Sentence:  So he pressed her again and again with advice on the matter of <WSD>espousals</WSD>; but she ever opposed to him refusals, till at last she turned upon him angrily and cried, "O my father, if thou name matrimony to me once more, I will go into my chamber and take a sword, and, fixing its hilt on the ground, will set its point to my waist; then I will press upon it, till it come forth from my back, and so slay myself." 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A betrothal.