The full sentence is:-
'А иностранец окинул взглядом высокие дома, квадратом окаймлявшие пруд, причём заметно стало, что видит это место он впервые и что оно его заинтересовало.' (Булгаков)
The only sensible translation I can come up with for the italic part is 'and it became obvious that'.
Is that right?
The existing English translation suggests 'making it obvious that he was seeing this place for the first time'; which could imply that the foreigner intended to give that impression; that he made a show of pretending he was seeing it for the first time.
Does 'причём заметно стало, что...' imply that?