But she shook her head and denied him, saying, "No, for I have another
tale to tell you, and an uglier--so ugly indeed that after the hearing
of it I doubt much whether you will wish to kiss me any more."

"Be swift with it then," he answered, "for you torment me," and she
began her story.

She told how that, after he had gone away, Swart Piet began to persecute
her; how he had wished to kiss her and she had refused them, so that he
left her with threats. Then she paused suddenly and said:

"And now, before I finish the story, you shall swear an oath to me. You
shall swear that you will not attempt to kill Swart Piet because of it."

At first he would swear nothing, for already he was wild with anger
against the man, whereupon she answered that she would tell him nothing.

At last, when they had wrangled for a while, he asked her in a hoarse
voice, "Say now, Suzanne, have you come to any harm at the hands of this
fellow?"

"No," she answered, turning her head away. "God be thanked! I have come
to no harm of my body, but of my mind I have come to great harm."

Now he breathed more freely and said:

"Very well, then, on with your story, for I swear to you that I will not
try to kill Swart Piet because of this offence, whatever it may be."

So she went on, setting out everything exactly as it had happened,