"I go as your enemy; but I will not do so secretly behind your back. You asked me yesterday if a secret lay between us--you shall know it now."
"I know it already!"
"How?"
"An hour ago I learnt your real name, and with it the reason for your hatred to me."
She looked up at him as before, but now with the greatest horror.
"That is impossible, you cannot! You cannot know anything--anything, except that it was the name of a deceiver, who took his own life, when he found his crime discovered. That is what you have been told, is it not? Or--did you know more?"
Hermann made no answer, his eyes sought the ground darkly.
"Answer me, Count Arnau! If any one on earth has a right to ask, I have. What do you know?"
"All!"
In his blunt, broken tone, lay the whole dashed down power of his nature in one word; the girl stood for a moment as if struck by lightning.