[Ripplinger]

I've run into many instances of punctuation preceding an ellipse in the book I'm finishing up, here's a sample attached of a few instances on one page. Punctuation followed by an ellipse was used where a sentence ended and then switched completely to another topic they were discussing at the same time.

"That architect’s late. . . . Llewellyn Meredith—I believe I have heard his name."

And then an exclamation point followed by an ellipse for the same reason for
“Psychological deduction! . . . Stair-carpets will cost a lot.”

Whether grammatically correct or not, I'm sticking to doing the book how it was originally in the printed version. But it makes sense to me the way it's used in the book. I also stuck to using the   for spaces in all instances of ellipses to keep the width uniform.

I've never seen an ellipse preceding other punctuation though, but perhaps in other languages where I think they have certain punctuation at the beginning of a sentence? (trying to remember high school Spanish, seem to recall something about that).

Edit: Btw, if anyone knows what they are referring to here, what "R.A." means, I would be so grateful. They're taking measurements for draperies and rugs in a house they're going to buy, while also discussing a young girl, her father and her grandfather. The book was written 1942 and has a lot of terms from England, all of which I've managed to research to scrounge up the meaning and decipher except for this one, I really don't have a clue:

“An R.A.,” Pamela answered.