Sentence:  It was then that a great pity <WSD>came over</WSD> me for this thin shadow of man; thinking rather what a fine, tall gentleman Colonel Mohune had once been, and a good soldier no doubt besides, than that he had wasted a noble estate and played traitor to the king. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To affect in a sudden, unprecedented or surprising manner; to overwhelm a person's ordinarily contrary impulse.