As the Count rode away, he thought irritably that she was classifying him with the type of man who would expect the best box and the most comfortable seats to be available for him at every entertainment.
He knew at the same time that he was looking forward to this evening with the eagerness of a schoolboy attending his first play.
*
It was dark long before Roxana and the Count reached what seemed to him the centre of the forest.
In the magical dusk they had seen many farmers trudging homewards from the darkening Sawahs, their hoes over their shoulders and their legs stained by mud.
They passed through small villages where smoke from the cooking fires was blue against the shadows of the trees and the burnt-orange walls.
The air seemed at moments to be filled with flights of myriad dra
