_A Glossy Male_ The machine was one of those electric contrivances that do their work noiselessly and efficiently, like a garrotter or the guillotine.

No odour, no teeth-disturbing grind of rack-and-pinion, no trumpeting, with that machine! It arrived before the gate with such absence of sound that Alice, though she was dusting in the front-room, did not hear it.

She heard nothing till the bell discreetly tinkled.

Justifiably assuming that the tinkler was the butcher's boy, she went to the door with her apron on, and even with the duster in her hand.

A handsome, smooth man stood on the step, and the electric carriage made a background for him.
He was a dark man, with curly black hair, and a moustache to match, and black eyes.