Sensibility disarms the understanding, and we soften instead of reasoning, whilst the sensitiveness of a commiserating man soon usurps the place of his opinion.
It was thus that Barnave's mind was worked upon, after the return from Varennes.

The interest he had conceived for the queen had converted this young republican into a royalist.

Barnave had only previously known this princess through a cloud of prejudice, amid which parties enshroud those whom they wish to have detested.

A sudden communication caused this conventional atmosphere to dissipate, and he adored, when close, what he had calumniated at a distance.

The very character which fortune had cast for him in the destiny of this woman had something unexpected and romantic, capable of dazzling his lofty imagination, and deeply affecting his generous disposition.