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I think that's the one I commented on. "They were in the house: an old man and a young lady" sounds better (not using -man twice). It sounds a little abrupt and dramatic, too.

I had no idea that 'wasn't a word'.

I'm with tatty here.

Slap a comma in there and I'll be happy. At the moment, that reads as though some unidentified persons were standing in the kitchen of: "a big house, and old man, and a slender young woman", if that...