courteous and winning; and though his manners did not possess all the
easy elegance of the man of fashion, they united the politeness of the
well-bred man with the unostentatious gravity of the philosopher. He
was thin, with a complexion much tanned. His broad and intellectual
brow, covered with but few hairs, added to the imposing attractiveness
of his features. When listening, his countenance had an expression of
deep thoughtfulness, and almost of sadness; but when excited in
speaking, a smile of great cheerfulness spread over his animated
features. His voice was rich and sonorous; his mode of speech brief
and sententious; his conversation full of information, and rich in
suggestive thought.

Jane, the enthusiastic, romantic Jane, saw in the serene philosopher
one of the sages of antiquity, and almost literally bowed and
worshiped. All the sentiments of M. Roland were in accordance with the
most cherished emotions which glowed in her own mind. She found what
she had ever been seeking, but had never found before, a truly
sympathetic soul. She thought not of love. She looked up to M. Roland
as to a superior being--to an oracle, by whose decisions she could
judge whether her own opinions were right or wrong. It is true that
M. Roland, cool and unimpassioned in all his mental operations, never
entered those airy realms of beauty and those visionary regions of
romance where Jane loved, at times, to revel. And perhaps Jane
venerated him still more for his more stern and unimaginative
philosophy. But his meditative wisdom, his abstraction from the
frivolous pursuits of life, his high ambition, his elevated pleasures,
his consciousness of superiority over the mass of his fellow-men, and
his sleepless desire to be a benefactor of humanity, were all traits
of character which resistlessly attracted the admiration of Jane. She
adored him as a disciple adores his master. She listened eagerly to
all his words, and loved communion with his thoughts. M. Roland was by
no means insensible to this homage, and though he looked upon her with
none of the emotions of a lover, he was charmed with her society
because she was so delighted with his own conversation. By the faculty
of attentively listening to what others had to say, Madame Roland
affirms that she made more friends than by any remarks she ever made
of her own. The two _minds_, not _hearts_, were at once united; but
this platonic union soon led to one more tender.

M. Roland had