that all three were rather peculiar; that is, peculiar when seen in a
first-class carriage.

The man who had reserved the compartment for himself, and who had
removed a bundle of golf sticks from the seat to make room for me, did
not look like a typical golfer, nor did he appear at all the sort of
person who might be expected to reserve a whole compartment for himself.
He was small and thin, and weedy, with little blinking, pink-rimmed eyes
of the kind which ought to have had white lashes instead of the sparse,
jet black ones that rimmed them. His forehead, though narrow, suggested
shrewdness, as did the expression of those light coloured eyes of his,
which were set close to the sharp, slightly up-turned nose. His hair was
so black that it made his skin seem singularly pallid, though it was
only sallow; and a mean, rabbit mouth worked nervously over two
prominent teeth. Though his clothes were good, and new, they had the air
of having been bought ready made; and in spite of his would-be "smart"
get up, the man (who might have been anywhere between thirty and
thirty-eight) looked somewhat like an ex-groom, or bookmaker,
masquerading as a "swell."

The two intruders who had violated the sanctity of the reserved
compartment by means of their railway key were both bigger and more
manly than he who had a right to it. One was dark, and probably Jewish,
with a heavy beard and moustache, in the midst of which his sensual and
cruel mouth pouted disagreeably red. The other was puffy and flushed,
with a brick-coloured complexion deeply pitted by smallpox. They also
were flashily dressed with "horsey" neckties and conspicuous scarf-pins.
As I glanced at the pair, they were talking together in a low voice,
with an open newspaper held up between them; but the man who had helped
me in against their will sat silent, staring out of the window and