I felt the rebuke, but she went on—
"He owes his greatness to having dared, one evening, to contradict a crown-prince to his face, and fairly conquer him in argument, and thereby bind the truly royal heart to him for ever."
"There are few scions of royalty to whose favour that would be a likely path."
"True; and therefore the greater honour is due to the young student who could contradict, and the prince who could be contradicted."
By this time we had arrived in the great man's presence; he was sitting with a little circle round him, in the further drawing-room, and certainly I never saw a nobler specimen of humanity. I felt myself at once before a hero—not of war and bloodshed, but of peace and civilization; his portly and ample figure, fair hair and delicate complexion, and, above all, the benignant calm of his countenance, told of a character gentle and genial—at peace with himself and all the world; while the exquisite proportion of his chiselled and classic features, the lofty and ample brain, and the keen, thoughtful eye, bespoke, at the first glance, refinement and wisdom—
The reason firm, the temperate will—
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill.
I am not ashamed to say, Chartist as I am, that I felt inclined to fall upon my knees, and own a master of God's own making.
He received my beautiful guide with a look of chivalrous affection, which I observed that she returned with interest; and then spoke in a voice peculiarly bland and melodious:
"So, my dear lady, this is the protégé of whom you have so often spoken?"
So she had often spoken of me! Blind fool that I was, I only took it in as food for my own self-conceit, that my enemy (for so I actually fancied her) could not help praising me.