"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.