and with a kind of florid politeness.
Ellen looked at him, interested for the moment in spite of her apathetic indifference to all things.

The advent of a stranger was something so rare as to awaken a faint interest in the mind most dead to impressions.
She did not like his manner; there was something false and hollow in his extreme politeness.

And his face--what was it in his face that startled her with such a sudden sense of strangeness and yet of familiarity?
Had she ever seen him before?
Yes; surely that was the impression which sent such a sudden shook through her nerves, which startled her from her indifference into eager wonder and perplexity.