laughter, and the deep voice said:

"He would greatly disapprove of our having conversed--the uncle--
is it not so? How long are you going to stay in Rome?"

Stella smiled, too--she could not help it.

"A week--ten days, perhaps," she answered, and then rapidly
addressed an envelope to the Rev. Eustace Medlicott.

"Perhaps, in that case, I can afford to wait until to-morrow
night; unless it amuses you, as it does me, to circumvent people,"
Count Roumovski said. "We are all masters of our own lives, you
know, once we have ceased to be children--it is only convention
which persuades us to submit to others' authority."

Stella looked up startled. Was this indeed true? And was it simply
convention which had forced her into an engagement with Eustace
Medlicott, and now forced her to go up and put on her hat and
accompany her uncle and aunt to see the Lateran, when she would
have preferred to remain where she was and discuss abstract
matters with this remarkable stranger.

"The notion surprises you, one sees," Count Roumovski went on,
"but it is true--"

"I suppose it is," said Stella lamely.

"I submit to no authority--I mean, as to the controlling of my
actions and wishes. We must all submit to the laws of our country,