When the train moved on, he
came and took his seat on the flap seat (or _strapontin_) just
opposite my compartment. I could not tell why, until presently he
made overtures of sociability and began a desultory talk across the
corridor. My cabin or compartment, it will be remembered, was the last
but one; the newcomer had been given the one behind mine, and here
from his seat he commanded the whole length of the carriage forward,
which included the compartment occupied by Mrs. Blair and her party.
I cannot say that I liked his looks or was greatly attracted by him.
He was not prepossessing. Fair, with a flaccid unwholesome complexion,
foxy haired, his beard cut to a point, small moustaches curled upward
showing thin pale lips, and giving his mouth a disagreeable curve also
upwards, a sort of set smile that was really a sardonic sneer,
conveying distrust and disbelief in all around. His eyes were so deep
set as to be almost lost in their recesses behind his sandy eyelashes,
and he kept them screwed up close, with the intent watchful gaze of an
animal about to make a spring.
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