"Get up and cease your grovelling.

Did you come to tell me it was not too late to draw back and refuse to be the Countess of Dunstanwolde ?" and she laughed bitterly.
"But it should not be--it must not!" Anne panted.

"I--I know, sister, I know--" Clorinda bent deliberately and laid her strong, jewelled hand on her shoulder with a grasp like a vice.

There was no hurry in her movement or in her air, but by sheer, slow strength she forced her head backward so that the terrified woman was staring in her face.
"Look at me," she said.

"I would see you well, and be squarely looked at, that my eyes may keep you from going mad.