difficulty she turned her eyes away and looked over the green
world.

Count Roumovski laughed softly, as if to himself. And they were
silent until they came to the entrance gates again, when the
chauffeur stopped and shut the car.

"We have at least snatched some moments of pleasure, have we not?"
the owner whispered, "and we have hurt no one. Will you trust me
again when I propose something which sounds to you wild?"

"Perhaps I will," Stella murmured rather low.

"When I was hunting lions in Africa I learned to keep my
intelligence awake," he said calmly, "it is an advantage to me now
in civilization--nothing is impossible if one only keeps cool. If
one becomes agitated one instantly connects oneself with all other
currents of agitation, and one can no longer act with prudence or
sense."

"I think I have always been very foolish," admitted Stella,
looking down. "I seem to see everything differently now."

"What we are all striving after is happiness," Count Roumovski
said. "Only we will not admit it, and nearly always spoil our own
chances by drifting, and allowing outside things to influence us.
If you could see the vast plains of snow in my country and the
deep forests--with never a human being for miles and miles, you
would understand how nature grows to talk to one--and how small
the littlenesses of the world appear." Then they were silent