He had that combination of savoir-faire with a sort of well-groomed coarseness which is not uncommon in young doctors.

He carried his fine clothes with confidence rather than ease, and he mostly wore a set smile.

There was nothing whatever odd about him, except that he wore a pair of dark, almost opaque spectacles.

It may have been merely a crescendo of nervous fancy that had gone before, but those black discs were dreadful to Syme; they reminded him of half-remembered ugly tales, of some story about pennies being put on the eyes of the dead.

Syme's eye always caught the black glasses and the blind grin.