What more could you have done, or what more could you have been ?" Vjera was silent, but she softly withdrew her hand from his and gazed at the people in the distance.

The Count smoked without speaking, for several minutes, closing his eyes as though revolving a great problem in his mind, then glancing sidelong at his companion's face, hesitating as though about to speak, checking himself and shutting his eyes again in meditation.
Holding his cigarette between his teeth he clasped his fingers together tightly, unclasped them again and let his arms fall on each side of him.
At last he turned sharply, as though resolved what to do.
He believed that he was on the very eve of recovering a vast fortune and of resuming a high position in the world.

It was no wonder that there was a struggle in his soul, when at that moment a new complication seemed to present itself.

He was indeed sure that he did not love Vjera, and in the brilliant dreams which floated before his half-closed eyes, visions of beautiful and high-born women dazzled him with their smiles and enchanted him by the perfect grace of their movements.

To-morrow he might choose his wife among such as they.