She was not listening to me, I saw: she had risen from the grass and
seated herself again on the stone. For only answer to my question she
pointed to the west with her hand, saying: "Look there, Smith."

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."