I perceived that I was walking with my host.
There are some men to whom one instinctively pays the compliment of direct speech.

"I have been walking with two clergymen.

I understand that you differ from both with regard to religious opinion." It appeared to me that after this speech of mine he took my measure quietly.

He did not say in so many words he did not see that this difference of opinion was a sufficient reason for their absence, but by some word or sign he gave me to understand that, adding: "I feel myself deprived of a great benefit in being without their society.

They are the two best and noblest men I know." "It is rare for men to take pleasure in the society of their opponents." "Yet you will admit that to be willing to learn from those from whom we differ is the only path to wisdom." "It is difficult to tread that path without letting go what we already have, and that produces chaos." With intensity both of thought and feeling he took up the words that I had dropped half idly, and showed me what he thought to be the truth and untruth of them.