“Most certainly.”
“Then meet me here an hour after midnight, and the face so long hidden shall be revealed. But, once again, on the threshold of doom, I entreat you to pause.”
“There is no such word for me!” he fiercely and exultingly cried. “I have your promise, and I shall hold you to it! And, madame, if, at last, you discover my love is changeless as fate itself, then—then may I not dare to hope for a return?”
“Yes; then you may hope,” she said, with cold mockery. “If your love survives the sight, it will be mighty, indeed, and well worthy a return.”
“And you will return it?”
“I will.”
“You will be my wife?”
“With all my heart!”
“My darling!” he cried, rapturously—“for you are mine already—how can I ever thank you for this? If a whole lifetime devoted and consecrated to your happiness can repay you, it shall be yours!”
During this rhapsody, her hand had been on the handle of the door. Now she turned it.