"It isn't hedonism, at any rate," said Paul.
"I call it life," said the Princess. "Don't you?"—she turned to Doon.
"I think what Mr. Savelli calls the emotive force of mankind helps to balance our own personal emotions," said he.
"Or isn't it rather a wear and tear on the nervous system?" laughed his wife.
"It seems so to me," said Count Lavretsky. "Perhaps, being a Russian, I am more primitive and envy a nobleman of the time of Pharaoh who never heard of devastations in Mexico, did not feel his heart called upon to pulsate at anything beyond his own concerns. But he in his wisdom at his little world was vanity and was depressed. We moderns, with our infinitely bigger world and our infinitely greater knowledge, have no more wisdom than the Egyptian, and we see that the world is all the more vanity and are all the more overwhelmed with despair."
"But—" said Paul.
"But—" cried the Princess.
Both laughed, and paused. Paul bowed with a slight gesture.
"I am not overwhelmed with despair," the Princess continued.
"Neither am I," said Paul.