What is scary about <PERSON> in this scene from Carter&Lovecraft?
This is a question about <PERSON> novel Carter&Lovecraft. Listening to it again (in audiobook format), there's a scene where I just don't get what's happening.
In Chapter 15, A Reminiscence of Bertrand Russell, antagonist <PERSON> visits the main characters' book store. At this point, only <PERSON> knows him (as far as the reader knows) and he stays out of sight of <PERSON>. So that <PERSON> is the only one who interacts with <PERSON>. The reader doesn't get much details about her reactions. While <PERSON> appears creepy and weird, he makes no overt threats, doesn't mentions directly occult stuff beyond gushing about <PERSON>'s work and appears to be just a nerd who loves to flaunt his knowledge and is looking for specialized books.
But by the end, <PERSON> seems utterly terrified of him. More than this, she seems to distrust <PERSON> at this point. 247
And I don't get it! I know that elements of existential horror can be hard to correctly communicate to the reader. I know that the occult and weird science are a traditional horror element in <PERSON>-inspired story. But this is not something that <PERSON> appears to use that much in his first two novels, at least not in the same way that this scene is portrayed.
Seeing how the chapter's title focuses on him, I've looked a bit at <PERSON>'s work. But where I expected some kind of occult, weirder or misanthropic connection, the man appears to have been a mathematician with lots of work in set theory and similar topics. Even considering that this is a story, adding an extra aura of mystic to <PERSON> and considering that the quote fits <PERSON>'s character. This just doesn't makes sense unless <PERSON> already knows about <PERSON>. Which she doesn't.
Considering that I don't think there is any explanation about this scene later in the book, Why is <PERSON> so afraid of <PERSON> in this scene?
As a sidenote, my rep is too low to create a tag and I needed to add one. Since I couldn't find one that seemed to fit either the question or the story's title, I put the closest I found. 247