After all, the man might have provided himself with the pistol which you saw as a natural precaution; reflect that, as a stranger, he may well not know how safe this district usually is, and he may have come from London, in the neighbourhood of which they say robberies have been frequent of late.

As to his looks, they are I own unpardonable; for so much ugliness there can be no excuse.

Had the man been as handsome as our cousin Walter, you would not perhaps have been so uncharitable in your fears at the pistol." "Nonsense, Madeline," said Ellinor, blushing, and turning away her face;--there was a moment's pause, which the younger sister broke.
"We do not seem," said she, "to make much progress in the friendship of our singular neighbour.

I never knew my father court any one so much as he has courted Mr.Aram, and yet, you see how seldom he calls upon us; nay, I often think that he seeks to shun us; no great compliment to our attractions, Madeline." "I regret his want of sociability, for his own sake," said Madeline, "for he seems melancholy as well as thoughtful, and he leads so secluded a life, that I cannot but think my father's conversation and society, if he would but encourage it, might afford some relief to his solitude." "And he always seems," observed Ellinor, "to take pleasure in my father's conversation, as who would not?
how his countenance lights up when he converses! it is a pleasure to watch it.

I think him positively handsome when he speaks." "Oh, more than handsome!" said Madeline, with enthusiasm, "with that high, pale brow, and those deep, unfathomable eyes!" Ellinor smiled, and it was now Madeline's turn to blush.
"Well," said the former, "there is something about him that fills one with an indescribable interest; and his manner, if cold at times, is yet always so gentle." "And to hear him converse," said Madeline, "it is like music.