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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Point of View, by Elinor Glyn
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+Title: The Point of View
+
+Author: Elinor Glyn
+
+Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5310]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on June 29, 2002]
+[Date last updated: August 13, 2005]
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+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POINT OF VIEW ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+The Author's Press Series of the Works of Elinor Glyn
+
+
+THE POINT OF VIEW
+
+
+ELINOR GLYN
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+The restaurant of the Grand Hotel in Rome was filling up. People
+were dining rather late--it was the end of May and the
+entertainments were lessening, so they could dawdle over their
+repasts and smoke their cigarettes in peace.
+
+Stella Rawson came in with her uncle and aunt, Canon and the
+Honorable Mrs. Ebley, and they took their seats in a secluded
+corner. They looked a little out of place--and felt it--amid this
+more or less gay company. But the drains of the Grand Hotel were
+known to be beyond question, and, coming to Rome so late in the
+season, the Reverend Canon Ebley felt it was wiser to risk the
+contamination of the over-worldly-minded than a possible attack of
+typhoid fever. The belief in a divine protection did not give him
+or his lady wife that serenity it might have done, and they
+traveled fearfully, taking with them their own jaeger sheets among
+other precautions.
+
+They realized they must put up with the restaurant for meals, but
+at least the women folk should not pander to the customs of the
+place and wear evening dress. Their subdued black gowns were
+fastened to the throat. Stella Rawson felt absolutely excited--she
+was twenty-one years old, but this was the first time she had ever
+dined in a fashionable restaurant, and it almost seemed like
+something deliciously wrong.
+
+Life in the Cathedral Close where they lived in England was not
+highly exhilarating, and when its duties were over it contained
+only mild gossip and endless tea-parties and garden-parties by way
+of recreation.
+
+Canon and the Honorable Mrs. Ebley were fairly rich people. The
+Uncle Erasmus' call to the church had been answered from
+inclination--not necessity. His heart was in his work. He was a
+good man and did his duty according to the width of the lights in
+which he had been brought up.
+
+Mrs. Ebley did more than her duty--and had often too much
+momentum, which now and then upset other people's apple carts.
+
+She had, in fact, been the moving spirit in the bringing about of
+her niece Stella's engagement to the Bishop's junior chaplain, a
+young gentleman of aesthetic aspirations and eight hundred a year
+of his own.
+
+Stella herself had never been enthusiastic about the affair. As a
+man, Eustace Medlicott said absolutely nothing at all to her--
+though to be sure she was quite unaware that he was inadequate in
+this respect. No man had meant anything different up to this
+period of her life. She had seen so few of them she was no judge.
+
+Eustace Medlicott had higher collars than the other curates, and
+intoned in a wonderfully melodious voice in the cathedral. And
+quite a number of the young ladies of Exminster, including the
+Bishop's second daughter, had been setting their caps at him from
+the moment of his arrival, so that when, by the maneuvers of Aunt
+Caroline Ebley, Stella found him proposing to her, she somehow
+allowed herself to murmur some sort of consent.
+
+Then it seemed quite stimulating to have a ring and to be
+congratulated upon being engaged. And the few weeks that followed
+while the thing was fresh and new had passed quite pleasantly. It
+was only when about a month had gone by that a gradual and growing
+weariness seemed to be falling upon her.
+
+To be the wife of an aesthetic high church curate, who fasted
+severely during Lent and had rigid views upon most subjects, began
+to grow into a picture which held out less and less charm for her.
+
+But Aunt Caroline was firm--and the habit of twenty-one years of
+obedience held.
+
+Perhaps Fate was looking on in sympathy with her unrest. In any
+case, it appeared like the jade's hand and not chance which made
+Uncle Erasmus decide to take his holiday early in the year and to
+decide to spend it abroad--not in Scotland or Wales as was his
+custom.
+
+Stella, he said, should see the eternal city and Florence before
+settling down in the autumn to her new existence.
+
+Miss Rawson actually jumped with joy--and the knowledge that
+Eustace Medlicott would be unable to accompany them, but might
+join them later on, did not damp her enthusiasm.
+
+Every bit of the journey was a pleasure, from the moment they
+landed on French soil. They had come straight through to Rome from
+Paris, where they had spent a week at a small hotel; because of
+the lateness of the year they must get to their southern point
+first of all and return northward in a more leisurely manner.
+
+And now anyone who is reading this story can picture this
+respectable English family and understand their status and
+antecedents, so we can very well get back to them seated in the
+agreeable restaurant of the Grand Hotel at Rome--beginning to
+partake of a modest dinner.
+
+Mrs. Ebley (I had almost written the Reverend Mrs. Ebley!) was
+secretly enjoying herself--she had that feeling that she was in a
+place where she ought not to be--through no fault of her own--and
+so was free to make the most of it, and certainly these well-
+dressed people were very interesting to glance at between
+mouthfuls of a particularly well-cooked fish.
+
+Stella was thrilling all over and her soft brown eyes were
+sparkling and her dazzlingly pink and white complexion glowing
+with health and excitement, so that even in the Exminster
+confection of black grenadine she was an agreeable morsel for the
+male eye to dwell upon.
+
+There were the usual company there: the younger diplomats from the
+Embassies; a sprinkling of trim Italian officers in their pretty
+uniforms; French and Austrian ladies; as well as the attractive-
+looking native and American representatives of the elite of Roman
+society.
+
+The tables began to fill up before the Ebleys had finished their
+fish, and numbers of the parties seemed to know one another and
+nod and exchange words en passant.
+
+But there was one table laid for a single person which remained
+empty until the entrees were being handed, and Stella, with her
+fresh interest in the whole scene, wondered for whom it was
+reserved.
+
+He came in presently--and he really merits a descriptive paragraph
+all to himself.
+
+He was a very tall man and well made, with broad shoulders and a
+small head. His evening clothes, though beautifully pressed, with
+that look which only a thoroughly good valet knows how to stamp
+upon his master's habiliments as a daily occurrence, were of
+foreign cut and hand, and his shirt, unstarched, was of the finest
+pleated cambric.
+
+These trifles, however, were not what rendered him remarkable, but
+that his light brown hair was worn parted in the middle and waved
+back a la vierge with a rather saintly expression, and was
+apparently just cut off in a straight line at the back. This was
+quite peculiar-looking enough--and in conjunction with a young,
+silky beard, trimmed into a sharp point with the look of an
+archaic Greek statue, he presented a type not easily forgotten.
+The features were regular and his eyes were singularly calm and
+wise and blue.
+
+It seemed incredible that such an almost grotesque arrangement of
+coiffure should adorn the head of a man in modern evening dress.
+It should have been on some Byzantine saint. However, there he
+was, and entirely unconcerned at the effect he was producing.
+
+The waiters, who probably knew his name and station, precipitated
+themselves forward to serve him, and with leisurely mien he
+ordered a recherche dinner and a pint of champagne.
+
+Stella Rawson was much interested and so were her uncle and aunt.
+
+"What a very strange-looking person," Mrs. Ebley said. "Of what
+nation can he be? Erasmus, have you observed him?"
+
+Canon Ebley put on his pince-nez and gave the newcomer the benefit
+of a keen scrutiny.
+
+"I could not say with certainty, my dear. A northerner evidently--
+but whether Swedish or Danish it would be difficult to determine,"
+he announced.
+
+"He does not appear to know he is funny-looking," Stella Rawson
+said, timidly. "Do you notice, Aunt Caroline, he does not look
+about him at all, he has never glanced in any direction; it is as
+if he were alone in the room."
+
+"A very proper behavior," the Aunt Caroline replied severely, "but
+he cannot be an Englishman--no Englishman would enter a public
+place, having made himself remarkable like that, and then be able
+to sit there unaware of it; I am glad to say our young men have
+some sense of convention. You cannot imagine Eustace Medlicott
+perfectly indifferent to the remarks he would provoke if he were
+tricked out so."
+
+Stella felt a sudden sympathy for the foreigner. She had heard so
+ceaselessly of her fiance's perfections!
+
+"Perhaps they wear the hair like that in his country," she
+returned, with as much spirit as she dared to show. "And he may
+think we all look funny, as we think he does. Only he seems to be
+much better mannered than we are, because he is quite sure of
+himself and quite unconscious or indifferent about our opinion."
+
+Both her aunt and uncle looked at her with slightly shocked
+surprise--and she saw it at once and reddened a little.
+
+But this incident caused the remarkable looking foreigner to
+crystallize in interest for her, especially when, in raising his
+glass of champagne, she saw that on his wrist there was a bracelet
+of platinum with a small watch set with very fine diamonds. She
+could hardly have been more surprised if he had worn a ring in his
+nose, so unaccustomed was she to any type but that of the curates
+and young gentlemen of Exminster.
+
+Canon and Mrs. Ebley finished their dinner in disdainful silence
+and sailed from the room with chilling glances, but as Stella
+Rawson followed them demurely she raised her soft eyes when she
+came to the object of her relatives' contempt, and met his serene
+blue ones--and for some reason thrilled wildly.
+
+There was a remarkable and powerful magnetism in his glance; it
+was as if a breath of some other world touched her, she seemed to
+see into possibilities she had never dreamed about. She resented
+being drawn into a far corner on the right hand of the hall, and
+there handed an English paper to read for half an hour before
+being told to go to bed. She was perfectly conscious that she was
+longing for the stranger to come out of the restaurant, that she
+might see him again.
+
+But it was not until she was obediently following her aunt's black
+broche train to the lift up the steps again that the tall man
+passed them in the corridor. He never even glanced in their
+direction, and went on as though the space were untenanted--but
+had hardly got beyond, when he turned suddenly, and walked rapidly
+to the lift door, passing them again. So that the four entered it
+presently, and were taken up together.
+
+Stella Rawson was very close to the remarkable looking creature.
+And again a wild nameless attraction crept over her. She noticed
+his skin was faintly browned with the sun, but was otherwise as
+fine as a child's--finer than most children's. And now she could
+see that three most wonderful pearls were his shirt-studs.
+
+He got out on the second floor, one beneath them, and said,
+"Pardon," as he passed, but not as a French word, nor yet as if it
+were English.
+
+During these few seconds Stella was quite aware that he had never
+apparently looked at her.
+
+"I call such an appearance sacrilegious," Mrs. Ebley said. "A man
+has no right to imitate one of the blessed apostles in these
+modern days; it is very bad taste."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Stella Rawson woke the next day with some sense of rebellion.
+There came with the rest of her post a letter from her betrothed.
+And although it was just such a letter as any nice girl engaged of
+her own free will to the Bishop's junior chaplain ought to have
+been glad to receive, Stella found herself pouting and criticizing
+every sentence.
+
+"I do wish Eustace would not talk such cant," she said to herself.
+"Even in this he is unable to be natural--and I am sure I shall
+not feel a thing like he describes when I stand in St. Peter's. I
+believe I would rather go into the Pantheon. I seem to be tired of
+everything I ought to like to-day!" And still rebellious she got
+up and was taken by her uncle and aunt to the Vatican--and was
+allowed to linger only in the parts which interested them.
+
+"I never have had a taste for sculpture," Mrs. Ebley said. "People
+may call it what names they please, but I consider it immoral and
+indecent."
+
+"A wonder to me," the Uncle Erasmus joined in, "that a prelate--
+even a prelate of Rome--should have countenanced the housing of
+all these unclothed marbles in his own private palace."
+
+Stella Rawson stopped for a second in front of an archaic Apollo
+of no great merit--because it reminded her of the unknown; and she
+wished with all her might something new and swift and rushing
+might come into her humdrum life.
+
+After luncheon, for which they returned to the hotel, she wearily
+went over to the writing-table in the corner of the hall to answer
+her lover's chaste effusion--and saw that the low armchair beside
+the escritoire was tenanted by a pair of long legs with singularly
+fine silk socks showing upon singularly fine ankles--and a pair of
+strong slender hands held a newspaper in front of the rest of the
+body, concealing it all and the face. It was the English TIMES,
+which, as everybody knows, could hide Gargantua himself.
+
+She began her letter--and not a rustle disturbed her peace.
+
+"Dearest Eustace," she had written, "we have arrived in Rome--"
+and then she stopped, and fixed her eyes blankly upon the column
+of births, marriages, and deaths. She was staring at it with
+sightless eyes, when the paper was slowly lowered and over its top
+the blue orbs of the stranger looked into hers.
+
+Her pretty color became the hue of a bright pink rose.
+"Mademoiselle," a very deep voice said in English, "is not this
+world full of bores and tiresome duties; have you the courage to
+defy them all for a few minutes--and talk to me instead?"
+
+"Monsieur!" Miss Rawson burst out, and half rose from her seat.
+Then she sat down again--the unknown had not stirred a muscle.
+
+"Good," he murmured. "One has to be courageous to do what is
+unconventional, even if it is not wrong. I am not desirous of
+hurting or insulting you--I felt we might have something to say to
+each other--is it so--tell me, am I right?"
+
+"I do not know," whispered Stella lamely. She was so taken aback
+at the preposterous fact that a stranger should have addressed her
+at all, even in a manner of indifference and respect, that she
+knew not what to do.
+
+"I observed you last night," he went on. "I am accustomed to judge
+of character rapidly--it is a habit I have acquired during my
+travels in foreign lands--when I cannot use the standard of my
+own. You are weary of a number of things, and you do not know
+anything at all about life, and you are hedged round with those
+who will see that you never learn its meaning. Tell me--what do
+you think of Rome--it contains things and aspects which afford
+food for reflection, is it not so?"
+
+"We have only been to the Vatican as yet," Stella answered
+timidly--she was still much perturbed at the whole incident, but
+now that she had begun she determined she might as well be hung
+for a sheep as a lamb, and she was conscious that there was a
+strong attraction in the mild blue eyes of the stranger. His
+manner had a complete repose and absence of self-consciousness,
+which usually is only to be found in the people of race--in any
+nation.
+
+"You were taken to the Sistine Chapel, of course," he went on,
+"and to the loggia and Bramant's staircase? You saw some statues,
+too, perhaps?"
+
+"My uncle and aunt do not care much for sculpture," Miss Rawson
+said, now regaining her composure, "but I like it--even better
+than pictures."
+
+The stranger kept his steady eyes fixed upon her face all the
+time.
+
+"I have a nymph in my house at home," he returned. "She came
+originally from Rome; she is not Greek and she is very like you,
+the same droop of head--I remarked it immediately--I am
+superstitious--I suppose you would call what I mean by that word--
+and I knew directly that some day you, too, would mean things to
+me. That is why I spoke--do you feel it, too?"
+
+Stella Rawson quivered. The incredible situation paralyzed her.
+She--the Aunt Caroline's niece, and engaged to Eustace Medlicott,
+the Bishop's junior chaplain, to be listening to a grotesque-
+looking foreigner making subtle speeches of an insinuating
+character, and, far from feeling scandalized and repulsed, to be
+conscious that she was thrilled and interested--it was hardly to
+be believed!
+
+"Will you tell me from where you come?" she asked with sweet
+bashfulness, raising two eyes as soft as brown velvet. "You speak
+English so very well--one cannot guess."
+
+"I am a Russian," he said simply. "I come from near Moscow--and my
+name is Sasha Roumovski, Count Roumovski. Yours, I am aware, is
+Rawson, but I would like to know how you are called--Mary,
+perhaps? That is English."
+
+"No, my name is not Mary," she answered, and froze a little--but
+the Russian's eyes continued to gaze at her with the same mild
+frankness which disarmed any resentment. She felt they were as
+calm as deep pools of blue water--they filled her with a sense of
+confidence and security--which she could not account for in any
+way.
+
+Her color deepened--something in his peaceful expectancy seemed to
+compel her to answer his late question.
+
+"My Christian name is Stella," she said, rather quickly, then
+added nervously: "I am engaged to Mr. Eustace Medlicott, an
+English clergyman--we are going to be married in September next."
+
+"And this is May," was all Count Roumovski replied; then, for the
+first time since he had addressed her, he turned his eyes from her
+face, while the faintest smile played round his well-cut mouth.
+
+"A number of things can happen in four months. Are you looking
+forward to your life as the wife of a priest--but I understand it
+is different in England to in my country--there I could not
+recommend the situation to you."
+
+Stella found absolutely no answer to this. She only felt a sudden,
+wild longing to cry out that the idea of being a curate's wife--
+even the Bishop's junior young gentleman with eight hundred a year
+of his own--had never appeared a thrilling picture, and was now
+causing her a feeling of loathing. She thought she ought to talk
+no longer to this stranger, and half rose from her seat.
+
+He put out a protesting hand, both had been clasped idly over the
+Times until then without a movement.
+
+"No--do--not go--I have disturbed you--I am sorry," he pleaded.
+"Listen, there is a great reception at your Embassy to-morrow
+night--for one of our Royal Family who is here. You will go,
+perhaps. If so, I will do so also, although I dislike parties--and
+there I will be presented to you with ceremony--it will appease
+that English convention in you, and after that I shall say to you
+a number of things--but I prefer to sit here and speak behind the
+Times."
+
+At this instant he raised the paper, and appeared again the
+stranger almost entirely hidden from view. And Stella saw that her
+Uncle Erasmus was rapidly approaching her with an envelope in his
+hand. She seized her pen again and continued her broken sentence
+to Eustace--her betrothed. Canon Ebley viewed the Times and its
+holder with suspicion for an instant, but its stillness reassured
+him, and he addressed his niece.
+
+"Very civil of the Embassy to send us a card for the reception to-
+morrow night, Stella; I am glad we wrote names when we arrived.
+Your Aunt Caroline bids you accept, as her spectacles are
+upstairs."
+
+Miss Rawson did as she was bid, and her uncle waited, fidgeting
+with his feet. He wished the stranger to put down the Times, which
+he wanted himself--or, at all events, remove his long legs and
+hidden body from such a near proximity to his niece; they could
+not say a word that he could not overhear, Canon Ebley mused.
+
+However, the unknown remained where he was, and turned a page of
+the paper with great deliberation.
+
+"Your aunt will be ready to go out again now," the Uncle Erasmus
+announced, as Stella placed her acceptance in the envelope. "You
+had better go up and put your hat on, my dear."
+
+The Times rustled slightly--and Stella replied a little hurriedly:
+"I was just finishing a letter, uncle, then I will come."
+
+"Very well," said Canon Ebley, not altogether pleased, as he
+walked away with the note.
+
+The newspaper was lowered a few inches again, and the wise blue
+eyes beneath the saintly parted hair twinkled with irresistible
+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,
+to do so is the only way to obtain complete personal freedom."
+
+"That sounds like a paradox," said Stella.
+
+"I have just been thinking," he went on, without noticing the
+interruption, "it would be most agreeable to take a drive in my
+automobile late this after-noon, when your guardians have returned
+and are resting. If you feel you would care to come I will wait in
+this hall from five to six. You need not take the least notice of
+me, you can walk past, out of the hotel, then turn to the left,
+and there in the square, where there are a few trees, you will see
+a large blue motor waiting. You will get straight in, and I will
+come and join you. Not anyone will see or notice you--because of
+the trees, one cannot observe from the windows. My chauffeur will
+be prepared, and I will return you safely to the same place in an
+hour."
+
+Stella's brown eyes grew larger and larger. Some magnetic spell
+seemed to be dominating her, the idea was preposterous, and yet to
+agree to it was the strongest temptation she had ever had in all
+her life. She was filled with a wild longing to live, to do what
+she pleased, to be free to enjoy this excitement before her wings
+should be clipped, and her outlook all gray and humdrum.
+
+"I do not know if they will rest--I cannot say--I--" she blurted
+out tremblingly.
+
+The stranger had put down the Times, and was gazing into her face
+with a look almost of tenderness.
+
+"There is no need to answer now," he said softly. "If fate means
+us to be happy, she will arrange it--I think you will come."
+
+Miss Rawson started to her feet, and absently put her letter to
+her fiance--which contained merely the sentence that they had
+arrived in Rome--into its envelope and fastened it up.
+
+"I must go now--good-bye," she said.
+
+"It is not good-bye," the Russian answered gravely. "By six
+o'clock, we shall be driving in the Borghese Gardens and hearing
+the nightingales sing."
+
+As Stella walked to the lift with a tumultuously beating heart,
+she asked herself what all this could possibly mean, and why she
+was not angry--and why this stranger--whose appearance outraged
+all her ideas as to what an English gentleman should look like--
+had yet the power to fascinate her completely. Of course, she
+would not go for a drive with him--and yet, what would be the
+harm? After September she would never have a chance like this
+again. There would be only Eustace Medlicott and parish duties--
+yes--if fate made it possible, she would go!
+
+And she went on to her room with exhilarating sense of adventure
+coursing through her veins.
+
+"I have found out the name of the peculiar-looking foreigner who
+sat near us last night," Canon Ebley said, as they drove to the
+Lateran in a little Roman Victoria, "it is Count Roumovski; I
+asked the hall porter--reprehensible curiosity I fear you will
+think, my dear Caroline, but there is something unaccountably
+interesting about him, as you must admit, although you disapprove
+of his appearance."
+
+"I think it is quite dreadful," Mrs. Ebley sniffed, "and I hear
+from Martha that he has no less than two valets, and a suite of
+princely rooms and motor cars, and the whole passage on the second
+floor is filled with his trunks."
+
+Martha had been Mrs. Ebley's maid for twenty-five years, and as
+Stella well knew was fairly accurate in her recounting of the
+information she picked up. This luridly extravagant picture,
+however, did not appal her. And she found herself constantly
+dwelling upon it and the stranger all the time she followed her
+relations about in the gorgeous church.
+
+Fate did not seem to be going to smile upon the drive project,
+however--for Mrs. Ebley, far from appearing tired, actually
+proposed tea in the hall when they got in--and there sat for at
+least half an hour, while Stella saw Count Roumovski come in and
+sit down and leisurely begin a cigarette, as he glanced at an
+Italian paper. He was so intensely still, always peace seemed to
+breathe from his atmosphere, but the very sight of him appeared to
+exasperate the Aunt Caroline more and more.
+
+"I wonder that man is not ashamed to be seen in a respectable
+place," she snapped, "with his long hair and his bracelet--such
+effeminacy is perfectly disgusting, Erasmus."
+
+"I really cannot help it, my dear," Canon Ebley replied,
+irritably, "and I rather like his face."
+
+"Erasmus!" was all Mrs. Ebley could say, and prepared to return to
+her room. Dinner would be at a quarter to eight, she told Stella
+at her door, and recommended an hour's quiet reading up of the
+guide-book while resting to her niece.
+
+It was quarter after six before Miss Rawson descended the stairs
+to the hall again. She had deliberately made up her mind--she
+would go and drive with the count. She would live and amuse
+herself, if it was only for this once in her life, come what might
+of it! And since he would be presented with all respectable
+ceremony at the English Embassy the following night, it could not
+matter a bit--and if it did--! Well, she did not care!
+
+He was sitting there as immovable as before, and she thrilled as
+she crossed the hall. She was so excited and frightened that she
+could almost have turned back when she reached the street, but
+there, standing by the trees, was a large blue motor car, and as
+she advanced the chauffeur stepped forward and opened the door,
+and she got in--and before she had time to realize what she had
+done, Count Roumovski had joined her and sat down by her side.
+
+"You have no wrap," he said. "I thought you would not have, so I
+had prepared this," and he indicated a man's gray Russian,
+unremarkable-looking cloak, which, however, proved to be lined
+with fine sable, "and here, also, is a veil. If you will please me
+by putting them on, we can then have the auto open and no one will
+recognize you--even should we meet your uncle and aunt; that is
+fun, is it not?"
+
+Stella had thrown every consideration to the winds, except the
+determination to enjoy herself. Years of rebellion at the boredom
+of her existence seemed to be urging her on. So she meekly slipped
+into the cloak, and wrapped the veil right over her hat, and they
+started. Her heart was thumping so with excitement she could not
+have spoken for a moment.
+
+But as they went rapidly on through the crowded streets, her
+companion's respectful silence reassured her. There seemed to be
+some rapport between them, she was conscious of a feeling that he
+understood her thoughts, and was not misjudging her.
+
+"You are like a little frightened bird," he said presently. "And
+there is nothing to cause you the least fear. We shall soon come
+to the lovely gardens, and watch the lowering sun make its
+beautiful effects in the trees, and we shall hear the nightingales
+throbbing out love songs--the world is full of rest and peace--
+when we have had enough passion and strife and want its change--
+but you do not know anything of it, and this simple drive is
+causing you tumults and emotions--is it not so?"
+
+"Yes," said Stella, with a feeling that she had burnt all her
+ships.
+
+"It is because you have never been allowed to be YOU, I suppose,"
+he went on softly. "So doing a natural and simple thing seems
+frightful--because it would seem so to the rigid aunt. Now, I have
+been ME ever since I was born--I have done just what seemed best
+to me. Do you suppose I am not aware that the way my hair is cut
+is a shock to most civilized persons; and that you English would
+strongly disapprove of my watch and my many other things. But I
+like them myself--it is no trouble for one of my valets to draw a
+straight line with a pair of scissors--and if I must look at the
+time, I prefer to look at something beautiful. I am entirely
+uninfluenced by the thoughts or opinions of any people--they do
+not exist for me except in so far as they interest me and are
+instructive or amusing. I never permit myself to be bored for an
+instant."
+
+"How good that must be," Stella ventured to say--her courage was
+returning.
+
+"Civilized human beings turn existence into a prison," he went on,
+meditatively, "and loaded themselves with shackles, because some
+convention prevents their doing what would give them innocent
+pleasure. If I had been under the dominion of these things we
+should not now be enjoying this delightful drive--at least, it is
+delightful to me--to be thus near you and alone out of doors."
+
+Stella did not speak, she was altogether too full of emotion to
+trust herself to words just yet. They had turned into the Corso by
+now, and, as ever, it appeared as though it were a holiday, so
+thronged with pedestrians was the whole thoroughfare. Count
+Roumovski seemed quite unconcerned, but Miss Rawson shrank back
+into her corner, a new fear in her heart.
+
+"Do not be so nervous," her companion said gently. "I always
+calculate the chances before I suggest another person's risking
+anything for me. They are a million to one that anyone could
+recognize you in that veil and that cloak; believe me, although I
+am not of your country, I am at least a gentleman, and would not
+have persuaded you to come if there had been any danger of
+complications for you."
+
+Stella clasped her hands convulsively--and he drew a little nearer
+her.
+
+"Do put all agitating ideas out of your mind," he said, his blue
+eyes, with their benign expression, seeking hers and compelling
+them at last to look at him. "Do you understand that it is foolish
+to spoil what we have by useless tremors. You are here with me--
+for the next hour--shall we not try to be happy?"
+
+"Yes," murmured Miss Rawson, and allowed herself to be magnetized
+into calmness.
+
+"When we have passed the Piazza del Popolo and the entrance to the
+Pincio, I will have the car opened; then we can see all the
+charming young green, and I will tell you of what these gardens
+were long ago, and you shall see them with new eyes."
+
+Stella, by some sort of magic, seemed to have recovered her self-
+possession as his eyes looked into hers, and she chatted to him
+naturally, and the next half hour passed like some fairy tale. His
+deep, quiet voice took her into realms of fancy that her
+imagination had never even dreamed about. His cultivation was
+immense, and the Rome of the Caesars appeared to be as familiar to
+him as that of 1911.
+
+The great beauty of the Borghese Gardens was at its height at the
+end of the day, the nightingales throbbed from the bushes, and the
+air was full of the fresh, exquisite scents of the late spring, as
+the day grew toward evening and all nature seemed full of beauty
+and peace. It can easily be imagined what this drive meant, then,
+to a fine, sensitive young woman, whose every instinct of youth
+and freedom and life had been crushed into undeveloped nothingness
+by years of gray convention in an old-fashioned English cathedral
+town.
+
+Stella Rawson forgot that she and this Russian were strangers, and
+she talked to him unrestrainedly, showing glimpses of her inner
+self that she had not known she possessed. It was certainly
+heaven, she thought, this drive, and worth all the Aunt Caroline's
+frowns.
+
+Count Roumovski never said a word of love to her: he treated her
+with perfect courtesy and infinite respect, but when at last they
+were turning back again, he permitted himself once more to gaze
+deeply into her eyes, and Stella knew for the first time in her
+existence that some silences are more dangerous than words.
+
+"You do not care at all now for the good clergy-man you are
+affianced to," he said. "No--do not be angry-I am not asking a
+question, I am stating a fact--when lives have been hedged and
+controlled and retenu like yours has been, even the feelings lose
+character, and you cannot be sure of them--but the day is
+approaching when you will see clearly and--feel much."
+
+"I am sure it is getting very late," said Stella Rawson, and with
+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
+again, and it was not until they were rushing up the Via Nazionale
+and in a moment or two would have reached their destination, that
+Count Roumovski said:
+
+"Stella--that means star--it is a beautiful name--I can believe
+you could be a star to shine upon any man's dark night--because
+you have a pure spirit, although it has been muffled by
+circumstances for all these years."
+
+Then the automobile drew up by the trees, at perhaps two hundred
+yards from the hotel, near the baths of Diocletian.
+
+"If you will get out here, it will be best," Count Roumovski told
+her respectfully, "and walk along on the inner side. I will then
+drive to the door of the hotel, as usual."
+
+"Thank you, and good-bye," said Stella, and began untying the
+veil--he helped her at once, and in doing so his hand touched her
+soft pink cheek. She thrilled with a new kind of mad enjoyment,
+the like of which she had never felt, and then controlled herself
+and stamped it out.
+
+"It has been a very great pleasure to me," he said, and nothing
+more; no "good-bye" or "au revoir" or anything, and he drew into
+the far corner as she got out of the car, letting the chauffeur
+help her. Nor did he look her way as he drove on. And Stella
+walked leisurely back to the hotel, wondering in her heart at the
+meaning of things.
+
+No one noticed her entrance, and she was able to begin to dress
+for dinner without even Martha being aware that she had been
+absent. But as she descended in the lift with her uncle and aunt
+it seemed as if the whole world and life itself were changed since
+the same time the night before.
+
+And when they were entering the restaurant a telegram was put into
+Canon Ebley's hand--it was from the Rev. Eustace Medlicott, sent
+from Turin, saying he would join them in Rome the following
+evening.
+
+"Eustace has been preparing this delightful surprise--I knew of
+it," the Aunt Caroline said, with conscious pride, "but I would
+not tell you, Stella, dear, in case something might prevent it. I
+feared to disappoint you."
+
+"Thank you, aunt," Miss Rawson said without too much enthusiasm,
+and took her seat where she could see the solitary occupant of a
+small table, surrounded by the obsequious waiters, already sipping
+his champagne.
+
+He had not looked up as they passed. Nor did he appear once to
+glance in their direction. His whole manner was full of the same
+reflective calm as the night before. And, for some unaccountable
+reason, Stella Rawson's heart sank down lower and lower, until at
+the end of the repast she looked pale and tired out.
+
+Eustace, her betrothed, would be there on the morrow, and such
+things as drives in motor cars with strange Russian counts were
+only dreams and not realities, she now felt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+Next morning it fell about that Stella Rawson was allowed to go
+into the Musso Nazionale in the Diocletian baths, accompanied only
+by Martha, her uncle and aunt having decided they would take a
+rest and write their English letters. The museum was so near, a
+mere hundred yards, there could be no impropriety in their niece's
+going there with Martha, even in an exhibition year in Rome.
+
+Stella was still suffering from a nameless sense of depression.
+Eustace's train would get in at about five o'clock, and he would
+accompany them to the Embassy. A cousin of her own and Aunt
+Caroline's was one of the secretaries, and had already been
+written to about the invitation. So that even if Count Roumovski
+should be presented to her, and make the whole thing proper and
+correct, she would have no chance of any conversation. The
+brilliant sunlight felt incongruous and hurt her, and she was glad
+to enter the shady ancient baths. She had glanced furtively to
+right and left in the hotel as she came through the hall, but saw
+no one who resembled the Russian, and they had walked so quickly
+through the vestibule she had not remarked a tall figure coming
+from the staircase, nor had seen him give some rapid order to a
+respectful servant who was waiting about, and who instantly
+followed them: but if she had looked up as she paid for the two
+tickets at the barrier of the museum, she would have seen this
+same lean man turn swiftly round and retreat in the direction of
+the hotel.
+
+Martha was sulky and comatose on this very warm morning; she took
+no interest in sculpture. "Them naked creatures," she called any
+masterpiece undraped--and she resented being dragged out by Miss
+Stella, who always had fancies for art.
+
+They walked round the cloisters first, a voyage of discovery to
+Miss Rawson, who looked a slim enough nymph herself in her lilac
+cambric frock and demure gray hat shading her big brown eyes.
+
+Then suddenly, from across the garden in the center, she became
+aware that an archaic Apollo clad in modern dress had entered upon
+the scene, and the blood rushed to her cheeks, and her heart beat.
+
+Martha puffed with the heat and exercise, and glanced with longing
+eyes at a comfortable stone bench in the shade.
+
+"Would you like to rest here, Martha, you old dear?" Miss Rawson
+said. "There is not a creature about, and I will walk round and
+join you from the other side."
+
+The Aunt Caroline's elderly maid easily agreed to this. It was
+true there did not seem to be anyone adventurous-looking, and Miss
+Stella would be more or less under her eye--and she was thoroughly
+tired with traveling and what not. So Stella found herself happily
+unchaperoned, except by Baedecker, as she strolled on.
+
+The Russian had disappeared from view, the bushes and vases in the
+center of the garden plot gave only occasional chances to see
+people at a distance.
+
+But when Stella had entered the Ludovici collection she perceived
+him to the right, gazing at the statue of the beautiful Mars.
+
+He turned instantly, as though some one told him she was near--and
+his calm eyes took in the fact that she was alone. The small room
+was empty but for the two, and he addressed her as he removed his
+hat.
+
+"Good morning, mademoiselle," he said gravely. "Mars is a strong
+attraction. I knew I should presently find you here--so when I
+caught sight of your spiritual outline across the garden, I came
+and--waited."
+
+"He is most splendid-looking, is he not," Stella returned, trying
+to suppress the sudden tingle of pleasure that was thrilling her,
+"and look how much character there is in his hands."
+
+"Shall we go and study the others, or shall we find a bench in the
+garden and sit down and talk?" Count Roumovski asked serenely, and
+then smiled to himself as he noticed his companion's apprehensive
+glance in the direction where, far away, Martha dozed in peace.
+
+"It would be nice out of doors--but--" and Stella faltered.
+
+"Do not let us be deprived of pleasure by any buts--there is one
+out there who will warn us when your maid wakes. See--" and he
+advanced toward the entrance door, "there is a bench by that rose
+tree where we can be comparatively alone."
+
+Stella struggled no more with herself. After all, it was her last
+chance--Eustace Medlicott's train got in at five o'clock!
+
+She had a sense of security, too, the complete serenity of her
+companion inspired confidence. She almost felt she would not care
+if Aunt Caroline herself slept instead of the elderly maid.
+
+There was some slight change in Count Roumovski's manner to-day--
+he kept his eyes fixed upon her face, and the things he said were
+less abstract and more personal. After an entrancing half hour she
+felt she had seen vivid pictures of his land and his home. But he
+was a great traveler it appeared, and had not been there often in
+later years.
+
+"It is so agreeable to let the body move from place to place, and
+remain in a peaceful aloofness of the spirit all the time," he
+said at last. "To watch all the rushing currents which dominate
+human beings when they do not know how to manipulate them. If they
+did, the millennium would come,--but, meanwhile, it is reserved
+for the few who have learned them to enjoy this present plane we
+are on."
+
+"You mean you can control events and shape your life as you
+please, then?" Stella asked surprised, while she raised her sweet
+shy eyes to his inquiringly. "I wish I knew how!"
+
+"Shall I try to teach you, mademoiselle?" he said.
+
+"Yes, indeed."
+
+"Then you must not look down all the time, even though the
+contemplation of your long eyelashes gives me a pleasure--I would
+prefer the eyes themselves--the eyes are the indication of what is
+passing in the soul, and I would study this moving panorama."
+
+Stella's color deepened, but she met his blue orbs without
+flinching--so he went on:
+
+"I had the fortune to be born a Russian, which has given me time
+to study these things. My country does not require my work beyond
+my being a faithful servant of my Emperor. Since I am not a
+soldier, I can do as I choose. But you in England are now in a
+seething caldron, and it would be difficult, no doubt, for you to
+spend the hours required--although the national temperament would
+lend itself to all things calm if it were directed."
+
+"But for myself," Stella demanded, "I am not a man, and need not
+interest myself in the nation's affairs--how can I grow to guide
+my own--as you seem to do?"
+
+"Never permit yourself to be ruffled by anything to commence
+with," Count Roumovski began gravely, while the pupils of his eyes
+appeared to grow larger. "Whatever mood you are in, you connect
+yourself with the cosmic current of that mood--you become in
+touch, so to speak, with all the other people who are under its
+dominion, and so it gains strength because unity is strength. If
+you can understand that as a basic principle, you can see that it
+is only a question of controlling yourself and directing your
+moods with those currents whose augmentation can bring you good.
+You must never be negative and drift. You can be drawn in any
+adverse way if you do."
+
+"I think I understand," said Stella, greatly interested.
+
+"Then you must use your critical faculties and make selections of
+what is best--and you must encourage common sense and distrust
+altruism. Sanity is the thing to aim at."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"The view of the world has become so distorted upon almost every
+point which started in good, that nothing but a cultivation of our
+individual critical faculties can enable us to see the truth--and
+nine-tenths of civilized humanity have no real opinion of their
+own at all--they simply echo those of others."
+
+"I feel that is true," said Stella, thinking of her own case.
+
+"It is not because a thing is bad or good that it succeeds--merely
+how much strength we put into the desire for it," he went on.
+
+"But surely we must believe that good will win over evil," and the
+brown eyes looked almost troubled, and his softened as he looked
+at her.
+
+"The very fact of believing that would make it come to pass by all
+these psychic laws. Whatever we really believe we draw," he said
+almost tenderly.
+
+"Then, if I were to believe all the difficulties and uncertainties
+would be made straight and just go on calmly, I should be happy,
+should I?" she asked, and there was an unconscious pathos in her
+voice which touched him deeply.
+
+"Certainly," he answered. "You have not had a fair chance--
+probably you have never been allowed to do a single thing of your
+own accord--have you?"
+
+"N--no," said Stella.
+
+"In the beginning, were you engaged to this good clergyman of your
+own wish?" and his eyes searched her face.
+
+She stiffened immediately, the training of years took offense, and
+she answered rather stiffly:
+
+"I do not think you have the right to ask me such a question,
+Count Roumovski."
+
+He was entirely unabashed--he stroked his pointed silky beard for
+a moment, then he said calmly:
+
+"Yes--I have, you agreed that I should teach you how to shape your
+life as you pleased, you must remember. It is rather essential
+that I should know the truth of this matter before I can go
+further--you must see that."
+
+"We can avoid the subject."
+
+"It would be Hamlet without Hamlet, then," he smiled. "One could
+draw up no scheme of rules and exercises, unless one has some idea
+of how far the individual was responsible for the present state of
+things. If it was your wish in the beginning, or if you were
+coerced makes all the difference."
+
+Stella was silent--only she nervously plucked an offending rose
+which grew upon a bush beside them: she pulled its petals off and
+kept her eyes lowered, and Sasha Roumovski smiled a wise smile.
+
+"You have unconsciously answered me," he said, "and your agitation
+proves that not only are you aware that you did not become engaged
+of your own wish, but that you are afraid to face the fact and
+admit that its aspect appals you. You must remember, in your
+country, where, I understand, divorce is not tres bien vu,
+especially among the clergy, the affair is for life, and the joy
+or the gall of it could be infinite."
+
+She raised two beseeching eyes to his face at last.
+
+"Oh, do not let us talk about it," she pleaded. "It is so warm and
+pleasant here--I want to be happy."
+
+He looked at her for a while with penetrating eyes, then he said
+gently:
+
+"It is a man's province to take care of a woman," and his
+attractive voice filled with a new cadence. "I see you are in need
+of direction. Leave all to me--and forget there is any one else in
+the world for the moment but our two selves. Did you know that I
+thought you looked particularly sweet last night, but rather
+pale?"
+
+"You never looked at me at all," said Stella before she was aware
+of it, and then blushed crimson at the inference of her speech. He
+would be able to understand perfectly that she must have been
+observing him all the time to be conscious of this.
+
+A gleam of gladness came into his eyes.
+
+"I would like to watch you always openly, if I might," he
+whispered. "Your little face is like a flower in its delicate
+tints, and your eyes are true and tender and asking so many
+questions of life,--and sometimes they are veiled and misty, and
+then they look wise and courageous. I am beginning to know all
+their changes."
+
+"Then, in that case, monotony will set in," Stella was almost
+arch--the day was so glorious!
+
+"I am not afraid of that," he said. "I always know what I want and
+what is worth while. I do not value my three matchless pearls the
+less because I know their every iridescence--on the contrary, I
+grow more fond of them and wear them every night in preference to
+any others."
+
+They were silent for a moment after this. He was examining her
+minutely with his wise, calm eyes. He was noting the sensitive
+curve of the pretty full lips, the tender droop of the set of her
+head, the gracious charm of her little regular features, and the
+intelligence of her broad brow. With all her simplicity, she
+looked no fool or weakling. And to think that the narrow code of
+those who surrounded her should force this sweet young creature
+into the gray walls of a prison house, when she became the English
+clergyman's wife; it was too revolting to him. Count Roumovski
+suddenly made up his mind, trained to instantaneous decision by
+his bent of studies, and sure and decided in its action. And if
+Stella had looked up then she would have seen a keen gleam in the
+peaceful blue of his eyes. He drew her on to talk of her home and
+her tastes--she loved many things he did, he found--and she was so
+eager to hear and to learn their meaning. He grew to feel a sort
+of pride and the pleasure of a teacher when directing an extremely
+intelligent child. There were no barriers of stupidity into
+whatever regions the subjects might wander. They spent an hour of
+pure joy investigating each other's thoughts. And both knew they
+were growing more than friends.
+
+Then Stella rose suddenly to her feet. A clock struck twelve.
+
+"You said one must not be negative and drift," she announced
+demurely, "so I am being decided and must now go to Martha again."
+
+"Ivan has not warned us that she is thinking of stirring," Count
+Roumovski said. "I told him to, and he will let us know in plenty
+of time; you surely do not breakfast until half-past twelve, do
+you?"
+
+"Ivan?--who is Ivan?" Stella asked.
+
+"He is a servant of mine who does what he is bid," her companion
+answered. "To have peace to enjoy oneself one must calculate and
+arrange for events. Had we only trusted to the probability of your
+maid's sleeping, I should have had to be on the lookout, and my
+uneasiness would have communicated itself to you, and we should
+have had no happy hour--but I made a certainty of safety--and
+unconsciously you trusted me to know, and so we have been
+content."
+
+Stella was thrilled. So he had taken all this trouble. He must be
+a good deal interested in her, then; and feeling sure of this,
+womanlike, she immediately took advantage of it to insist upon
+leaving him.
+
+"Very well," he said, when he could not dissuade her. "To-night
+the wheel of fortune will revolve for us all, and it remains to be
+seen who will draw a prize and who a blank."
+
+Then he walked by her side to where they saw the quiet servant
+standing, a motionless sentinel, and here Count Roumovski bowed
+and turned on his heel, while Stella advanced to the bench on
+which the comfortable Martha slept.
+
+This latter was full of defence when she awoke. She had not closed
+an eye, but thought Miss Stella was enjoying "them statues" better
+without her, which was indeed true, if she had guessed!
+
+Miss Rawson ate very little luncheon--the Russian did not appear--
+and immediately after it she was taken as a treat to see the
+Borghese Gardens by her uncle and aunt! It behooved her not to be
+tired by more sightseeing, since her betrothed would arrive when
+they returned for tea, and would expect her to be bright and on
+the alert to please him, Aunt Caroline felt. As for Stella, as
+that moment approached it seemed to her that the end of all joy
+had come.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+The Rev. Eustace Medlicott, when the stains of travel had been
+removed from his thin person, came down to tea in the hall of the
+Grand Hotel with a distinct misgiving in his heart. He did not
+approve of it as a place of residence for his betrothed. Another
+and equally well-drained hostelry might have been found for the
+party he thought, where such evidences of worldly occupations and
+amusements would not so forcibly strike the eye. Music with one's
+meals savored of paganism. He was still very emaciated with his
+Lenten fast. It took him until July, generally, to pick up again;
+and he was tired with his journey. Stella was not there to greet
+him, only the Aunt Caroline, and he felt a sense of injury
+creeping over him. She might have been in time. Nancy Ruggles, the
+Bishop's second daughter, had given him tea and ministered to his
+wants in a spirit of solicitous devotion every day since the
+Ebleys had left Exminster, but Nancy's hair was not full of
+sunlight, nor did her complexion suggest cream and roses. Things
+which, to be sure, the Rev. Eustace Medlicott felt he ought not to
+dwell upon; they were fleshly lusts and should be discouraged.
+
+He had been convinced that celibacy was the only road to salvation
+for a priest, until Stella Rawson's fair young charms had
+unconsciously undermined this conviction. But even if he had been
+able to arrange his conscience to his liking upon the vital point,
+he felt he must fight bravely against allowing himself or his
+betrothed to get any pleasure out of the affair. It was better to
+marry than to burn, he had St. Paul's authority for this--but when
+he felt emotion toward Stella because of her loveliness, he was
+afterward very uncomfortable in his thoughts, and it took him at
+least an hour to throw dust in his own eyes in regard to the
+nature of his desire for her, which he determined to think was
+only of the spirit. Love, for him, was no god to be exalted, but a
+too strong beast to be resisted, and every one of his rites were
+to be succumbed to shamefacedly and under protest. Thus did he
+criticize the scheme of his Creator like many another before him.
+
+He sat now in the hall of the Grand Hotel at Rome feeling ill at
+ease and expressed some mild disapproval of the surroundings to
+Mrs. Ebley, who fired up at once. She was secretly enjoying
+herself extremely, and allowed the drains to assume gigantic
+proportions in her reasons for their choice of abode. So there was
+nothing more to be said, and Stella, looking rather pale,
+presently came down the steps from the corridor where their lift
+was situated, and joined the group in the far corner of the large
+hall.
+
+She was so slender and fresh and graceful, and, even in the week's
+sight-seeing in Paris, she seemed to have picked up a new air,
+though she wore the same gray Sunday dress her fiance was
+accustomed to see at home--it appeared to be put on differently,
+and she had altered the doing of her hair. There was no doubt
+about it, his future wife was a most delectable-looking creature,
+but these tendencies toward adornment of the person which he
+observed must be checked at once.
+
+They shook hands with decorous cordiality, and Stella sat down
+demurely in the vacant chair. She felt as cold as ice toward him,
+and looked it more or less. It made Mr. Medlicott nervous,
+although she answered gently enough when he addressed her.
+Inwardly she was trying to overcome the growing revulsion she was
+experiencing. Tricks of speech, movements of hands--even the way
+Eustace's hair grew--were all irritating her. She only longed to
+contradict every word the poor man said, and she felt wretched and
+unjust and at war with herself and fate. At last things almost
+came to a point when he moved his chair so that he should be close
+to her and a little apart from the others, and whispered with an
+air of absolute proprietorship:
+
+"My little Stella has changed her sweetly modest way of
+hairdressing. I hardly think the new style is suitable to my
+retiring dove."
+
+"Why, it is only parted in the middle and brushed back into a
+simple knot," Miss Rawson retorted, with sparkling eyes. "How can
+you be so ridiculous, Eustace--it is merely because it is becoming
+and more in the fashion that you object, there is nothing the
+least remarkable in the style itself."
+
+Mr. Medlicott's thin lips grew into a straight line.
+
+"It is that very point--the suggestion of fashion that I object
+to--the wife of a clergyman cannot be too careful not to make
+herself attractive or remarkable in any way," he said
+sententiously, his obstinate chin a little forward.
+
+"But I am not a clergyman's wife yet," said Stella with some
+feeling, "and can surely enjoy a few things of my age until I am--
+and doing my hair how I please is one of them."
+
+Mr. Medlicott shrugged his shoulders, he refused to continue this
+unseemly altercation with his betrothed. He would force her to see
+reason when once she should be his wife, until then he might have
+to waive his authority, but should show her by his manner that she
+had offended him, and judging from the attitudes of the adoring
+spinsters he had left at Exminster that should be punishment
+enough.
+
+He turned to the Aunt Caroline now and addressed her exclusively
+and Stella rebelliously moved her seat back a few inches and
+looked across the room; and at that moment the tall, odd-looking
+Russian came in, and retired to a seat far on the other side,
+exactly opposite them. Here he ordered a hock and seltzer with
+perfect unconcern, and smoked his cigarette. Miss Rawson could
+hardly bear it.
+
+"There is that extraordinary man again, Stella," Mrs. Ebley turned
+to her and said. "I thought he had gone as he was not at luncheon
+to-day. I am sure your fiance will agree with me that such an
+appearance is sacrilegious--he must know he looks like a saint--
+and I am quite sure, from what I have heard from Martha, he is not
+one at all. He lives in the greatest luxury, Eustace," she
+continued, turning to the Rev. Mr. Medlicott. "and probably does
+no good to anyone in the world."
+
+"How can you suppose that, Aunt Caroline," Stella answered with
+some spirit, "it is surely very uncharitable to judge of people by
+their appearances and--and what Martha repeats to you."
+
+Mrs. Ebley gasped--never in her whole life had her niece spoken to
+her in this tone. She to be rebuked! It was unspeakable. She could
+only glare behind her glasses. What had come to the girl in the
+last two days--if this manner was the result of travel, far better
+to have stayed at home!
+
+Here Canon Ebley joined in, hoping to bring peace:
+
+"You have told Eustace what is in store for him to-night, have you
+not, Caroline, my dear?" he asked. "We have to put on our best and
+take our ladies to the Embassy to a rout, Eustace," he went on,
+genially. "There are a Russian Grand Duke and Duchess passing
+through, it appears, who are going to be entertained."
+
+"There will be no dancing, I suppose," said Mr. Medlicott primly,
+"because, if so, I am sorry, but I cannot accompany you--it is not
+that I disapprove of dancing for others," he hastened to add, "but
+I do not care to watch it myself. And I do not think it wise for
+Stella to grow to care for it, either."
+
+"It is merely a reception," Mrs. Ebley said, "and it will be a
+very interesting sight."
+
+Stella sat silent; she was overcome with the whole situation; and
+her fiance grew more distasteful to her every moment--how had she
+ever been persuaded to be engaged to such a person!--while the
+attraction of the strange-looking Russian seemed to increase. In
+spite of the grotesque hair and unusual beard, there was an air of
+great distinction about him. His complete unconsciousness and calm
+were so remarkable. You might take him for an eccentric person,
+but certainly a gentleman, and with an extraordinary magnetism,
+she felt. When once you had talked to him, he seemed to cast a
+spell over you. But, beyond this, she only knew that she was
+growing more unhappy every moment, and that by her side one man
+represented everything that was tied and bound in sentiment and
+feeling and existence, and that across the hall another opened the
+windows of her reason and imagination, and exhorted her to be
+free, and herself.
+
+Presently she could bear it no more. She got up rather suddenly,
+and, saying she was very tired and had letters to write, she left
+them and went toward the lift.
+
+"Stella is not at all like herself," Mr. Medlicott said, when she
+had disappeared from view. "I trust she is not sickening with
+Roman fever."
+
+Meanwhile, Miss Rawson had reached her room and pulled her writing
+case in front of her. There were one or two girl friends who ought
+to be written to, but the sheets remained blank--and in about ten
+minutes there was a gentle knock at the door, and, on opening it,
+she saw Count Roumovski's discreet-looking servant, who handed her
+a note respectfully, and then went on his way without a word.
+
+How agreeable it must be to have well-trained servants to do one's
+bidding like that! she thought, and then went back eagerly to her
+window to read the missive. It had no beginning or date, and was
+just a few lines.
+
+I have observed the whole situation, and judged of the character
+of your fiance. I know how you feel. Do not be depressed--remain
+calm and trust me, circumstances can always be directed in the
+hands of a strong man. I will have the honor to be presented to
+you and to your family soon after you arrive at the Embassy to-
+night. All is well.
+
+There was no signature, and the writing was rather large and
+unlike any she had seen before.
+
+Suddenly her feeling of unrest left her, and a lightness of heart
+took its place. She was living, at all events, and the horizon was
+not all gray. It seemed almost delightful to be putting on a real
+evening dress presently, even though it was a rather homely white
+thing with a pink sash, and to be going down to the restaurant in
+it with Aunt Caroline in front in her best black velvet and point
+lace.
+
+That lady's desire to be in time at the party alone determined her
+to this breach of the rules--and there were Eustace and Uncle
+Erasmus in their stiff clerical evening coats awaiting them in the
+corridor--while, as luck would have it, the lift stopped at the
+second floor to admit the Russian. He got in with his usual air of
+being unaware that he was not alone--though Stella could feel that
+he was touching her hand--perhaps unconsciously. He seemed to
+radiate some kind of joy for her always, and the pink grew to that
+of a June rose in her cheeks, and her brown eyes shone like two
+stars.
+
+"That was the man you spoke of in the hall, Mrs. Ebley, was it
+not?" Eustace Medlicott's intoning voice said, as they went along
+to the restaurant. "He certainly is a most remarkable person to
+look at close--but I do not dislike his face, it has noble lines."
+
+"Really, how condescending of you!" Stella almost said aloud. But
+the Aunt Caroline answered serenely:
+
+"Perhaps I am prejudiced, Eustace, but want of convention always
+shocks me to such a degree that I cannot appreciate anything
+else."
+
+Stella almost enjoyed her dinner, she was so excited with the
+prospect of some unknown coming events, and she had the
+satisfaction of observing that once Count Roumovski actually
+turned his head in their direction and met her eyes. His were full
+of a whimsical smile for the instant he looked, and then he
+relapsed into his habitual indifference.
+
+The crowd had begun to thicken when they got to the Embassy, and
+they waited among them for the Royalties' arrival; Stella looking
+at everything with fresh, interested eyes. When this ceremony was
+over people began to disperse about the large rooms, and Miss
+Rawson was conscious that her strange secret acquaintance was in
+conversation with the Grand Duke and Duchess; she had not seen him
+come in. The Aunt Caroline noticed this, too, and drew her
+attention to the fact.
+
+"Look, Stella, that dreadful man is talking to Royalty!" she said.
+"I suppose he must be a gentleman, after all--one never can tell
+with foreigners, as their titles mean nothing, and half of them
+are assumed. Your Uncle Carford had a valet once who afterward was
+arrested for posing as a Polish count."
+
+"I should think anyone could see this man was a gentleman, Aunt
+Caroline," Stella answered, "even without his talking to
+Royalties."
+
+They were soon joined by the secretary cousin, who was charmed to
+welcome so pretty a relation to Rome, and was profuse in his
+apologies for not having been able to do more than leave cards
+upon them as yet.
+
+"We should so like to know the names of the celebrities," Mrs.
+Ebley said, "especially can you tell us about the very curious-
+looking person now conversing with her Imperial Highness; he is at
+our hotel."
+
+"That--Oh! that is by far the most interesting man here--it is the
+famous Count Roumovski. He is a most celebrated traveler; he has
+been all over the world and Africa and Asia in unaccessible
+places. He is a fabulously rich Russian--a real Muscovite from
+near Moscow, and he does everything and anything he pleases; he
+gives enormous sums for the encouragement of science. He is
+immensely intelligent--he lunched at the Embassy to-day."
+
+"Really!" said the Aunt Caroline, somewhat impressed. "His
+appearance is greatly against him."
+
+"Oh, do you think so?" said the cousin. "I think it adds to his
+attraction, it is such superlative audacity. No Englishman would
+have the nerve to cut his hair like that."
+
+"I should hope not," said Mrs. Ebley severely, and dropped the
+subject.
+
+"To think of this charming rosebud of a girl going to marry
+Eustace Medlicott--insufferable, conceited prig, I remember him at
+Oxford," the cousin was musing to himself. "Lord Carford is an old
+stick-in-the-mud, or he would have prevented that. She is his own
+niece, and one can see by her frock that the poor child never even
+goes to London."
+
+At this moment they saw the Russian Count putting his heels
+together and bowing himself out of the circle of his Royalties;
+and straight as a dart he came over to where their group was
+standing, and whispered in the cousin's--Mr. Deanwood's ear--who
+then asked if he might present Count Roumovski to the Aunt
+Caroline and the rest.
+
+When this ceremony was over Mrs. Ebley found herself conversing
+with her whilom object of contempt, and coming gradually under the
+influence of his wonderful charm, while Stella stood there
+trembling with the wildest excitement she had yet known. The words
+of Eustace, her betrothed, talking to her, carried no meaning to
+her brain, her whole intelligence was strung up to catch what the
+others were saying.
+
+With great dexterity the Russian presently made the conversation
+general, and drew her into it, and then he said with composure
+that the Gardens were illuminated--and, as it was such a very hot
+night, would mademoiselle like to take a turn that way, to have
+some refreshment? At the same moment, Mr. Deanwood gave Mrs. Ebley
+his arm, and they all moved forward--followed by Canon Ebley and
+the Rev. Eustace Medlicott, with no great joy upon his face.
+
+Stella, meanwhile, felt herself being drawn rapidly ahead, and so
+maneuvered that in a moment or two they had completely lost sight
+of the rest of the relations, and were practically alone in a
+crowd.
+
+"At last!" Count Roumovski whispered, "even I, who am generally
+calm, was beginning to feel I should rush over, throw prudence to
+the winds and--" then he stopped abruptly, and Stella felt her
+heart thump in her throat, while her little hand on his arm was
+pressed against his side.
+
+They made the pretense of taking some refreshment at the buffet,
+and then went toward the open doors of the garden. The part all
+round the house was illuminated, and numbers of people strolled
+about, the night was deliciously warm. Count Roumovski seemed to
+know the paths, for he drew his companion to a seat just beyond
+the radius of the lights, and they sat down upon a bench under a
+giant tree. He had not spoken a word, but now he leaned back and
+deliberately looked into her eyes, while his voice, with
+vibrations of feeling in it which thrilled Stella, whispered in
+her ear:
+
+"It cannot go on, of course--you agree with me about that, do you
+not?"
+
+"What cannot go on?" she asked, to gain time to recover her
+composure.
+
+"This situation," he answered. "I am sure now that I love you--and
+I want to teach you a number of things, first in importance being
+that you shall love me."
+
+"Oh, you must not say this," Stella protested feebly.
+
+"Yes, I must, and you will listen to me, little star."
+
+He drew nearer to her, and the amazing power of propinquity began
+to assert itself. She felt as if the force to resist him were
+leaving her, she was trembling all over with delicious thrills.
+
+"I made up my mind almost immediately I saw you, sweet child," he
+went on, "that you were what I have been waiting for all my life.
+You are good and true--and balanced--or you will be that when I
+have made your love education. Stella, look at me with those soft
+eyes, and tell me that I mean something to you already, and that
+the worthy Mr. Medlicott does not exist any more."
+
+"I--I--but I have only known you for two days," Stella answered
+confusedly: she was so full of emotion that she dared not trust
+herself further.
+
+"Does time count, then, so much with conventional people?" he
+demanded. "For me it has no significance in relation to feeling.
+If you would only look at me instead of down at those small hands,
+then you would not be able to tell me these foolish things!"
+
+This was so true that Stella could not deny it, her breath came
+rather fast; it was the supreme moment her life had yet known.
+
+"You are frightened because the training of your education still
+holds you and not nature. Your acquired opinion tells you you are
+engaged to another man, and ought not to listen to me."
+
+"Of course I ought not to," she murmured.
+
+"Of course you ought--how else can you come to any conclusion if
+you do not hear my arguments--sweet, foolish one!"
+
+She did look at him now with two startled eyes.
+
+"Listen attentively, darling pupil, and sweet love," he said. He
+was leaning with one arm on the back of the bench supporting his
+head on his hand, turned quite toward her, who sat with clasped
+nervous fingers clutching her fan. His other hand lay idly on his
+knee, his whole attitude was very still. The soft lights were just
+enough for him to see distinctly her small face and shining hair;
+his own face was in shadow, but she could feel the magnetism of
+his eyes penetrating through her very being.
+
+"You were coerced by those in charge of you," he went on in a
+level voice of argument, which yet broke into notes of tenderness,
+"you were influenced into becoming engaged to this man who is
+ridiculously unsuited to you. You, so full of life and boundless
+joy! You, who will learn all of love's meaning presently, and what
+it makes of existence, and what God meant by giving it to us
+mortals. You are intended by nature to be a complete woman if you
+did but know it--but such a life, tied to that half fish man, would
+atrophy all that is finest in your character. You would grow really
+into what they are trying to make you appear--after years of
+hopelessness and suffering. Do you not feel all this, little star,
+tell me?"
+
+"Yes," Stella answered, "it is true--I have seemed to feel the
+cords and the shackles pulling at me often, but never that they
+were unbearable until I--spoke with you--and you put new thoughts
+into my head."
+
+"I did well, then. And because of a silly convention you would
+ruin all your life by going on with these ways--it is
+unthinkable!" and his deep voice vibrated with feeling. "It is a
+mistake, that is all, and can be rectified,--if you were already
+married to this man I would not plead so, because then you would
+have crossed the Rubicon, and assumed responsibilities which you
+would have to accept or suffer the consequences. But this
+preliminary bond can be broken without hurt to either side. A man
+of the good clergyman's type will not suffer in his emotions at
+the loss of you--he suffices unto himself for those; his vanity
+will be wounded--that is all. And surely it is better that should
+gall for a little than that you should spoil your life. Sweet flower,
+realize yourself these things--that sunny hair and that beautiful
+skin and those velvet eyes were made for the joy and glory of a
+man--not for temptations to a strict priest, who would resent
+their power as a sin every time he felt himself influenced by
+their charm. Gods above! he would not know what to do with you,
+heart of me!"
+
+Stella was thrilling with exquisite emotion, but the influence of
+her strict and narrow bringing up could not be quite overcome in
+these few moments. She longed to be convinced, and yet some
+altruistic sentiment made her feel still some qualms and
+misgivings. If she should be causing Eustace great pain by
+breaking her engagement; if it were very wrong to go against her
+uncle and aunt--especially her Aunt Caroline, her own mother's
+sister. She clasped her little hands nervously, and looked up in
+this strong man's face with pathetic, pleading intensity.
+
+"Oh, please tell me, what ought I to do, then--what is right?" she
+implored. "And because I want so much to believe you, I fear it
+must be wrong to do so."
+
+He leaned nearer to her and spoke earnestly. His stillness was
+almost ominous, it gave the impression of such immense self-
+control, and his voice was as those bass notes of the priests of
+St. Isaac's in his own northern land.
+
+"Dear, honest little girl," he said tenderly, "I worship your
+goodness. And I know you will presently see the truth. Love is of
+God and is imperious, and because she loves him is the only reason
+why a woman should give her life to a man. Quite apart from the
+law, which proclaims that each individual must be the arbiter of
+his own fate, and not succumb to the wishes of others, it would be
+an ethical sin for you to marry the worthy Mr. Medlicott--not
+loving him. Surely, you can see this."
+
+"Yes--yes, it would be dreadful," she murmured, "but Aunt
+Caroline--she caused me to accept him--I mean, she wanted me to so
+much. I never really felt anything for him myself, and lately--
+ever since the beginning, in fact, I have been getting more and
+more indifferent to him."
+
+"Then, surely, it is plain that you must be free of him, darling.
+Throw all the responsibility upon me, if you will. I promise to
+take every care of you. And I want you only to promise you will
+follow each step that I explain to you--" then he broke off, and
+the seriousness of his tone changed to one of caressing
+tenderness. "But first I must know for certain, little star, shall
+I be able to teach you to love me--as I shall love you?"
+
+"Yes," was all Stella could utter, and then, gaining more voice,
+she went on, "I did not know--I could not guess what that would
+mean--to love--but--"
+
+He answered her with fond triumph:
+
+"Now you are beginning to understand, darling child--that is
+enough for me to know for the present. In your country, a man asks
+a woman to marry him: he says, 'Will you marry me?'--is it not so?
+of course, I need not say that to you, because you know that is
+what I mean. When these wearisome thongs are off your wrists you
+will belong to me, and come with me into my country and be part of
+my life."
+
+"Ah!" whispered Stella, the picture seemed one of heaven, that was
+all.
+
+"You must have freedom to assert your individuality, Stella," he
+continued. "I can but show you the way and give you a new point of
+view, but I will never try to rule you and drag you to mine. I
+will never put any chains upon you but those of love. Do they
+sound as if they would be too heavy, dearest?"
+
+"I think not," she said very low. "I feel as though I were looking
+into a beautiful garden from the top of an ugly, barren, cold
+mountain. I shall like to come down and go in among the unknown
+flowers."
+
+"It will be so glorious for us," he said exultantly, "because we
+have still all the interesting things to find out about each
+other,--" And then, her sweet face so very near him, the
+temptation to caress her became too intense; he quivered and
+changed his position, clasping his hands.
+
+"Darling," he said hoarsely, "we must soon go back to the company,
+because, although I count always upon my will to make my actions
+obey it, still I can hardly prevent myself from seizing you in my
+arms and kissing your tender lips--and that I must not do--as
+yet."
+
+Stella drew herself together, the temptation was convulsing her
+also, though she did not guess it. She looked up into his blue
+eyes there in the shadow, and saw the deep reverence in them, and
+she understood and loved him with her soul.
+
+He did not so much as touch her dress; indeed, now that he had won
+his fight, he moved a little further from her--and resumed his
+calm voice:
+
+"The first thing we shall do is to stroll back through the people
+and find the aunt--I will then leave you with her, and soon it
+will be time to go home. Do not make much conversation with any of
+them to-night--leave everything to me. I will see the Rev. Mr.
+Medlicott when we return to the hotel. Whatever they say to you
+to-morrow, remain firm in your simple determination to break your
+engagement. Argue with them not at all. I will see your uncle in
+the morning and demand your hand; they will be shocked, horrified,
+scandalized--we will make no explanations. If they refuse their
+consent, then you must be brave, and the day after to-morrow you
+must come to my sister. She will have arrived by then; she was in
+Paris, and I telegraphed for her to join me immediately; the
+Princess Urazov she is called. She will receive you with
+affection, and you will stay with her until the formalities can be
+arranged, when we shall be married, and--but I cannot permit
+myself to think of the joy of that--for the moment."
+
+Stella's eyes, with trust and love, were now gazing into his, and
+he rose abruptly to his feet.
+
+"You may, when you are alone, again think that it is heartless to
+go quite contrary to your relations like this, because they have
+brought you up, but remember that marriage is an act which can
+mean almost life or death to a woman, and that no human beings
+have any right to coerce you in this matter. You are of age and so
+am I, and we are only answerable to God and to the laws of our
+countries, not to individuals."
+
+"I will try to think of it like that," said Stella, greatly moved,
+and then, with almost childish irrelevance, which touched him
+deeply, she asked, "What must I call you, please?"
+
+"Oh, you sweetest star!" he exclaimed, "do not tempt me too
+strongly--I love you wildly and I want to fold you in my arms--and
+explain everything with your little head here on my breast--but I
+must not--must not yet. Call me Sasha--say it now that I may hear
+its sound in your tender voice--and we must fly, fly back to the
+lights--or I cannot answer for myself."
+
+She whispered it softly, and a shiver ran through all his tall
+frame--and he said, with tender masterfulness:
+
+"Say, 'Sasha, I love,'" and this she did, also--and then he almost
+brusquely placed her hand upon his arm, and led her among the
+people, and so to her frowning relations, and then he bowed a
+correct good-night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+No one could have been more surprised than the Reverend Eustace
+Medlicott at the behavior of his betrothed. Far from showing any
+contrition for her unseemly absence upon the arm of a perfect
+stranger, and a foreigner to boot, Stella had returned to the fold
+of her relations' group with a demure and radiant face, and when
+Eustace had ventured some querulous reproaches, she had cut him
+short by saying she had done as she wished and did not intend to
+listen to any remarks about it.
+
+"You will have to learn more humbleness of mind, my dear child,"
+he retorted sternly. "I cannot allow you to reply to your future
+husband in this independent tone."
+
+"I shall just answer as I please," said Stella, and felt almost
+inclined to laugh, he looked so cross and amazed. Then she turned
+and talked to the cousin, Mr. Deanwood, and took no further
+notice of him.
+
+Mr. Medlicott burned with annoyance. Stella would really have to
+be careful or he would not go on with the match--he had no
+intention of taking to wife a woman who would defy him--there was
+Nancy Ruggles ready to be his slave--and others besides her. And
+his career could be just as well assisted by the Bishop's daughter
+as by Canon Ebley's niece, even though her uncle was a crotchety
+and unknown Lord, patron of two fat livings. But Stella, with a
+rebellious little curl loosened on her snowy neck and a rebellious
+pout upon her cherry lips, was so very alluring a creature to call
+one's own, the desire of the flesh, which he called by any other
+name, fought hard with his insulted spirit, though to give in
+would be too ignominious; she must say she was sorry first, and
+then he could find it in his heart to forgive her. But the
+opportunity to show this magnanimity was not vouchsafed to him by
+fate--for other people were introduced to the party by Mr.
+Deanwood, and he did not exchange a word alone with his erring
+fiancee until she said a cold good-night in the hall of the Grand
+Hotel.
+
+"Stella, remain for a moment, I wish to speak to you," he said in
+the voice in which he was accustomed to read the burial service.
+
+But she feigned not to hear and followed her Aunt Caroline's black
+velvet train on to the lift and at that same moment a discreet-
+looking foreign servant came up and handed him a note.
+
+He read it in surprise--who could be sending him a note at a
+quarter past twelve at night?
+
+Dear Sir [it ran],
+
+I shall be greatly obliged if you can spare to me half an hour
+before retiring to your rest to converse upon a matter of
+importance. I had the honor of making your acquaintance to-night
+at your Embassy. If you will grant me this favor I will wait upon
+you immediately in the hall, or, if you prefer, my sitting-room;
+my servant could conduct you here, and we shall have the advantage
+of being entirely undisturbed. I remain, sir, Yours truly.
+
+SASHA ROUMOVSKI.
+
+Eustace Medlicott gasped with astonishment. This Russian gentleman
+was evidently in need of his ministrations and perhaps advice. He
+would go to his room, certainly, there were still some people in
+the hall having late coffee and refreshment after the theater.
+
+He indicated by a condescending movement that he was ready to
+follow the waiting servant, and soon found himself being shown
+into Count Roumovski's sitting-room. It was luxuriously appointed
+and represented every appearance of manly comfort. There were
+quantities of books and papers about and the smell of excellent
+cigars, and put carelessly aside were various objets d'art which
+antique dealers had evidently sent for his grand seigneur's
+approval.
+
+Count Roumovski was standing by the mantelpiece and looked very
+tall and commanding in his evening dress.
+
+"It is most good of you to come," he said, while he indicated a
+big arm-chair for his visitor to sit in--he did not offer to shake
+hands. "It was certainly my duty to have called upon you, my only
+apology for getting you to ascend here is that the subject I wish
+to converse with you is too serious for both of us to admit of
+interruptions."
+
+"Indeed," said Mr. Medlicott, pompously--growing more surprised
+each moment. "And may I ask the nature of your trouble?"
+
+Count Roumovski did not change his position by the mantelpiece and
+he kept still as a bronze statue as he spoke in a courteous tone:
+
+"It is not a trouble at all," he began, gravely, "on the contrary,
+it is a great joy and honor for me. I will state the facts
+immediately. I understand that for a short while you have been
+engaged to be married to Miss Stella Rawson, the niece of the
+respected English clergyman, the Reverend Ebley--"
+
+"Pardon me," interrupted Mr. Medlicott acidly, "but I do not see
+how my private affairs can interest you, sir, I cannot--"
+
+But the host in turn interrupted him.
+
+"If you will be so good as to listen patiently, you will find that
+this matter is of vital importance--may I proceed?"
+
+Mr. Medlicott bowed; what more could he do? Count Roumovski went
+on:
+
+"I understand that Miss Rawson never showed very strong affection
+for you or great desire for this union--so what I have to ask now
+is, if you, as a gentleman, will release her from her promise to
+you and set her free."
+
+"Upon my word, sir, this is too much," Mr. Medlicott exclaimed,
+starting to his feet, "by what authority do you say these
+preposterous things? You were only introduced to Miss Rawson and
+myself to-night. You must be mad!"
+
+"No, I am quite sane. And I say them upon the best authority,"
+Count Roumovski continued, "because I love Miss Rawson myself, and
+I am deeply honored by believing that in return she loves me--not
+you at all. Therefore, it is common sense to ask you to release
+her, and let her be happy with the person she prefers--is it not
+so?"
+
+Eustace Medlicott had grown white with anger and astonishment as
+he listened, and now broke in hotly, forgetful of his intoning
+voice or anything but his outraged dignity.
+
+"When have you had the opportunity to try and undermine the faith
+of my betrothed, may I ask? Supposing you are saying this
+seriously and not as some ill-timed jest."
+
+Count Roumovski lifted his eyebrows a little and looked almost
+with pity at his adversary. "We are not talking in the heroic
+manner," he replied, unmoved by the other's taunt, "we are, I
+presume, two fairly intelligent men discussing this affair
+together--there has been no question of undermining. Miss Rawson
+and myself found we understood each other very soon after we first
+met. Surely, you must realize, sir, that love cannot be commanded,
+it will not come or go at one's bidding. These ridiculous bonds of
+convention, holding to a promise given when the spirit to keep it
+is no longer there, can ruin people's lives."
+
+Mr. Medlicott drew himself up, he was not quite so tall as the
+Russian, but of no mean height, and his intense, ascetic face,
+emaciated to extreme leanness, now reddened with passion, while
+the veins stood out upon his high, narrow forehead. He was always
+very irritable when crossed, and his obstinate nature was strongly
+combative.
+
+"You forget, sir," he said angrily, "you are insulting my honor."
+
+"Not the least in the world--you do not understand the point,"
+Count Roumovski returned calmly. "Listen for a minute--and I will
+explain. If Miss Rawson were already your wife I should be, and
+you would have the right to try and kill me, did your calling
+permit of that satisfaction of gentlemen, because there is a
+psychological and physiological reason involved in that case,
+producing the instinct in man which he is not perhaps conscious
+of, that he wishes to be sure his wife's legitimate offspring are
+his own--out of this instinct, civilization has built up the idea
+of a man's honor--which you can see has a basic principle of sense
+and justice."
+
+Mr. Medlicott with difficulty restrained himself from interrupting
+and the Russian went on.
+
+"The situation of betrothed is altogether different: in it there
+have merely been promises exchanged, promises, for the most part,
+which no man or woman can honestly engage with any certainty to
+keep, because feeling toward the other is not within his or her
+control--both are promising upon a sentiment, not a reality."
+
+"I totally disagree with you," Eustace Medlicott answered angrily,
+"when men and women make promises to one another they should have
+wills strong enough to keep them."
+
+"For what sensible reason?" Count Roumovski asked. "In a case
+where the happiness of both is involved, and where no damage has
+been incurred by either--"
+
+Mr. Medlicott clasped his hands convulsively but he did not reply--so
+the Russian went on:
+
+"Surely, you must see that a woman should be free to marry--that
+is, to give herself and her power to become a mother where she
+loves--not to be forced to bestow these sacred gifts when her
+spirit is unwilling--just because she has made the initial mistake
+of affiancing herself to a man, often through others' influence,
+who she discovers afterward is distasteful to her. Cannot you
+realize that it is wise for himself as well as for her that this
+man release her, before a life of long misery begins for them
+both?"
+
+Mr. Medlicott never analyzed reasons, and never listened to other
+people's logic, and if he had any of his own he was too angry to
+use it. He was simply conscious now that a foreigner had insulted
+him and appeared to have stolen the affections of his betrothed,
+and his sacred calling precluded all physical retaliation--which,
+at the moment, was the only kind that would have given him any
+satisfaction. He prepared to stalk furiously from the room after
+he should receive an answer to an all-important question.
+
+"The whole thing is disgraceful," he said, "and I shall inform
+Miss Rawson's uncle and aunt of your highly insulting words to me,
+that they may guard her from further importunity upon your part.
+But I should like to know, in fairness, how far you are stating
+you have been able to persuade my fiancee to agree to your view?"
+
+"I am sorry you should have become so heated and angry," Count
+Roumovski returned, "because it stops all sensible discussion. I
+deeply regret having been forced to inflict pain upon you, but if
+you would give yourself time to think calmly you would see that,
+however unfortunate the fact may be for you of Miss Rawson's
+affections having become fixed on me--these things are no one's
+fault and beyond human control--Miss Rawson has left the breaking
+off of her engagement to you in my hands, and has decided that she
+desires to marry me, as I desire to marry her, as soon as she is
+free."
+
+"I refuse to listen to another word," Mr. Medlicott flashed, "and
+I warn you, sir, that I will give no such freedom at your bidding--on
+the contrary, I shall have my marriage with Miss Rawson
+solemnized immediately, and try, if there is a word of truth in
+your preposterous assertion that she loves you, to bring her back
+to a proper sense of her duty to me and to God, repressing her
+earthly longings by discipline and self-denial, the only true
+methods for the saving of her soul. And I and her natural
+guardians, her uncle and her aunt, will take care that you never
+see her again."
+
+Count Roumovski raised his eyebrows once more and prepared to
+light a cigar.
+
+"It is a pity you will not discuss this peacefully, sir," he said,
+"or apparently even think about it yourself with common sense. If
+you would do so, you would begin by asking yourself what God gave
+certain human beings certain attributes for," he blew a few whiffs
+of smoke, "whether to be wasted and crushed out by the intolerance
+of others,--or whether to be tended and grow to the highest, as
+flowers grow with light and air and water."
+
+"What has that got to do with the case?" asked Mr. Medlicott,
+tapping his foot uneasily.
+
+"Everything," went on the Russian, mildly, "you, I believe, are a
+priest, and therefore should be better able to expound your
+Deity's meaning than I, a layman--but you have evidently not the
+same point of view--mine is always to look at the facts of a case
+denuded of prejudice--because the truth is the thing to aim at--"
+
+"You would suggest that I am not aiming at the truth," the
+clergyman interrupted, trembling now with anger, so that he
+fiercely grasped the back of a high chair, "your words are
+preposterous, sir."
+
+"Not at all," Count Roumovski continued. "Look frankly at things;
+you have just announced that you would constitute yourself judge
+of what is for Miss Rawson's salvation."
+
+"Leave her name out, I insist," the other put in hotly.
+
+"To be concrete, unfortunately, I cannot do so," the Russian said.
+"I must speak of this lady we are both interested in--pray, try to
+listen to me calmly, sir, for we are here for the settling of a
+matter which concerns the happiness of our three lives."
+
+"I do not admit for a moment that you have the right to speak at
+all," Mr. Medlicott returned, but his adversary went on quietly.
+
+"You must have remarked that Miss Rawson possesses beauty of form,
+sweet and tender flesh, soft coloring, and a look of health and
+warmth and life. All these charms tend to create in man a
+passionate physical love. That is cause and effect. For the sake
+of the present argument we will, for the moment, leave out all
+more important questions of the soul and things mental and
+spiritual. Well, who gave her these attributes? Did you or I--or
+even her parents, consciously? Or did the Supreme Being, whom you
+call God, endow her so? Admitted that He did--have you, then, or
+anyone else, the right to crush out the result of His endowment in
+a woman; crush her joy of them, force her into a life where their
+possession is looked upon as a temptation? Seek to marry her--
+remember that marriage physically means being certainly actuated
+to do so by their attraction--and yet believing that you sin each
+time you allow them to influence you." Count Roumovski's level
+voice took on a note of deep emotion and his blue eyes gleamed.
+"Why, the degradation is horrible to think of, sir, if you will
+face the truth--and this is the fate to which you would condemn
+this young and tender girl for your own selfishness, knowing she
+does not love you."
+
+Eustace Medlicott walked up and down rapidly for a moment; he then
+picked up a book and threw it aside again in agitation. He was
+very pale now.
+
+"I refuse to have the woman I have decided to marry snatched from
+me by any of your sophistries," he said breathlessly. "I am better
+able than you to save her soul, and she owes me honor and
+obedience--it is most unseemly to even mention the aspects you
+have done in a bond which is a sacrament of holy church and should
+be only approached in a spiritual frame of mind, not a carnal
+one."
+
+"You are talking pure nonsense, sir," returned Count Roumovski
+sternly. "If that were the case the wording of your English
+marriage service would be different. First and foremost, marriage
+is a contract between two people to live together in union of body
+and to procreate children, which is the law of God and nature. Men
+added arrangement and endowment of property, and the church added
+spiritual sacrament. But God and nature invented the vital thing.
+If it were not so, it would have been possible for the spiritually
+minded, of which company you infer yourself to be, to live with a
+woman on terms of brother and sister, and never let the senses
+speak at all. There would then have been no necessity for the
+ceremony of marriage for priests with your views."
+
+Eustace Medlicott shook with passion and emotion as he answered
+furiously: "You would turn the question into one of whether a
+priest should marry or not. It is a question which has agitated me
+all my life, and which I have only lately been able to come to a
+conclusion upon. I refuse to let you disturb me in it."
+
+"I had not thought of doing so," Count Roumovski returned
+tranquilly. "You and your views and your destiny do not interest
+me, I must own, except in so far as they interfere with myself and
+the woman I love. You have proved yourself to be just a warped
+atom of the great creation, incapable of anything but ignoble
+narrowness. You cannot even examine your own emotions honestly and
+probe their meaning or you would realize no man should marry, be
+he priest or layman, if he looks upon the joys of physical love as
+base and his succumbing to them a proof of the power of the beast
+in himself. Because he then lives under continual degradation of
+soul by acting against his conscience."
+
+Mr. Medlicott was now silent, almost choking with perturbation. So
+Count Roumovski went on:
+
+"The wise man faces the facts of nature. Looks straight to find
+God's meaning in them, and then tries to exalt and ennoble them to
+their loftiest good. He does not, in his puny impotence, quarrel
+with the all-powerful Creator and try to stamp out that with which
+He thought fit to endow human beings."
+
+"Your words convey a flagrant denial of original sin, and I cannot
+listen to such an argument," Mr. Medlicott flashed, his anger now
+at white heat. "You would do away with a whole principle of the
+Christian religion."
+
+"No; I would only do away with a faulty interpretation which man
+grafted upon it," Count Roumovski answered.
+
+Then the two men glared straight into each other's eyes for a
+moment, and Eustace Medlicott quailed beneath the magnetic force
+of the Russian's blue ones--he turned away abruptly. He was too
+intolerant of character and too disturbed now to permit himself to
+hear more of these reasonings. He could but resort to protest and
+let his wrath rise to assist him.
+
+"It cannot benefit either Miss Rawson or ourselves to continue
+this unseemly controversy over her," he said in a raucous voice.
+"I have told you I will give no freedom upon your request--and I
+have warned you of my action. Now I shall go," and he took three
+steps toward the door.
+
+But Count Roumovski's next words arrested him a moment; his tone
+was no longer one of suave, detached calmness, but sharp and
+decisive, and his bearing was instinct with strength and
+determination.
+
+"Since we are coming to warnings," he said, "we drop the velvet
+glove. The discourtesy to a lady conveyed in your words obliges me
+to use my own way without further consulting you for assisting her
+wishes. I will again thank you for coming up here and will have
+the honor to wish you goodnight." With which he opened the door
+politely and bowed his visitor out.
+
+And when he was alone Count Roumovski sat down by the open window
+and puffed his cigar meditatively for some minutes, smiling
+quietly to himself as he mused:
+
+"Poor, stupid fellow! If people could only be honest enough with
+themselves to have a sensible point of view! It is all so simple
+if they would get down to the reason of things without all this
+false sentiment. Of what use to chain the body of a woman to one
+man if her spirit is with another? Of what use to talk of offended
+honor with high-sounding words when, if one were truthful, one
+would own it was offended vanity? Of what use for this narrow,
+foolish clergyman to protest and bombast and rave, underneath he
+is actuated by mostly human motives in his desire to marry my
+Stella? When will the world learn to be natural and see the truth?
+Love of the soul is the divine part of the business, but it cannot
+exist without love of the body. As well ask a man to live upon
+bread without water."
+
+Then he moved to his writing table and composed rapidly a letter
+to his beloved in which he recounted to her the result of the
+interview and the threats of her late fiance, and the humor in
+which he had quitted the room, and from that she might judge of
+what she must reasonably expect. He advised her, as he was unaware
+of how far the English authority of a guardian might go, to feign
+some fatigue and keep her room next day and on no account whatever
+to be persuaded to leave Rome or the hotel. He told her that in
+the morning he would endeavor to see her uncle and aunt, but if
+they refused this interview, he would write and ask formally for
+her hand, and if his request were treated with scorn, then she
+must be prepared to slip away with him to the Excelsior Hotel and
+be consigned to the care of the Princess Urazov, his sister, who
+would have arrived from Paris. The business part of the epistle
+over, he allowed himself half a page of love sentences--which
+caused Miss Rawson exquisite delight when she read them some
+moments later.
+
+She had not gone to bed directly, she was too excited and full of
+new emotions to be thinking of sleep, and when she heard Ivan's
+gentle tap at her door she crept to it and whispered without
+opening it:
+
+"Who is there?"
+
+A low voice answered: "Une lettre pour mademoiselle." And the
+epistle was slipped into the little box for letters on the door.
+She went back to her wide window and looked out on the darkness
+after she had read it. She saw there would be trouble ahead, she
+knew Eustace Medlicott's obstinate spirit very well, and also the
+rigid convention of Aunt Caroline--but to what lengths they would
+go she formulated no guess.
+
+It all seemed so secure and happy and calm now with such a man to
+lean upon as Sasha Roumovski. Nothing need ruffle or frighten her
+ever any more. And then she read the love sentences again and
+thrilled and quivered there in the warm, soft night. Sasha
+Roumovski's influence over her had grown so strong that not a
+questioning speculation as to the step she meant to take any
+longer entered her head. She felt she knew at last what love's
+meaning truly was, and nothing else mattered in the world--which,
+indeed, was the truth!
+
+Meanwhile, the Reverend Eustace Medlicott, burning with fury, had
+stalked to his room, and there tried to think of what he had
+better do. He feared it was too late to communicate with Canon and
+Mrs. Ebley--they would have retired to bed, and Stella, also. Here
+his thoughts were brought up with violent suddenness. Was she
+quite safe? Heavens above! and he turned quite cold--foreigners
+might be capable of any outrage--but presently he dismissed this
+fear. People always locked their doors in hotels, and Stella,
+though she had apparently shown herself sadly unworthy of his
+regard, was a thoroughly well brought-up young woman, and would
+not be likely to bandy words in the night with any young man. But
+on the morrow he would insist upon their all leaving the hotel and
+Rome itself--no more chances of her communicating with this
+hateful Russian count should be risked.
+
+As the Ebley party had only arrived three days ago in the city, it
+was clearly impossible that the affair could have gone far, and as
+he had heard of their sightseeing and knew Mrs. Ebley would be
+extremely unlikely to allow Stella out of her sight in any case,
+he could not imagine how his fiancee and the Russian could have
+found a chance to speak--and even a foreigner could not persuade a
+woman into this course of action in half an hour's talk at the
+Embassy! The whole thing must be the ravings of a madman, nothing
+more, and Stella herself would be the first to explain that point
+on the morrow.
+
+But even this comforting thought could not quite calm him--there
+remained disquieting recollections of certain forcible arguments
+he had been obliged to listen to against his will which had hit
+some part of his inner consciousness usually impregnably protected
+by his self-conceit. And it was an hour or two before he was able
+to drink his barley water and retire to rest, which he felt he
+badly needed after his long journey and uncomfortably exciting
+evening.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+The sun was blazing gloriously next day, the whole air was full of
+freshness and spring and youth. An ideal one for lovers, and not
+at all the atmosphere for anger and strife. But these facts did
+not enter into the consideration of three of the people, at least,
+connected with our little comedy.
+
+Eustace Medlicott woke more full of wrath than he had been the
+night before, and, the moment he was dressed, proceeded to make
+havoc with the peace of the Reverend Canon and Mrs. Ebley. He sent
+up an urgent summons that they would see him immediately. Having
+no sitting-room, he suggested the reading-room, which would be
+empty at this hour.
+
+The Aunt Caroline had experienced some misgivings herself at the
+Embassy about her niece's absence with the foreign count, who had
+risen to this distinctive appellation in her mind from "that
+dreadful man," but she had felt it more prudent not to comment
+upon her apprehensions to her niece. Eustace evidently had
+discovered further cause of resentment and feminine curiosity
+assisted her to dress with greater rapidity than usual.
+
+The pair entered the room with grave faces and took two
+uncomfortable chairs.
+
+The Reverend Mr. Medlicott remained standing, and soon, from his
+commanding position, let them hear his version of the hated
+foreigner's communications. They were duly horrified and surprised
+and then Mrs. Ebley bridled a little--after all, it was the
+behavior of her own niece upon which aspersion was being cast.
+
+"I am certain, Eustace, the man must be mad--I assure you, Stella
+has not been for an instant absent from me, except yesterday
+morning she went to the Thermes Museum with Martha, whom you know
+has proved by twenty-five years of faithful service that she can
+be completely trusted, therefore the girl cannot have had any
+opportunity of conversing with this stranger until last night. It
+would be only fair to question her first--"
+
+"My wife is quite right," Canon Ebley agreed. "We should listen to
+no more until Stella is here to defend herself. Let us send a
+message for her to descend at once."
+
+He went and rang the bell as he spoke, and the summons to Miss
+Rawson was dispatched. Then the three somewhat uncomfortably tried
+to exchange platitudes upon indifferent subjects until the waiter
+returned.
+
+Mademoiselle was very fatigued and was not yet up! Such an unheard
+of thing petrified them all with astonishment. Stella to be still
+in bed, at half past nine in the morning! The child must be ill!--
+or it was distinct rebellion. Mrs. Ebley prepared to go and
+investigate matters when another waiter entered with a note for
+Canon Ebley, and stood aside to receive the answer.
+
+"Dear, dear!" said that gentleman to his wife, "I have not my
+glasses with me, I came down in such a hurry. Will you read it to
+me?"
+
+But Mrs. Ebley was in a like plight, so they were obliged to
+enlist the services of Eustace Medlicott.
+
+He knew the writing directly he glanced at it and every move of
+his body stiffened with renewed anger. And it is to be feared he
+said to himself, "it is from that cursed man."
+
+He read it aloud, and it was the briefest and most courteous note
+asking for the honor of an interview at whatever time would be
+most agreeable to Canon Ebley. The nature of the business to be
+discussed at it was not stated.
+
+"I strongly advise you not to see the scoundrel," Mr. Medlicott
+said vehemently. "It is far better that we should all leave Rome
+immediately and avoid any chance of scandal."
+
+"Before we can decide anything," Mrs. Ebley said decisively, "I
+must speak with my niece. If she is quite ignorant of this
+foreigner's ravings, then there will be no necessity to alter our
+trip--we can merely move to another hotel. The whole thing is most
+unpleasant and irritating and has quite upset me."
+
+Stella, upstairs in her cosy bed, had meanwhile received another
+note from her lover. Full of tenderness and encouragement, it made
+her feel as bold as a young lioness and ready to brave any attack.
+That her aunt had not been to see why she was not dressed already
+was filling her with surprise, and after the waiter had brought
+the message she guessed the reason why.
+
+A firm tap to the door presently and her Aunt Caroline's voice
+saying sternly. "It is I, Stella, please let me in at once."
+
+Miss Rawson got out of bed, unlocked the door and bounded back
+again, and a figure of dignified displeasure sailed into the room.
+
+"Are you ill, my dear?" Mrs. Ebley asked, in a stern voice. "It is
+otherwise very strange that you should not be dressed at this
+hour--it is a quarter to ten o'clock."
+
+"No, I am not exactly ill, Aunt Caroline," Stella answered gently,
+"but I was very tired, and as I was making up my mind what I
+should say in my letter to Eustace to break off my engagement--I
+preferred not to come down until I had done so."
+
+The Aunt Caroline could not believe her ears. She was obliged to
+sit down. Her emotion made her knees tremble. It was true then--
+something had been going on under her very eyes and she had not
+perceived it--the deceit and perfidy of human nature had always
+been a shock to her--
+
+"You wish to break your engagement, Stella," she said, as soon as
+she could steady her voice. "But you cannot possibly do so
+scandalous a thing--and for what reason, pray?"
+
+"I find I do not love Eustace," Stella answered calmly, although
+her heart now began to beat rapidly. "I know I never have loved
+him; it was only because I thought it would please you and Uncle
+Erasmus that I ever became engaged to him, and now that I know
+what love is--I mean now that the time is getting nearer, I feel
+that I cannot go through with it."
+
+"There is something underneath all this, Stella," Mrs. Ebley said
+icily. "You cannot deceive me. You have been led astray, girl--it
+is wiser to confess at once and I will try to pardon you."
+
+Stella's spirit rose--she raised her head proudly, then she
+remembered her lover's counsel to have no arguments whatsoever,
+and so she curbed her heated words and continued gently:
+
+"I have not been led astray, Aunt Caroline, and there is nothing
+to pardon. I am twenty-one years old now and surely can judge for
+myself whether or no I wish to marry a man--and I have decided I
+do not intend to marry Eustace Medlicott. I almost feel I detest
+him."
+
+Mrs. Ebley was petrified with anger and astonishment.
+
+"I am sorry to tell you I cannot believe you, Stella," she said,
+"your fiance had a most unpleasant shock last night. The foreign
+person, Count Roumovski, who was presented to us at the Embassy,
+insulted him greatly, and told him that you had agreed to marry
+him as soon as Eustace should set you free! I almost blush to
+repeat to you this shocking story which we had considered the
+ravings of a madman, but the time has come when we must have some
+plain speaking."
+
+"It has indeed," Stella agreed, her wrath rising, then went on
+respectfully, "but I must refuse to discuss anything about Count
+Roumovski at present. Please believe me that I do not wish to
+annoy you, dear Aunt Caroline. I only wish to do what is right,
+and I know it is right to break off my engagement with Eustace
+Medlicott."
+
+Mrs. Ebley felt her anger augmenting to boiling point, but
+nothing, she could say had any effect upon her niece, who remained
+extremely respectful and gentle, but perfectly firm. Mrs. Ebley
+could not get her to tell her anything about her acquaintance with
+this dreadful foreigner. She became silent after she had refused
+point blank to discuss him. At last the baffled and exasperated
+older lady got up and fired her last shot.
+
+"Words cannot express my pain and disgust at your conduct,
+Stella," she said. "Putting aside all the awful suspicions I have
+about this Russian, you will lay up for yourself a lifelong regret
+in outraging all decency by refusing to marry that good and pure
+young clergyman, Eustace Medlicott."
+
+"I have done nothing wrong, Aunt Caroline, please do not go away
+angry with me," Stella pleaded. "When Count Roumovski asks Uncle
+Erasmus' and your consent to his marrying me--then I will tell you
+everything about him,--but now I do not wish to. Please forgive me
+for causing you pain--we shall all be very happy soon, and surely
+I have a right to my life like any other person."
+
+Mrs. Ebley would not bandy further words; their points of view
+were too different.
+
+"I regret that I am obliged to request you to keep your room and
+have no communication with anyone whatever until I can consult
+with your uncle and Eustace as to what is the best thing to do
+with you. That we shall leave Rome immediately you may be prepared
+for."
+
+Stella here burst into tears. She had an affection for her aunt,
+who had always been kind to her in a hard, cold way, and she was
+deeply grieved at their estrangement, but there were forces in
+life which she knew now mattered more than any aunts in the world.
+
+Mrs. Ebley did not relent at the sound of the sobbing, but left
+the room, closing the door firmly after her. And a few minutes
+afterward Martha was let in by the chambermaid without knocking
+and sat down grimly by the window and began to knit.
+
+Then Stella's tears turned to resentment. To be insulted so! To
+have a servant sent to watch her was more than she would bear. But
+as she turned in bed she felt her lover's note touch her and like
+a magic wand a thrill of comfort rushed through her. After all, he
+would settle things for her--and meanwhile she would close her
+eyes and pretend to sleep. So with her precious love letter
+clasped tight in her hand under the clothes she turned her face to
+the wall and shut her eyes.
+
+Meanwhile, Canon Ebley and the Reverend Eustace Medlicott were
+spending a very disagreeable time in the reading-room. Relieved of
+Mrs. Ebley's presence, Eustace had recounted more fully the
+interview he had had with Sasha Roumovski the night before. He was
+not a very accurate person and apt to color everything with his
+own prejudice, so Canon Ebley did not obtain a very clear idea of
+the Russian's arguments. They seemed to him to be very unorthodox
+and carnal and reprehensible from all points. But it was evident
+they were dealing with a clever and dangerous character and Stella
+must be rescued from such a person's influence and married off to
+her lawful fiance at once.
+
+"We could have the ceremony here, Eustace, in three weeks' time,
+or we could go back to England immediately, for until our niece is
+your wife I am sure her aunt and myself will not feel easy about
+her."
+
+"Nor I either," Mr. Medlicott returned, and at that moment the
+Aunt Caroline entered the room and gradually disclosed the awful
+truth she had arrived at from Miss Rawson's admissions.
+
+"That dreadful foreigner must he told at once we refuse to have
+any communication with him and Stella shall be kept locked in her
+room until we can leave Rome," Mrs. Ebley said sternly. "I could
+not have believed my own sister's child could have behaved so
+disgracefully."
+
+"Dear, dear," said Canon Ebley, "but we must get at the facts of
+when she has been able to see this Russian. It is impossible that
+the present state of things could have arisen from merely last
+night at the Embassy."
+
+At this stage of the proceedings, it being a public room, Count
+Roumovski entered it serenely and, coming toward the group, made a
+stiff bow to each in turn.
+
+"I believe you have received my letter, sir," he said, addressing
+Canon Ebley, "but, as I have had no reply, I ventured to present
+myself without further delay--"
+
+"We do not wish for any communication from you," Eustace Medlicott
+hastened to announce before either of the others could speak. "I
+have informed Canon and Mrs. Ebley of your disgraceful conduct and
+that is sufficient. We shall discuss nothing further."
+
+"I was not addressing you, sir," Count Roumovski returned mildly.
+"My business with you terminated last night." And he turned his
+shoulders to the irate junior chaplain and looked Canon Ebley
+straight in the face. "I am here to ask for the hand of your
+niece, Miss Rawson, as she is now free from other engagements, and
+with her full consent I desire to make her my wife."
+
+"Come, Erasmus," Mrs. Ebley said with icy dignity. "Let us go up
+to our apartment and if this person annoys us further we can
+complain to the manager of the hotel," then, with an annihilating
+glance, she took her husband's arm and drew him toward the door.
+
+"As you will, madame," and the Russian gentleman bowed with
+respectful serenity. "It would have been more sensible to have
+taken my request otherwise, but it is, after all, quite
+immaterial. I will wish you a good-day," and he bowed again as
+Canon Ebley and his outraged spouse sailed from the room--and,
+with an exclamation of suppressed fury, Eustace Medlicott followed
+in their wake.
+
+Then Count Roumovski laughed softly to himself and, sitting down
+at a writing-table, wrote a letter to his beloved. His whole plan
+of life was simple and direct. He had done what he considered was
+necessary in the affair, he had behaved with perfect openness and
+honor in his demand, and if these people could not see the thing
+from a common sense point of view, they were no longer to be
+considered. He would take the law into his own hands.
+
+When he had finished his note he went straight up in the lift to
+the corridor where Stella's room was and there saw in the distance
+her raging and discomfited late betrothed evidently keeping watch
+and ward. Count Roumovski did not hesitate a second; he advanced
+to the door and knocked firmly on the panel, slipping his letter
+through the little slide for such things before Mr. Medlicott
+could bound forward and prevent him.
+
+"A letter for you, mademoiselle, from me, Sasha Roumovski," he
+said in French in a loud enough voice for the occupant of the room
+to hear, and then he stood still for a second, as both men heard
+Stella jump from her bed and rush to the door to take the missive
+before Martha from the place at the window could intercept it.
+
+"Do not dare to touch that, Martha," they heard her voice say
+haughtily, and then she called out, "Sasha, I have it safe and I
+will do exactly as you direct."
+
+Count Roumovski looked at Eustace Medlicott, who stood as a
+spread-eagle in front of the door--and then, smiling, went calmly
+on his way.
+
+The Reverend Mr. Medlicott shook with burning rage. He was being
+made to look ridiculous and he was absolutely impotent to
+retaliate in any way. He would bring scandal upon them all if
+waiters and other guests saw him guarding Miss Rawson's actual
+door, and he could not sit outside like a valet; the whole thing
+was unspeakably maddening, and murderous thoughts flooded his
+brain.
+
+"Give me that letter this minute, Stella," he said in an almost
+inarticulate voice through the keyhole, he was so shaken with
+passion. "Open the door and let Martha hand it to me. You are
+disgracing us all."
+
+"It is you who are doing that, Eustace," Stella said from beyond
+the panel, lifting the slide that her voice might be heard
+distinctly. "You have no authority over me at all. I told Aunt
+Caroline I did not intend to continue my engagement with you--but
+even if I had not decided to break it off, this conduct of yours
+would now be sufficient reason. How dare you all treat me as
+though I were a naughty child or insane!"
+
+"Because you are both," Mr. Medlicott returned, "and must be
+controlled and compelled into a proper behavior."
+
+Stella was silent--she would not be so undignified as to parley
+further. She got back into bed, taking not the slightest notice of
+the maid, and then proceeded to read her letter.
+
+Her lover had explained in it the situation and advised her to
+dress at once, and then if menaced in any way to ring the bell.
+Ivan would be waiting outside to obey her slightest orders, and to
+warn his master if any fresh moves were made, so that when the
+waiter or chambermaid came in answer to her summons she might be
+sure of extra help at hand. Then she was to walk out and down into
+the hall, where he, Sasha, would be watching for her and ready to
+take her to the Excelsior Hotel, where that same evening would
+arrive the Princess Urazov. "But if they do not molest you,
+dearest," he wrote, "do not leave your room until seven o'clock,
+because I wish my sister to be in the hall ready to receive you
+that your family can see that I only desire to do everything
+right."
+
+And as she finished reading, Stella got up and told Martha to
+prepare her things.
+
+"I have no orders from Mrs. Ebley for that, Miss Stella," the
+woman answered sullenly. "I do wonder what has come over
+everybody. I never was in such an uncomfortable position in my
+life."
+
+Stella made no answer, but proceeded to dress herself, and then
+sat down to read again the letters she had received in the last
+twenty-four hours.
+
+If her family, who knew her, could treat her in this abominable
+way, when she had committed no fault except the very human one of
+desiring to be the arbiter of her own fate, she surely owed no
+further obedience to them. So she waited calmly for a fresh turn
+of events.
+
+Her luncheon was brought up on a tray by the waiter, and some for
+Martha also, and the two ate in silence, until Stella suddenly
+burst into a merry peal of laughter, it was so grotesquely comic!
+A grown up English girl in these days locked in her room with a
+dragon duenna gaoler!
+
+"Martha, isn't it too funny, the whole thing!" she said, between
+her gurgles. "Can't you laugh, you old goose! and to think how
+sorry you will be, you were so horrid, when I am gone, because, of
+course, you know you cannot keep me once I make up my mind to go."
+
+"Mrs. Ebley said I was to have no conversation with you, Miss,"
+Martha said, glumly, at which Stella laughed afresh.
+
+Meanwhile Count Roumovski had made all arrangements at the
+Excelsior Hotel, and after lunch sat quietly in the hall awaiting
+his beloved. Mrs. Ebley had felt too upset to go down to the
+restaurant, so the two clergymen were there alone, and glanced
+wrathfully at the imperturbable face of Count Roumovski seated at
+his usual table, with his air of detached aloofness and perfect
+calm. They, on the contrary, were so boiling with rage that they
+knew not what they ate.
+
+After lunch it had been decided that the party should leave the
+Grand and take the five o'clock train to Florence, and their
+preparations were made.
+
+Mrs. Ebley had herself been laboriously packing so as not to take
+Martha from her post, and orders were whispered to that faithful
+Abigail through Stella's letter slide to pack Miss Rawson's things
+at once.
+
+Stella watched these preparations serenely, and gave Martha
+directions as to what to put on the top. Then when all was
+finished and she had donned her hat, she rang the electric bell
+for the waiter, and when he knocked at the door she calmly bade
+him enter, which, of course, he was able to do with his key, and
+she told him in French, which Martha did not understand, to send
+the porters there immediately, and have her luggage consigned to
+the care of the servant who would be waiting in the passage. This
+person would give orders for its destination. The waiter bowed
+obsequiously. Had he not been already heavily tipped by this
+intelligent Ivan, and instructed instantly to obey the orders of
+mademoiselle?"
+
+"It is much better I am before them," Stella thought to herself,
+while Martha looked on in rageful bafflement.
+
+"The porters will come up and take the trunks outside, Martha,"
+Miss Rawson said. "You can give them what orders aunt told you
+to."
+
+Such was her supreme confidence in the methods of her lover that
+she felt sure once Ivan was apprised of the fact by the waiter
+that the trunks would be consigned to him it would not matter what
+Martha said to the porters! So she calmly sat down by the window
+and folded her hands, while the elderly maid fumed with the
+uncertainty of what she ought to do. And in a few moments the men
+appeared, and smilingly seemed to understand the gestures and
+English orders of Martha to take the trunks to the door of Madam
+Ebley, number 325, round the corner of the passage and on the
+opposite side.
+
+They nodded their heads wisely and carried the box out, shutting
+the door after them, and then there was silence for a while; and
+Stella half-dozed in her chair, it was so warm and peaceful by the
+window and she had had so little sleep in the night.
+
+An hour passed, and at four o'clock the Aunt Caroline appeared.
+Her face was grim. Had Stella been an outcast in deed and word she
+could not have looked more disdainful.
+
+"You must come down with me now, Stella," she said, "we are ready
+to go to the station. I will remain with you here until Martha
+gets her hat."
+
+Stella rose to her feet and before the astonished lady could speak
+more, she had swiftly passed her and gained the door, which she
+threw open, and, like a fawn, rushed down the passage toward the
+staircase entrance side of the hotel, and by the time her slowly
+moving aunt had emerged from the room she had turned the corner
+and was out of sight.
+
+Fortunately, she met no one on the stairs except one astonished
+page, and arrived in the outer corridor breathless with excitement
+and emotion.
+
+Count Roumovski saw her through the door of the hall, and hastened
+to meet her.
+
+"There is not a moment to be lost," she said, as he got to her
+side.
+
+"Go to the place you went before under the trees," he whispered
+hurriedly in return. "The automobile is there, and I will follow
+presently." So she went.
+
+Her knees would hardly support her, she trembled so, until she was
+safe in the big blue motor, which moved off at once. For an awful
+moment a hideous sense of terror overcame her, making her cold.
+What lay in front of her? What new fate?--and then joy and life
+came back. She was going to freedom and love-away from Exminster
+and dreary duties--away from Eustace Medlicott, for ever! For, of
+course, her uncle and aunt would come round in time, and they
+could be happy again with her some day.
+
+When Mrs. Ebley had collected her scattered senses and followed
+down the passage only to find Stella out of sight, she was obliged
+to retrace her steps and rejoin her husband and Mr. Medlicott, who
+were awaiting her at the lift on the other side, the restaurant
+end, which was the one they were accustomed to descend by.
+
+"She ran away from me, Erasmus!" the agitated lady cried, "passed
+me without a word, and I suppose has gone down the stairs--if we
+hasten in the lift we shall catch her yet."
+
+But as they frantically rang the bell and the lift boy did not
+come, Eustace Medlicott, with a most unsaintly exclamation,
+hastened off by that staircase and arrived in the hall to see the
+hated Russian calmly smoking his cigarette and reading an English
+paper.
+
+He advanced upon him regardless of the numbers of people beginning
+to assemble for tea.
+
+"What have you done with Miss Rawson?" he asked furiously. "She
+has this moment run away from her aunt."
+
+"I have nothing to converse with you about," Count Roumovski
+returned, with mild surprise. "And, as I see it is four o'clock, I
+must wish you a good-day, as I have an appointment," with which he
+rose quietly before the other could prevent him, and crossed the
+broad path of carpet which separates the groups of chairs, and
+there was seen to enter into earnest conversation with a Russian-
+looking individual who had just entered.
+
+The Reverend Mr. Medlicott was nonplussed, and hurried into the
+front vestibule, where he made rapid inquiries of the hall-porter.
+
+Yes--the young lady, he believed, had walked out of the hotel not
+two minutes before. Monsieur would overtake her certainly, if he
+hastened. And the frantic young man rushed from the door, through
+the porte cochere, and so to the street, but all he saw in the far
+distance was a retreating large, blue automobile--and this
+conveyed among all the rest of the traffic no impression whatever.
+
+To search for Stella was hopeless; the only thing to do was to
+return to the Ebleys, and with them go to the Embassy. There they
+could, perhaps, get advice and help how to communicate with the
+police.
+
+But what an ignominious position for a Bishop's junior chaplain to
+be placed in, a humiliation in every way!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+When Stella found the automobile drawing up at a strange hotel's
+doors her tremors broke out afresh, until she saw the face of
+Ivan, who, with the porter, came forward to meet her, saying
+respectfully in French, would mademoiselle be pleased to mount
+directly to the rooms reserved for the Princess Urazov? And soon,
+without anyone questioning her, she found herself being taken up
+in the lift, and finally ushered into a charming sitting-room full
+of flowers.
+
+Here she sat down and trembled again. The wildest excitement
+filled her veins. Would Sasha never come! She could not sit still,
+she walked from bouquet to bouquet of roses and carnations,
+sniffing the scent, and at last subsided into a big armchair, as
+the waiters brought in some tea.
+
+He thought of everything for her, then--her lover. But oh, why did
+he not come!
+
+She had finished her tea and had begun her restless pacing again,
+when, with a gentle tap, the door opened, and Count Roumovski
+appeared.
+
+"Sasha!" she cried, and advanced toward him like a frightened
+child.
+
+His usually calm blue eyes were blazing with some emotion which
+disturbed her greatly, she knew not why, and his voice seemed to
+have taken a tone of extra deepness, as he said:
+
+"Stella! My little star! And so you are really here--and my own!"
+
+He put his strong hands down and held on to the back of a chair,
+and simple as she was she knew very well that otherwise he would
+have taken her into his arms, which was where she was longing to
+be, if she had known.
+
+"Yes, I have come," she whispered, "I have left them all--for you.
+Oh! when will your sister be here?"
+
+"Not until six o'clock, darling," he answered, while his eyes
+melted upon her with passionate love. "There is an hour yet to
+wait. I had hoped you would not have been forced to leave your
+aunt's care until then."
+
+"Oh! I am delighted to have come away," Stella answered, regaining
+some of her composure. "I was shut into my room and watched by a
+servant. It was awful! But do--you know what has happened now?
+since I left? Are they tearing about after me, or what?"
+
+Count Roumovski still held on to the back of the chair, and his
+voice was still deep, as he said:
+
+"I believe they have gone to your Embassy in a band--and much good
+may they get there. You are of age, you see. Besides, I have taken
+care that no one at the Grand Hotel knows where we have gone, and
+it will take them quite an hour or two to telephone about and find
+out--and by that time my sister will have arrived, and we can defy
+them."
+
+"Yes," said Stella, and then, nervously, "won't you have some
+tea?"
+
+He sat down, still constrainedly and clasped his hands, and
+womanlike, when she saw his agitation, her own lessened, and she
+assumed command, while she asked almost archly if he took cream
+and sugar.
+
+He liked neither, he said, and with the air of a little hostess
+she handed him the cup. Then she smiled softly and stood quite
+near him.
+
+He drew himself together and his face looked almost stern as he
+took the tea, and over Stella there crept a chill--and the gay
+little speech that had been bubbling to her lips died there, and a
+silence fell upon them for a few moments. Then he put down his cup
+and crossed to the stiff sofa where she was, and sat down beside
+her.
+
+"Sweetheart," he said, looking deeply into her eyes, "it is a
+colossal temptation, you know, to me to make love to you. But I am
+not going to permit myself that happiness yet. I want to tell you
+all about what we shall do presently, and see if it pleases you."
+He did not even take her hand, and Stella felt rather aggrieved
+and wounded. "I propose that as soon as the formalities can be got
+through, and the wedding can take place, that we go straight to
+Paris--because you will want to get all kinds of clothes. And it
+will be such a delight to me to give you everything you wish for."
+
+Stella smiled shyly. It seemed suddenly to bring realities of
+things before her with keen force. He would have the right to give
+her everything in the world--this man whom she did not really
+know, but whom she felt she loved very much. She clasped her hands
+and a thrill ran through her. What, what did it all mean? The idea
+of her marriage with Eustace Medlicott had always appeared as an
+ugly vision, an end to everything, a curtain which was yet drawn
+over a view which could only be all dusk and gray shadows, and
+which she would rather not contemplate. But now the thought of
+going away and beginning a new existence with Sasha Roumovski was
+something so glorious and delicious that she quivered with joy at
+any reference to it.
+
+Her little movement and the clasping of her hands affected him
+profoundly. He, too, quivered, but with the stern effort to
+control himself. It was part of his code of honor. Not the
+slightest advantage must be taken of the situation while Stella
+was alone and unchaperoned, although the very fact of their
+propinquity and the knowledge of their solitude were extremely
+exciting to him, who knew the meaning of every emotion. He drew a
+little away from her, and said in a voice that sounded cold:
+
+"I have seen the consul this afternoon. It will take three weeks,
+I am afraid, before we can be legally married here in Rome. It
+seems an eternity to me."
+
+"Yes," agreed Stella, and suddenly looked down. She wished
+intensely that he would caress her a little--although she was
+unaware of the desire. She wondered vaguely--was it then very
+wicked to make love, since Sasha, too, like Eustace, seemed as if
+he were resisting something with all his strength? And
+unconsciously she pouted her red underlip, and Count Roumovski
+moved convulsively.
+
+"My sister's room is next to this," he said, "and yours is beyond.
+I have had only roses put there, because you are like a sweet June
+rose."
+
+"Am I?" said Miss Rawson, and raised her head. She had grown
+extremely excited and disappointed, and, she knew not what, only
+that she did not like this new lover of hers to be sitting there
+constrained and aloof, talking in a stiff voice unlike his usual
+easy grace. It was perfectly ridiculous to have run away with some
+one with whom she was passionately in love, if he were going to
+remain as cold as ice!
+
+She got up and took a rose from a vase and fastened it in her
+dress. The whole movement and action had the unconscious coquetry
+of a woman's methods to gain her end. Totally unaccustomed as
+Stella was to all artifices, instinct was her teacher.
+
+Sasha Roumovski rose suddenly.
+
+"Come and sit here beside me again, heart of mine," he commanded
+with imperious love, and indicated the stiff Louis XIV sofa. "I
+must explain everything to you, it would seem."
+
+Stella had never heard this tone in his voice before; it caused
+her strange delight, and she shyly took her seat at one end of the
+sofa, and then, as he flung himself down beside her, she looked up
+at him.
+
+"What must you explain?" she asked.
+
+"First, that I love you madly, that it is sickening temptation to
+be with you now every instant without holding you in my arms," and
+his voice trembled, while his blue eyes glowed. "That I do not
+know how to resist the wild passion which is overcoming me. I want
+to kiss you so terribly, more than I have ever wanted anything in
+my life."
+
+"We-ll?" said Stella, with a quiver of exquisite joy. "And--" she
+had almost spoken her thought of, "Why do you not do so, then?"--
+but the burning passion she read in his made her drop her eyes.
+This was too much for him. He understood perfectly, and, with a
+little cry, he drew her to him, and his lips had almost touched
+her red, young, pouting lips when he suddenly controlled himself
+and put her from him.
+
+"No, sweetheart," he said hoarsely, "you would never respect me
+any more if I took advantage of your tenderness now. As soon--as
+soon as I really may, I will teach you every shade of love and its
+meanings. I will kiss those lips and unloosen that hair; I will
+suffocate you with caresses and make you thrill as I shall thrill
+until we both forget everything in the intoxication of bliss," and
+he half-closed his eyes, and his face grew pale again with
+suppressed emotion.
+
+"Oh, I do not understand at all," Stella said, in a disappointed
+and perplexed voice. "Since we are going to be married, why would
+it be so very wrong for you to kiss me? I--I--" her small rueful
+face, with its sweet childlike irregular curves, looked almost
+pathetically comic, and Sasha leaned forward and covered his eyes
+with his hands. And then he mastered himself and laughed softly.
+
+"Oh, you adorable one!" he said. "It is not wrong--not the least
+wrong. Only presently, when you do understand, you will realize
+how very much I loved you to-day."
+
+But Stella was still pouting--and got up restlessly and went to
+the window.
+
+"What can they do when they get to the Embassy?" she asked. "Could
+they really take me back if they found me by telephoning round?"
+
+"I do not think so--if you are past twenty-one."
+
+"I was twenty-one in April. I am not a bit afraid of them, but I
+do not want to have any row."
+
+"When my sister has arrived you must write to your aunt, and tell
+where you are and what are your intentions, then all will be
+finished."
+
+"Oh, I wish she would come, don't you?" Stella said.
+
+"More than I can say, darling," he answered, fervently. "You will
+not, I hope, find me so incomprehensible then."
+
+He walked about the room once or twice, and at last paused in
+front of her.
+
+"Stella," he whispered, while his eyes blazed again, "I cannot
+bear it, little sweetheart, to stay all alone with you here. Will
+you forgive me, if I leave you until Anastasia has arrived? Go and
+rest in your room, darling, and I will go to the station to meet
+her. Ivan will remain outside your door and you will be quite
+safe."
+
+But Stella put out her hands like a frightened baby.
+
+"Oh. must you leave me?" she cried, pettishly. "You are very
+cruel! You make me almost wish I had not come."
+
+From having swum with love and passion his eyes suddenly gave
+forth a flash of steel, and his voice was like ice as he answered:
+
+"If that is so, mademoiselle, it is not too late. I would not
+exact any unwilling sacrifice. Shall I take you back again?"
+
+And then Stella's childishness melted and fell from her, and she
+became a real woman as she looked into his stern face.
+
+"No--" she said, "I will not go back. I am sorry I was so
+uncontrolled, but I am nervous--and I do not know exactly what I
+am--Sasha, please take care of me," and she held out her hands
+with a piteous gesture of asking for his protection, and moved
+beyond all power of further control he folded her in his arms.
+
+"My darling, my darling!" he murmured, frantically kissing her
+hair. But his iron will reasserted itself in a few seconds, and
+while he still held her he said with more calm:
+
+"Little star, you must never speak to me like that again, as you
+did just now, I mean. It was unreasonable and not kind, if you but
+knew! And I have a very arrogant temper, I fear, although I am
+nearly master of it, and shall be quite in time, I hope. We might
+have parted then and spoilt both our lives. Won't you believe me
+that I love--I adore you!" he went on tenderly. "I am madly
+longing to be for you the most passionate lover a woman ever had.
+It is only for your sake and for honor and our future happiness
+that I restrain myself now. You see I am not an Englishman who can
+accept half-measures. Do not make it impossible for me, sweet
+love!"
+
+His voice was almost a sob in its deep notes of pleading, and
+Stella was touched.
+
+"Oh! you are so dear and great," she answered fondly. "I am
+perhaps very wicked to have tempted you. If it would be wrong for
+you to kiss me, which I cannot understand, it is--oh, it is
+because I love you like that, too!"
+
+At this ingenuous admission, passion nearly overcame him again,
+and he held her so tightly it seemed as if he must crush out her
+very breath. Then he put her from him and walked toward the door.
+
+"I dare not stay another second," he said, in a strangled voice.
+"Ivan will guard your room, and my sister will come to you soon.
+Do as I tell you, beloved one, and then all will be well."
+
+With which he opened the door, and left her standing by the sofa
+quivering with a strange joy and perplexity--and some other wild
+emotion of which she had not dreamed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+It seemed an endless time the hour that she waited in her room,
+and then a knock came to the door, and Ivan's voice saying his
+master desired her presence in the sitting-room at once, and she
+hurriedly went there to find Count Roumovski standing by the
+mantelpiece looking very grave.
+
+"Stella," he said, "there has been an accident to the train my
+sister was to have arrived by--it is not serious, but she cannot
+be here now until the early morning perhaps--unless I send the
+automobile to Viterbo for her. The line is blocked by a broken-
+down goods train which caused the disaster," he paused a moment,
+and Stella said, "Well?" rather anxiously.
+
+"It will be impossible for us to remain here," he continued,
+"because it may be that your relations, aided by the Embassy, will
+have traced us before then, and if they should come upon us alone
+together, nothing that I could say or prove could keep the
+situation from looking compromising,"--he now spoke with his old
+calm, and Stella felt her confidence reviving. He would certainly
+arrange what was best for them, she could rely upon that.
+
+"What must we do then?" she asked gently, while she put her head
+on the sleeve of his coat.
+
+"I will wrap you up in the fur cloak, darling," he said, "and you
+must come in the automobile with me to meet Anastasia. Your family
+must not find you again until your are in my sister's company. We
+ought to start at once."
+
+It spoke eloquently for the impression which he had been able to
+create in Stella's imagination of his integrity and reliability,
+for the thought never entered her brain that it was a most unusual
+and even hazardous undertaking to start out into the night in a
+foreign land with a stranger she had not yet known for a week. But
+that was the remarkable thing about his personality; it conveyed
+always an atmosphere of trust and confidence.
+
+It was not long before Miss Rawson was ready, wrapped in the long
+gray cloak she had worn before, and with the veil tied over her
+hat, and was descending in the lift alone with Ivan--her lover
+having gone on by the stairs.
+
+Their departure was managed with intelligence. Stella and the
+servant simply walking out of the hotel and down the street to
+where the car waited, and then presently Count Roumovski joined
+them, and they started.
+
+"Ivan will remain behind to answer any questions if the reverend
+clergyman and your aunt do come," he said, when they were seated
+in the car in the settling sunlight. "And now, sweetheart, we can
+enjoy our drive."
+
+Stella felt deliciously excited, all the exultation of adventure
+thrilling her, and the joy of her lover's presence. She cared not
+where they were going, it was all heaven.
+
+"We shall stop at a little restaurant for some dinner," he said,
+"it will be rather bad, but we must not mind, it would not have
+been wise to risk any well-known place," and soon they drew up at
+a small cafe on the outskirts of Rome, where there were a few
+people already seated at little tables under the trees. They were
+all Italians, and took no notice of the Russian and his lady.
+
+It was the greatest amusement to them both, this primitive place,
+and to be all alone ordering their first meal together, and Sasha
+Roumovski exerted himself to charm and please her. He had
+recovered complete mastery of himself, it would seem, and his
+manner, while tenderly devoted, had an air of proprietorship which
+affected Stella exceedingly.
+
+They spent an enchanting half hour, as gay as two children, with
+all the exquisite under-current of love in their talk; and then
+they got into the motor again.
+
+"Let us have it open," Count Roumovski said. "The evening drive
+will be divine."
+
+And Stella agreed.
+
+The road to Viterbo is far from good, one of those splendid routes
+which lead from Rome which ought to be so perfect and in reality
+are a mass of ruts and pitfalls for the unwary. The jolting of the
+car constantly threw Stella almost into her lover's arms, who was
+sitting as aloof as possible. He had gradually become nearly
+silent, and sat there holding her hand under the rug, using the
+whole of his strong will to suppress his rising emotion.
+
+The beautiful colors of the lights of evening over the Campagna;
+the sense of the spring time and the knowledge that she belonged
+to him heart and body and soul were madly intoxicating as they
+rushed through the air. He dared not let himself caress her
+gently, which he might have permitted himself to do, and he held
+her little hand so tightly it was almost pain to her.
+
+As for Stella, she was profoundly in love. Her whole nature seemed
+to be awaking and blooming with a new grace and meaning. Her soft
+eyes, which glanced at him in the glowing dusk, swam with
+tenderness and unconscious passion, and once she let her head rest
+upon his shoulder, when a violent jerk threw her toward him, and
+at last he encircled her with his arm and there they sat trembling
+together, she with she knew not what, and he very well knowing,
+and fighting with temptation.
+
+Thus they spent an hour in a bliss that was growing to agony for
+him, and then it grew perfectly dark, and the stars came out in
+myriads in the deep blue sky, and on in front of them the
+headlights of the motor made a flaming path in the night.
+
+And all this while he had resisted his strong desires, and never
+even kissed her.
+
+At last human endurance came to an end, and he said to her almost
+fiercely:
+
+"Stella, my beloved one, I cannot bear this, I can no longer
+answer for myself. I shall settle you comfortably among the furs
+where you must try to sleep, and I shall go outside with the
+chauffeur. If I were to stay--"
+
+And something in the tone of his voice and in his eyes made her at
+last have some dim, incomprehensible fear, and yet exaltation, and
+so she did not try to dissuade him, and soon was alone endeavoring
+to collect her thoughts and understand the situation.
+
+Thus eventually they reached Viterbo, and drew up at the station
+door, when Count Roumovski seemed to have regained his usual calm
+as he helped her out with tender solicitude. The passengers, they
+learned, were still in the train, half a mile up the line, waiting
+until it was cleared to go on to Rome.
+
+At last, after generous greasing of palms, permission was given
+for Count Roumovski to walk on and find his sister. And Stella was
+put back into the motor to await their coming.
+
+Her heart began to beat violently. What would she be like, this
+future sister-in-law? She must be very fond of Sasha to have come
+from Paris at a moment's notice like this, to do his bidding. It
+seemed a long time before she heard voices, and saw in the dim
+light two figures advancing from the station entrance, and then
+Count Roumovski opened the door of the automobile, and Stella
+started forward to get out.
+
+"Anastasia, this is my Stella," he said, in his deep voice. "You
+cannot see her plainly, but I tell you she is the sweetest little
+lady in the world, and you are to hasten to love each other as
+much as I love you both."
+
+Then in the half dark Stella stepped down and found herself
+embraced by a tall woman, while a voice as deep for a feminine one
+as Count Roumovski's was for a man whispered kind, nice things in
+the fluent English which brother and sister both used. And a
+feeling of warmth and security and happiness came over the poor
+child, to be in a haven of rest at last.
+
+"Now we shall all pack in and get to Rome before dawn," the
+princess said. "Sasha assures me the automobile will be faster
+than the train."
+
+So it was arranged, and, with Stella between them, the two
+Russians sat in the commodious back seat, and this time Count
+Roumovski allowed himself to encircle his beloved with his arm--
+and very often surreptitiously kissed her little ear and that
+delicious little curl of hair in her neck. She had taken off her
+hat, that its brim might not hit the princess, and had only the
+soft veil wound round her head, which loosened itself
+conveniently. This drive back to Rome was a time of pure
+enchantment to them both. And when the first streaks of dawn were
+coloring the sky they arrived at the door of the Excelsior Hotel,
+where Ivan had supper ordered and awaiting them.
+
+The princess proved to be a handsome woman when they got into the
+light, with the same short face and wide eyes as her brother.
+Stella and she made immediate friends, and before they parted to
+try and sleep the princess said:
+
+"Stella, that my brother loves you proves that you must be a very
+dear girl, that is what made me come from Paris at his
+instantaneous bidding. He is the most splendid character in the
+world, only don't cross his wishes. You will find it is no use,
+for one thing," and she laughed her deep laugh. "He always knows
+best."
+
+"I am sure he does," said Stella shyly. "I felt that at once, and
+so I did not hesitate."
+
+Next morning, when the three were seated at a merry early
+breakfast in the sitting-room discussing what should be said in
+Stella's letter to her Aunt Caroline, a loud knock came to the
+door, and, without waiting for a response, Canon Ebley and
+Stella's cousin, Mr. Deanwood, entered the room.
+
+The princess rose with dignity, draping her silk morning wrapper
+round her like a statue, and Stella stepped forward with
+outstretched hand.
+
+"Oh, Uncle Erasmus," she said gaily, before any of the party could
+speak, "I am so glad to see you. I was just going to write to Aunt
+Caroline to tell her where I am, quite safe, in case she was
+worried about me. Let me introduce you to my future sister-in-law,
+Princess Urazov, with whom I am staying. My fiance, Count
+Roumovski, you have met before."
+
+Afterwards she often wondered how this emancipated spirit of
+daring had ever come to her. But she felt so joyous, so full of
+love and happiness, that it seemed that she could not be afraid or
+annoyed with anyone in the world.
+
+"Stella, you are a shameless girl," Canon Ebley retorted in a
+horrified voice. "I refuse to admit that you are engaged to this
+gentleman. Your whole conduct has been a scandalous series of
+deceptions and you must be ready to return at once with your aunt
+and your affianced husband. They are following us here now."
+
+Then Stella used a weapon that she had more than once found
+effectual with her uncle. She flung herself into his arms and
+clasped him round the neck. He was a short, portly man, and from
+this position she began to cajole him--while Count Roumovski
+looked on with amused calm, and his sister, following his lead,
+remained unmoved also.
+
+Mr. Deanwood was the only restless person; he felt thoroughly
+uncomfortable and bored to death. He hated having been dragged
+into this family quarrel, and secretly sympathized with his cousin
+in her revolt at the thought of being Eustace Medlicott's wife.
+
+"Oh, dear Uncle Erasmus!" Stella purred, from the highly perturbed
+clergyman's neck, where she was burrowing her sweet head, rubbing
+her peach-like cheek against his whiskered cheek. "Don't say those
+dreadful things, I have not deceived anybody, I have known Count
+Roumovski since the day after we came to Rome, and--and--I love
+him very much, and you know I always thought Eustace a bore, and
+you must agree it is wicked to marry and not to love, so it must
+be good to, oh!--well, to marry the person you do love. What have
+you to say against it?"
+
+Canon Ebley tried to unclasp her arms from round his neck. He was
+terribly upset. To be sure, the girl was very dear to him, and had
+always been so sweet a niece, a truthful, obedient child from
+early infancy. Caroline had perhaps been a little hard--he had
+better hear the facts.
+
+"Dear me, dear me," he blurted out. "Well, well, tell me
+everything about the case, and, though I cannot consent to
+anything, I must do you the justice of hearing your side."
+
+"Won't you sit down here, sir?" Princess Urazov said, "and let my
+brother and your niece tell you their story. Mr. Deanwood, we met
+at Buda-Pesth two years ago--" and she turned to the young man and
+indicated that he should join her in the far window embrasure,
+which he did with alacrity, and from there they heard,
+interpolated in their personal conversation, scraps of the
+arguments going on between the three.
+
+Stella, assisted by her lover, told of her first talk and her
+drive, and their rapidly ripening affection for each other, and
+the girl looked so happy and so pleading. Then Count Roumovski
+took up the thread. He explained his position, and how his view of
+life had always been direct in its endeavor to see the truth and
+the meaning of things, and how to him love was the only possible
+reason in ethical morality for any marriage between two people.
+
+"It is merely a great degradation, otherwise, sir," he said
+earnestly.
+
+But here Canon Ebley was heard to protest that he could not
+understand a love which had sprung into being with such violence
+in the space of three days, and he felt very suspicious of its
+durability.
+
+"Oh, Uncle Erasmus, how can you say that!" Stella interrupted him.
+"Why, you have often said that you yourself fell in love with Aunt
+Caroline from the moment your eye lighted upon her in church--in
+church, remember, you old darling!" and she nestled up against his
+shoulder again. Caresses like these she was always obliged to
+suppress in her austere aunt's presence; they were only to be
+indulged in upon great occasions, and to gain an important end,
+she knew! So the rogue smiled archly as she went on. "You could
+hardly wait until you were introduced at the garden party the next
+day, and Aunt Caroline said you proposed to her before the end of
+the week!"
+
+"Come, come," the cornered uncle growled, bridling, but a smile
+grew in his kindly eyes.
+
+"There!" exclaimed Miss Rawson, triumphantly. "You cannot have
+another thing to say, except that you consent and wish us
+happiness."
+
+"It is true you are of age, Stella," Canon Ebley allowed, "and if
+you like to take the law into your own hands, we cannot legally
+prevent you, as I have tried to explain this morning to your aunt
+and Eustace, but it is all very shocking and unusual, and very
+disturbing. You must remember, Count Roumovski is a foreigner,
+and we English people are prejudiced. I--fear for your happiness,
+my dear child!"
+
+"You do not pay me a high compliment, sir," Count Roumovski said,
+but without resentment. "Time, however, will prove whether I can
+take care of your niece or no. Do you feel any fear for yourself,
+Stella?"
+
+"Not in the least," Miss Rawson said, and they clasped fond hands.
+"I would go away with you, Sasha, to the ends of the earth now at
+once, and never ask you a single question. And I should certainly
+die if I were forced to go back to Eustace Medlicott."
+
+"Then I suppose there is nothing more to be said," Canon Ebley
+stammered, upon which Stella again flung herself into his arms.
+
+"Indeed, sir--I give you my word that you will not regret this
+decision," Count Roumovski said gravely. "I believe your niece and
+I were made for one another."
+
+"We will hope so," returned Canon Ebley, who could no longer keep
+up a stern resistance in the face of perfectly logical arguments
+and a witch of a girl purring over him and patting his cheek. He
+would have given in with a fair grace but for the awful knowledge
+that his stern spouse and the irate late fiance would arrive at
+any moment, and reproach him for his want of strength.
+
+At this juncture of the affair, Princess Urazov came forward, and
+said with a gracious smile:
+
+"Now I think you and I should agree with each other, sir; I had
+just as great cause for surprise as you had at the news of my
+brother's engagement to your niece, but I know and love him so
+well that I did not question the wisdom of his choice. And as you
+know and love your niece, can we not agree to try and make them
+happy together by giving them our blessing? After all, it is no
+crime for two young people to love each other!" and she put out
+her hands, which Canon Ebley, who was, after all, longing for
+peace, was obliged to take. Then with a charm and dignity that he
+was forced to admire, she drew him to the pair and placed his hand
+on their clasped hands, and her own over it.
+
+"See," she said, "Sasha and Stella, we both wish you all happiness
+and joy--is it not so?"
+
+And Canon Ebley was constrained to murmur, "Yes."
+
+At this instant the door was opened violently, and the Aunt
+Caroline followed by the Reverend Eustace Medlicott burst into the
+room, brushing aside the frightened waiter, who would have
+prevented them; then they stopped dead short, petrified with
+astonishment, and before she could prevent herself, Stella had
+pealed a silvery laugh, while she rushed forward and
+affectionately kissed her aunt.
+
+"Dear Aunt Caroline," she said. "Uncle Erasmus understands quite,
+and has given us his blessing, so won't you, too?"
+
+But Mrs. Ebley was made of sterner stuff--she was horribly
+shocked, her feelings had been bruised in their tenderest parts,
+the laws of convention had been ruthlessly broken by her niece,
+and forgiveness was not for her.
+
+She drew herself up with disgusted hauteur, while the Rev. Mr.
+Medlicott stood there glaring at the party too speechless with
+humiliation and pain to utter a word.
+
+"Erasmus," Mrs. Ebley said with scathing contempt. "I do not know
+how you have let yourself countenance this disgraceful scene, but
+I shall not do so. And if my niece still persists in bringing
+shame upon us all I must beg you to conduct me back to our hotel--
+I wash my hands of her and shall no longer own her as my sister's
+child, come"
+
+At this, Stella gave a pitiful little cry and turned tender,
+beseeching eyes to her lover, and the sound of her voice touched
+that chord which was fine in Eustace Medlicott's heart. He seemed
+suddenly to see things as they were, and to realize that love had
+indeed come to his betrothed, though not for him, so he rose above
+the pain this conviction caused him and let justice have sway.
+
+He strode forward and joined the group.
+
+"You must not say that, Mrs. Ebley," he said, "since your husband
+seems satisfied, there must have been some proper explanation
+made. You should hear them first. But I, for my part, wish to
+state now, in the presence of everyone, that if Miss Rawson can
+assure me she has made this choice of her own free will, and
+because she loves this gentleman--" here there was a break in the
+tones--"I can have nothing further to say and will give her back
+her freedom and make my retreat."
+
+"Oh, Eustace, thank you," said Stella, gratefully holding out her
+hand. "I knew I could eventually count upon your goodness. I do
+indeed love Count Roumovski, and why should not we all be happy
+together? You will feel with me, I am sure, that our engagement
+was always a mistake and now won't you be friends?"
+
+She still held out her timid hand, and Mr. Medlicott took it at
+last and wringing it silently turned and drew toward the door,
+making his exit.
+
+Silence fell upon the company until he had gone and then Count
+Roumovski whispered in his harassed little fiancee's ear:
+
+"Never mind his point of view, darling--yonder goes an English
+gentleman, and since I have gained my star and he has lost his, he
+has my deepest sympathy."
+
+Then everyone seemed to talk at once, and the Princess Urazov at
+last appeared to be in some degree appeasing Mrs. Ebley.
+
+There is very little more to tell of this comedy of a spring
+holiday in Rome. It ended with a quiet wedding and two young
+people going off together in the blue automobile.
+
+And when Count Roumovski clasped his newly made bride in his arms,
+he whispered with a tenderly sly smile:
+
+"At last, sweetheart, there are no barriers, and I can show you
+that I am at least not as cold as ice!"
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Point of View, by Elinor Glyn
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