He bowed to Christine and said: "Mademoiselle, I have the honor to ask for your hand." "Why, you have both of them already, my dear betrothed! ...

Oh, Raoul, how happy we shall be! ...

We must play at being engaged all day long." It was the prettiest game in the world and they enjoyed it like the children that they were.

Oh, the wonderful speeches they made to each other and the eternal vows they exchanged! They played at hearts as other children might play at ball; only, as it was really their two hearts that they flung to and fro, they had to be very, very handy to catch them, each time, without hurting them.
One day, about a week after the game began, Raoul's heart was badly hurt and he stopped playing and uttered these wild words: "I shan't go to the North Pole!" Christine, who, in her innocence, had not dreamed of such a possibility, suddenly discovered the danger of the game and reproached herself bitterly.

She did not say a word in reply to Raoul's remark and went straight home.
This happened in the afternoon, in the singer's dressing-room, where they met every day and where they amused themselves by dining on three biscuits, two glasses of port and a bunch of violets.