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.