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." He sank into a chair and buried his face in his hands. "What a blackguard!" he said, gnashing his teeth, "what a blackguard!" And suddenly springing up, he demanded: "Swear on your oath--have you still any connection with him, or does he know that we are intimate?" "I am perfectly faithful to you," she answered him calmly, and he knew from the tone of her voice that she was speaking the truth. "I have only seen Willberg once since." "And when was that?" he asked, with great excitement. "On the very day that I met you for the first time. He sent me a letter, saying he must see me without fail on a matter that concerned my own interests. At first I did not mean to answer him, but when I read the letter again, I felt sure that it really was a matter of serious importance. So I named an hour when I would be at home to him. And he came." "Go on," urged George, as she was silent for a moment. "What did this honourable gentleman want with you?" "He said he had quite by chance seen us together one evening, and had followed us unobserved--I had no ground for denying my acquaintanceship with you; indeed, I could not, in view of what he had seen--and he entreated me most imploringly not to mention his name to you. I had never intended to do so, and had formerly made up my mind to be silent concerning his name, but, in spite of that, I appeared as if I were greatly astonished, and asked why he made such a request?" "And what did he answer?" "He said that he must admit that he had not treated me quite fairly that night." "'Quite fairly'--that is splendid!" sneered George. "He knew that he ought to have given me some compensation, but he was not then in a position to do anything for me. Now he offered me one thousand marks, partly as hush-money for the future."