"Instead of feeling--as I really was,socially speaking--an insect in the presence of an eagle,"the narrator went on after a pause,"I felt I know not what indefinable impression from the Count's appearance,which,however,I can now account for.Artists of genius"(and he bowed gracefully to the Ambassador,the distinguished lady,and the two Frenchmen),"real statesmen,poets,a general who has commanded armies--in short,all really great minds are simple,and their simplicity places you on a level with themselves.--You who are all of superior minds,"he said,addressing his guests,"have perhaps observed how feeling can bridge over the distances created by society.
If we are inferior to you in intellect,we can be your equals in devoted friendship.By the temperature--allow me the word--of our hearts I felt myself as near my patron as I was far below him in rank.
In short,the soul has its clairvoyance;it has presentiments of suffering,grief,joy,antagonism,or hatred in others.
"I vaguely discerned the symptoms of a mystery,from recognizing in the Count the same effects of physiognomy as I had observed in my uncle.The exercise of virtue,serenity of conscience,and purity of mind had transfigured my uncle,who from being ugly had become quite beautiful.I detected a metamorphosis of a reverse kind in the Count's face;at the first glance I thought he was about fifty-five,but after an attentive examination I found youth entombed under the ice of a great sorrow,under the fatigue of persistent study,under the glowing hues of some suppressed passion.At a word from my uncle the Count's eyes recovered for a moment the softness of the periwinkle flower,and he had an admiring smile,which revealed what I believed to be his real age,about forty.These observations I made,not then but afterwards,as I recalled the circumstances of my visit.