ester earnestly
desired to win his solitary and unfriended neighbour from a mood and
habit which he naturally imagined must engender a growing melancholy
of mind; and since Walter had detailed to him the particulars of his
meeting with Aram, this desire had been considerably increased. There is
not perhaps a stronger feeling in the world than pity, when united
with admiration. When one man is resolved to know another, it is almost
impossible to prevent him: we see daily the most remarkable instances of
perseverance on one side conquering distaste on the other. By degrees,
then, Aram relaxed from his insociability; he seemed to surrender
himself to a kindness, the sincerity of which he was compelled to
acknowledge; if he for a long time refused to accept the hospitality
of his neighbour, he did not reject his society when they met, and
this intercourse by little and little progressed, until ultimately
the recluse yielded to solicitation, and became the guest as well
as companion. This, at first accident, grew, though not without many
interruptions, into habit; and at length few evenings were passed by the
inmates of the Manor-house without the society of the Student. As his
reserve wore off, his conversation mingled with its attractions a tender
and affectionate tone. He seemed grateful for the pains which had been
taken to allure him to a scene in which, at last, he acknowledged he
found a happiness that he never experienced before: and those who had
hitherto admired him for his genius, admired him now yet more for his
susceptibility to the affections.

There was not in Aram any thing that savoured of the harshness of
pedantry, or the petty vanities of dogmatism: his voice was soft and
low, and his manner always remarkable for its singular gentleness, and a
certain dignified humility. His language did indeed, at times, assume
a tone of calm and patriarchal command; but it was only the command
arising from an intimate persuasion of the truth of what he uttered.
Moralizing upon our nature, or mourning over the delusions of the world,
a grave and solemn strain breathed throughout his lofty words and
the profound melancholy of his wisdom; but it touched, not
offended--elevated, not humbled--the lesser intellect of his listeners;
and even this air of unconscious superiority vanished when he was
invited to teach or explain. That task which so few do gracefully, that
an accurate and shrewd thinker has said: "It is always safe