I might have killed you; I had every right to do so, but I could not live apart from you.

You will never know how near the shadow of death has been to you.

When I have kissed you, I have fancied that your lips were soiled with the kisses of others, and I could hardly keep my hands from clutching your ivory neck until life was extinct, and failed utterly to decide whether I loved you or hated you the most." "Have mercy, Octave! have mercy!" pleaded the unhappy woman.
"You are surprised, I can see," answered he, with a dark smile; "yet I could give you further food for wonder if I pleased, but I have said enough now." A tremor passed over the frame of the Countess.

Was her husband acquainted with the existence of the letters?
All hinged upon this.
He could not have read them, or he would have spoken in very different terms, had he known the mystery contained in them.
"Let me speak," began she.
"Not a word," replied her husband.
"On my honor--" "All is ended; but I must not forget to tell you of one of my youthful follies.

You may laugh at it, but that signifies nothing.