Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 11).djvu/255

 [Looking at him.] Do you know what I hold to be the most infamous crime a man can be guilty of?

No, tell me.

It is not murder. It is not robbery or house-breaking. It is not even perjury. For all these things people do to those they hate, or who are indifferent to them, and do not matter.

What is the worst of all then, John Gabriel?

[With emphasis.] The most infamous of crimes is a friend's betrayal of his friend's confidence.

[Somewhat doubtfully.] Yes,  but  you know

[Firing up.] What are you going to say? I see it in your face. But it is of no use. The people who had their securities in the bank should have got them all back again—every farthing. No; I tell you the most infamous crime a man can commit is to misuse a friend's letters; to publish to all the world what has been confided to him alone, in the closest secrecy, like a whisper in an empty, dark, double-locked room. The man who can do such things is in