"Do so," replied he. "I am yours to command." She looked him straight
in the face.

"First of all," she began, "have you told any one else that I was. . ."

"That you were listening? No--not a living soul."

"And will you promise never to betray me?"

"Willingly. Now, what is the 'secondly' to this 'first of all?'"

But there was no immediate answer; the water-wagtail evidently found it
difficult. However, she presently said, with downcast eyes:

"I want.... You will think me a greater fool than I am....
nevertheless, yes, I will ask you, though it will involve me in fresh
humiliation.--I want to know the truth; and if there is anything you hold
sacred, before I ask, you must swear by what is holiest to answer me, not
as if I were a silly girl, but as if I were the Supreme judge at the last
day.--Do you hear?"

"This is very solemn," said Orion. "And you must allow me to observe
that there are some questions which do not concern us alone, and if yours
is such......"

"No, no," replied Katharina, "what I mean concerns you and me alone."

"Then I see no reason for refusing," he said. "Still, I may ask you a
favor in return. It seems to me no less important than it did to you,
to know what a great man like the patriarch finds to talk about, and