"Of course I forgive you, beloved ... but let me first swear...."
"Oh! I believe you, I believe you; do not say any more about it."
"But in Heaven's name what put such an improbable notion in your head?"
"Nothing, nothing in the world except my accursed temper ... and ... would you believe it? that Etruscan vase which I knew Massigny had given you."
The Countess clasped her hands together in amazement, and then she burst into shouts of laughter.
"My Etruscan vase! my Etruscan vase!"
Saint-Clair was obliged to join in the laughter himself, although great tears rolled down his cheeks. He seized Mathilde in his arms. "I will not let you go," he said, "until you pardon me."
"Yes, I forgive you, though you are so foolish," she replied, kissing him tenderly. "You make me very happy to-day; it is the first time I have seen you shed tears, and I thought that you could not weep."
Then she struggled from his embrace, and, snatching the Etruscan vase, broke it into a thousand pieces on the floor. It was a valuable and unique work, painted in three colours, and represented the fight between a Lapithe and a Centaur.
For several hours Saint-Clair was the happiest and the most ashamed of men.