I stood up and looked. The sun was near the horizon now, and partially concealed by low clouds, which were beginning to form--gray, and tinged with purple and red; but their misty edges burned with an intense yellow flame. Above, the sky was clear as blue glass, barred with pale-yellow rays, shot forth by the sinking sun, and resembling the spokes of an immense celestial wheel reaching to the zenith. The billowy earth, with its forests in deep green and many-colored, autumnal foliage, stretched far before us, here in shadow, and there flushed with rich light; while the mountain range, looming near and stupendous on our right, had changed its color from dark blue to violet. The doubts and fears agitating my heart made me indifferent to the surpassing beauty of the scene: I turned impatiently from it to gaze again on her graceful figure, girlish still in its slim proportions; but her face, flushed with sunlight, and crowned with its dark, shining hair, seemed to me like the face of one of the immortals. The expression of rapt devotion on it made me silent, for it seemed as if she too had been touched by nature's magic, like earth and sky, and been transfigured; and waiting for the mood to pass, I stood by her side, resting my hand on her knee. By-and-by she looked down and smiled, and then I returned to the subject of her age. "Surely, Yoletta," said I, "you were only poking fun at me--I mean, amusing yourself at my expense. You can't possibly be more than about fifteen, or sixteen at the very outside." She smiled again and shook her head. "Oh, I know, I can solve the riddle now. Your years are different, of course, like everything else in this latitude. A month is called a year with you, and that would make you, let me see--how much is twelve times thirty-one? Oh, hang it, nearly five hundred, I should think. Why am I such a duffer at mental arithmetic! It is just the contrary--how many twelves in thirty-one? About two and a half in round numbers, and that's absurd, as you are not a baby. Oh, I have it: your seasons are called years, of course--why didn't I see it before! No, that would make you only seven and a half. Ah, yes, I see it now: a year means two years, or two of your years--summer and winter--mean a year; and that just makes you sixteen, exactly what I had imagined. Is it not so, Yoletta?" "I do not know what you are talking about, Smith; and I am not listening." "Well, listen for one moment, and tell me how long does a year last?" "It lasts from the time the leaves fall in the autumn until they fall again; and it lasts from the time the swallows come in spring until they come again." "And seriously, honestly, you are thirty-one years old?" "Did I not tell you so? Yes, I am thirty-one years old." "Well, I never heard anything to equal this! Good heavens, what does it mean? I know it is awfully rude to inquire a lady's age, but what am I to do? Will you kindly tell me Edra's age?"