A mighty conflict raged within her as she stood by him; her eyes were cast down, her whole body trembled, and she was swayed and tossed about by terrible mental struggles. Then she raised her eyes and looked at him frankly and openly. "Very well, then, you shall know all, but only on one condition."
"And what is that?"
"That you give me your word of honour not to tell Willberg a word of what I am going to tell you. There is no reason why you should not do that."
He regarded her doubtfully. "Is that really so?"
Then she looked him straight in the face. "Yes, but, in spite of this, if you are ever in a situation when you can no longer keep your promise, then I will release you after eight days—no more nor less; till then, you can quietly think over what I have to say to you." And after a little while she asked him, in a hesitating tone of voice, "Do you really insist that I am to tell you everything, when the result may be that we separate, and are never more friends?"
A dark suspicion arose in his mind. "You were once on intimate terms with Willberg?" he asked with excitement, but then, more calmly, he went on: "But I could not very well be angry with you about that, for you could not have possibly known then that we should ever have met."
Olga bit her lips in fury. "I know that only too well. I told you that the villain who betrayed me took his life soon after. That was not true; he is still living, and his name is Willberg."
George fell back as if he had been struck, then he sprang up and seized Olga by the shoulders. "Tell me, it is not true—it cannot be true."
She freed herself from his grasp. "Come, George, be reasonable; what has happened cannot be altered now."