I am about to surprise you, as I was myself surprised. In all my long
experience, Mr. Winterfield is, I think, the most fascinating person
I ever met with. Genial, unassuming manners, a prepossessing personal
appearance, a sweet temper, a quaint humor delightfully accompanied by
natural refinement--such are the characteristic qualities of the man
from whom I myself saw Miss Eyrecourt (accidentally meeting him in
public) recoil with dismay and disgust! It is absolutely impossible to
look at him, and to believe him to be capable of a cruel or dishonorable
action. I never was so puzzled in my life.
You may be inclined to think that I am misled by a false impression,
derived from the gratifying welcome that I received as a friend of
Father Newbliss. I will not appeal to my knowledge of human nature--I
will refer to the unanswerable evidence of Mr. Winterfield's poorer
neighbors. Wherever I went, in the village or out of it, if I mentioned
his name, I produced a universal outburst of admiration and gratitude.
"There never was such a friend to poor people, and there never can
be such another to the end of the world.
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