Nance, in her first quick comprehensive glance, had wondered which.
He stood close upon six feet and was broad-chested and square-shouldered.

A good figure of a man, clean and upstanding, and with no nonsense about him.

A capable-looking man in every respect, and if his manner was quiet and retiring, there was that about him which suggested the possibility of explosion if occasion arose.
Not that the Hamon family as a whole, or any member of it, would have put the matter quite in that way to itself, or herself.

But that, vaguely, was the impression produced upon them--an impression of uprightness, intelligence, and reserved strength--and the more strongly, perhaps, because of late these characteristics had been somewhat overshadowed in the Island by the greed of gain and love of display engendered by the opening of the mines.
To old Tom Hamon his coming was wholly welcome.

It foreshadowed a strong and more energetic development of the mines and the speedier realization of his most earnest desires.
To Mrs.Hamon it meant some extra household work, which she would gladly undertake since it was her husband's wish to have the stranger live with them, though in his absorption by the mines she had no sympathy whatever.
Nance looked upon him merely as a part of the mines, and therefore to be detested along with the noisy engine-house, the pumps, the damp and dirty miners, and all the rest of it--the coming of which had so completely spoiled her much-loved Sark.
Tom disliked him because he made him feel small and boorish, and of a commoner make.