"At the very moment when I might have believed these adorable
falsehoods, as I still held her right hand in mine, I said to her,
'When are you to marry the Duke?'
"The thrust was so direct, my gaze met hers so boldly, and her hand
lay so tightly in mine, that her start, slight as it was, could not be
disguised; her eyes fell before mine, and a faint blush colored her
cheeks.--'The Duke! What do you mean?' she said, affecting great
astonishment.--'I know everything,' replied I; 'and in my opinion, you
should delay no longer; he is rich; he is a duke; but he is more than
devout, he is religious! I am sure, therefore, that you have been
faithful to me, thanks to his scruples. You cannot imagine how
urgently necessary it is that you should compromise him with himself
and with God; short of that you will never bring him to the point.'--
'Is this a dream?' said she, pushing her hair from her forehead,
fifteen years before Malibran, with the gesture which Malibran has
made so famous.--'Come, do not be childish, my angel,' said I, trying
to take her hands; but she folded them before her with a little
prudish and indignant mein.
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