The Count did not heed the plain though unspoken negation and continued to speak very slowly and earnestly, choosing his words and rounding his expressions as though he were making a declaration to a young princess instead of asking a poor Polish girl to marry him.

He even drew himself together, as it were, with the movement of dignity which was habitual with him, straightening his back, squaring his shoulders and leaning slightly forward in his seat.

As he began to speak again, Vjera clasped her hands upon her knees and looked down at the gravel of the public path.
"I am in earnest," he said.

"To-morrow, all those rights to which I was born will be restored to me, and I shall enjoy what the world calls a great position.

Am I so deeply indebted to the world that I must submit to all its prejudices and traditions?
Has the world given me anything, in exchange for which it becomes my duty to consult its caprices, or its social superstitions?
Surely not.