cheek. I threw myself on my knees and tried to speak, but that was still
impossible. I could do no more than mutter the word _to-morrow_ several
times.

"'To-morrow?' What of tomorrow?" said Edmee. "Do you not like being
here? Do you want to go away?"

"I will go, if it will please you," I replied. "Tell me; do you wish
never to see me again?"

"I do not wish that at all," she rejoined. "You will stop here, won't
you."

"It is for you to decide," I answered.

She looked at me in astonishment. I was still on my knees. She leant
over the back of my chair.

"Yes; I am quite sure that you are good at heart," she said, as if
she were answering some inner objection. "A Mauprat can be nothing by
halves; and as soon as you have once known a good quarter of an hour, it
is certain you ought to have a noble life before you."

"I will make it so," I answered.

"You mean it?" she said with unaffected joy.

"On my honour, Edmee, and on yours. Dare you give me your hand?"

"Certainly," she said.