Sentence:  Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had <WSD>come</WSD> to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To approach a state of being or accomplishment.