Give me your hand.

It is as cold as ice." De Guiche knelt down, and pressed to his lips, not one, but both of Madame's hands.
"Love me, then," said the princess, "since it cannot be otherwise." And almost imperceptibly she pressed his fingers, raising him thus, partly in the manner of a queen, and partly as a fond and affectionate woman would have done.

De Guiche trembled from head to foot, and Madame, who felt how passion coursed through every fiber of his being, knew that he indeed loved truly.

"Give me your arm, comte," she said, "and let us return." "Ah! Madame," said the comte, trembling and bewildered; "you have discovered a third way of killing me." "But, happily, it is the slowest way, is it not ?" she replied, as she led him towards the grove of trees they had so lately quitted..