And yet he was submitting himself to the
terrible poverty which made so small a matter now a matter of joy to
him, because there was a something of nobility within him which made
him true to the master who had been true to him, when they had both
been young together. Even now he resolved, as he sharpened his teeth,
that through all the soup and all the sausage he would be true to the
Balatkas. He would be true even to Nina Balatka--though he recognised
it as a paramount duty to do all in his power to save her from the Jew.
He was seated at the table in the kitchen almost as soon as he had
entered the house in the Windberg-gasse, and found his plate full
before him. Lotta had felt that there was no need of the delicacy of
compliment in feeding a man who was so undoubtedly hungry, and she had
therefore bade him at once fall to. "A hearty meal is a thing you are
not used to," she had said, "and it will do your old bones a deal of
good." The address was not complimentary, especially as coming from a
lady in regard to whom he entertained tender feelings; but Souchey
forgave the something of coarse familiarity which the words displayed,
and, seating himself on the stool before the victuals, gave play to the
feelings of the moment.
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