"Before God."
"Well, you will tell him that his father died, that his mother died, that his brother died, the whole three in one month, of typhoid fever, in January, 1883—three years and a half ago."
In his turn, he felt all his blood set in motion through his entire body, and for a few seconds he was so much overpowered that he could make no reply; then he began to doubt what she had told him, and asked:
"Are you sure?"
"I am sure."
"Who told it to you?"
She laid her hands on his shoulders, and looking at him out of the depths of her eyes:
"You swear not to blab?"
"I swear that I will not."
"I am his sister!"