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.