His mind was wanting in the stamina of self-support . It was a plant that would twine beautifully round something stronger than itself ; but if repulsed or torn away , it had no choice but to wither on the ground . Dorothy 's acuteness taught her that severity would crush the spirit of the child , and she nurtured him with the gentle care of one who handles a butterfly . Her husband manifested an equal affection , although it grew daily less productive of familiar caresses . The feelings of the neighboring people in regard to the Quaker infant and his protectors had not undergone a favorable change , in spite of the momentary triumph which the desolate mother had obtained over their sympathies . The scorn and bitterness of which he was the object were very grievous to Ilbrahim , especially when any circumstance made him sensible that the children his equals in age partook of the enmity of their parents . His tender and social nature had already overflowed in attachments to everything about him , and still there was a residue of unappropriated love which he yearned to bestow upon the little ones who were taught to hate him . As the warm days of spring came on Ilbrahim was accustomed to remain for hours silent and inactive within hearing of the children 's voices at their play , yet with his usual delicacy of feeling he avoided their notice , and would flee and hide himself from the smallest individual among them . Chance , however , at length seemed to open a medium of communication between his heart and theirs ; it was by means of a boy about two years older than Ilbrahim , who was injured by a fall from a tree in the vicinity of Pearson 's habitation . As the sufferer 's own home was at some distance , Dorothy willingly received him under her roof and became his tender and careful nurse . Ilbrahim was the unconscious possessor of much skill in physiognomy , and it would have deterred him in other circumstances from attempting to make a friend of this boy . The countenance of the latter immediately impressed a beholder disagreeably , but it required some examination to discover that the cause was a very slight distortion of the mouth and the irregular , broken line and near approach of the eyebrows . Analogous , perhaps , to these trifling deformities was an almost imperceptible twist of every joint and the uneven prominence of the breast , forming a body regular in its general outline , but faulty in almost all its details . The disposition of the boy was sullen and reserved , and the village schoolmaster stigmatized him as obtuse in intellect , although at a later period of life he evinced ambition and very peculiar talents . But , whatever might be his personal or moral irregularities , Ilbrahim 's heart seized upon and clung to him from the moment that he was brought wounded into the cottage ; the child of persecution seemed to compare his own fate with that of the sufferer , and to feel that even different modes of misfortune had created a sort of relationship between them . Food , rest and the fresh air for which he languished were neglected ; he nestled continually by the bedside of the little stranger and with a fond jealousy endeavored to be the medium of all the cares that were bestowed upon him . As the boy became convalescent Ilbrahim contrived games suitable to his situation or amused him by a faculty which he had perhaps breathed in with the air of his barbaric birthplace . It was that of reciting imaginary adventures on the spur of the moment , and apparently in inexhaustible succession . His tales were , of course , monstrous , disjointed and without aim , but they were curious on account of a vein of human tenderness which ran through them all and was like a sweet familiar face encountered in the midst of wild and unearthly scenery . The auditor paid much attention to these romances and sometimes interrupted them by brief remarks upon the incidents , displaying shrewdness above his years , mingled with a moral obliquity which grated very harshly against Ilbrahim 's instinctive rectitude .
Nothing , however , could arrest the progress of the latter 's affection , and there were many proofs that it met XXXXX a response from the dark and stubborn nature on which it was lavished .
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