Little Billee took her to the top of the staircase, and there he said to her:
"Trilby, I have asked you nineteen times, and you have refused. Trilby, once more, on Christmas night, for the twentieth time— will you marry me? If not, I leave Paris to-morrow morning, and never come back. I swear it on my word of honor!"
Trilby turned very pale, and leaned her back against the wall, and covered her face with her hands.
Little Billee pulled them away.
"Answer me, Trilby!"
"God forgive me, yes! " said Trilby, and she ran down-stairs, weeping.
It was now very late.
It soon became evident that Little Billee was in extraordinary high spirits—in an abnormal state of excitement.
He challenged Svengali to spar, and made his nose bleed, and frightened him out of his sardonic wits. He performed
