Still he wavered, and finally he fell.
"Madame, will you be my wife ?" "Yes." And it seemed to her that the word, came to her lips by no volition of hers.

As she had grown red but a moment gone, she now grew correspondingly pale, and her limbs shook.

She had irrevocably committed herself.

"No, no!" as she saw him start forward with outstretched arms, "not my lips till I am your wife! Not my lips; only my hands!" He covered them with kisses.
"Hush!" as she stepped back.
It was time.

Maurice and the countess entered the room.