probable. On the other hand--' she stopped a moment, to smooth a stitch
in her work.

'On the other hand?' repeated Clara anxiously.

'Well, I was going to say that in forty years, a man might learn to
love an adopted country as well as his own, and might prefer to stay
there. It would depend upon the man, upon his character, his tastes,
perhaps upon whether he had gone into the revolution out of mistaken
patriotism, or out of personal ambition.'

'Do you think so? Why?' Frau von Greifenstein seemed deeply interested.

'Because I fancy that a patriot would come back at any rate. His love
of his country would be the strongest element in his nature. An
ambitious man would either have found a field for his ambition
elsewhere in forty years, or the passion would have died a natural
death by that time.'

'Ah yes! There is truth in that! But what a dreadfully extraordinary
position!' she exclaimed, with one of her unexpected bursts of
laughter. 'What a novel! Do you not see it! Oh, if I were only a
novelist, what a plot I could make out of that! Dearest cousin, is it
not time to have coffee?'




CHAPTER V