, their ambitions, all took opposite directions;
and yet such is the effect of intimacy, such the consequence of daily,
hourly communion, that each not only learned to tolerate, but even
to imbibe, some of the notions of the other; and an imperceptible
compromise was at length entered into, by Which individuality became
tempered down, and even the broad traits of nationality almost effaced.
The Count came to perceive that what he had at first regarded as coarse
and inelegant was in reality the evidence of only a bold and vigorous
spirit, exulting in its own energy, and confident of its power; and
Polly began to recognize that remarkable truth, that a coxcomb need
not necessarily be a coward, and that the most excessive puppyism
can consort with even a chivalrous courage and daring. Of these
qualities--the very first in Polly's estimation--he had given several
proofs in their adventures by sea and land, and under circumstances,
too, where the very novelty of the peril to be surmounted might have
suggested some fear.

There is a generous impulse usually to exalt in our esteem those whom we
had once held cheaply, when on nearer intimacy we discover that we had
wronged them. We feel as if there was a debt of reparation due to them,
and that we are unjust till we have acquitted it. It may chance that now
and then this honorable sentiment may carry us beyond reasonable bounds,
and that we are disposed to accord even more than is due to them.

I have no means of knowing if such were the case here: I can but surmise
from other circumstances the causes which were in operation. It is
enough, however, if I state that long before Gabriac had passed the
limit of admiration for Polly, she had conceived for him a strong
sentiment of love; and while he was merely exerting those qualities
which are amongst the common gifts of his class and his country, she
was becoming impressed with the notion of his vast superiority to all
of those she had ever met in society. It must be taken into account that
his manner towards her evinced a degree of respect and devotion which,
though not overpassing the usual observance of good manners in France,
contrasted very favorably with the kind of notice bestowed by country
gentlemen upon "the Grinder's daughter." Those terrible traditions of
exorbitant interest, those fatal compacts with usury, that had made
Fagan's name so dreadfully notorious in Ireland, were all unknown to
Gabriac. He only saw in Poll