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Page 18
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?"
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