Was she then a thing of stone or wax, or a creature of some other world, and was it that they thought it pointless to try to speak to her, or was it that they didn’t dare? It was not until daybreak and after, when all the dancers had departed, that Sir Stephen and the Commander, rousing Nathalie, who was asleep at O’s feet, had O get up, led her to the centre of the courtyard, detached her chain and took off her mask: and, laying her down upon a table, possessed her, now the one, now the other.
