Ralph laughed and answered, “Why, Sweet, I thought that we had settled all this long ago.  That your mother did not tell the men quite the truth is possible, but if she played with it, it was for the sake of all of us and with my leave.  Let them go and the fortune with them, for even if I could come to England and find it there, I should be but as a wild buck in a sheep kraal, out of place and unhappy.  Moreover, we should be separated, dear, for even if you would all consent, I could never take you from your own people and the land where you were born.  So now that there is an end to this, once and for ever, let me kiss you in greeting, Suzanne.”

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, and before she had finished Ralph was as one who is brain sick, for he ground his teeth and stamped upon the earth like an angry bull.  At last, when Suzanne had told him all, she said: 

“Now, Ralph, you will understand why I would not let you kiss me before you had heard my story.  It was because I feared that after hearing it you would not wish to kiss me any more.”

“You talk like a foolish girl,” he answered, taking her into his arms and embracing her, “and though the insult can only be paid back in blood, I think no more of it than if some beast had splashed mud into your face, which you had washed away at the next stream.”

“Ah!” she cried, “you swore that you would not try to kill him for this offence.”

“Yes, Sweet, I swore, and I will keep my oath.  This time I will not try to kill Swart Piet.”

Then they went into the house, and Ralph spoke to Jan about this matter, of which indeed I had already told him something.  Jan also was very angry, and said that if he could meet Piet van Vooren it would go hard with him.  Afterwards he added, however, that this Piet was a very dangerous man, and one whom it might be well to leave alone, especially as Suzanne had taken no real hurt from him.