I would sooner be the scornful philosopher of sixty than the credulous lover of twenty." "He always talks like that," said the Countess to Paul; "but when he met me first he was thirty-five--and"-- she laughed--"and now voila--for him there is no difference between twenty and sixty.

Expliquez-moi ca." "It's very simple," declared Paul.

"In this century the thirties, forties, and fifties don't exist.

You're either twenty or sixty." "I hope I shall always be twenty," said the Princess lightly.
"Do you find your youth so precious, then ?" asked Count Lavretsky.
"More than I ever did!" She laughed and again met Paul's eyes.
This time she flushed faintly as she held them for a fraction of a second.

He had time to catch a veiled soft gleam intimate and disquieting.