" With these
words she drew the violets from her corsage, and fastened them in Herr
Bernat's buttonhole.
Hereupon the gallant vice-palatine forgot his ceremonious intentions. He
seized the maid's hand, pressed it against his stiffly waxed mustache,
and muttered, with a wary glance toward Count Vavel: "I am sorry this
pretty little hand belongs to those messieurs Frenchmen!"
Then he quitted the room, and in descending the stairs had all he could
do to transfer without dropping them the coins from his hat to the
pockets of his dolman.
Marie skipped, singing joyously, into the dining-room, where the windows
faced toward the neighboring manor. She did not ask if she might do so,
but flung open the sash, leaned far out, and waved her handkerchief to
the vice-palatine, who was driving swiftly across the causeway.
CHAPTER IV
When Herr Bernat Goeroemboelyi, in his character of emissary, arrived at
the manor, he proceeded at once to state his errand:
"My lovely sister Katinka, I am come a-wooing--as this nosegay on my
breast indicates. I ask your hand for a brave, handsome, and young
cavalier.
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