Then she rose slowly to her feet, and, collecting the papers which he
had strewed upon the table, put them back slowly into the desk, and
locked it.
"You have done with this now," she said, holding the key in her hand.
"Yes; I do not want the key again."
"And you have done with me also?"
He paused a moment or two to collect his thoughts, and then he answered
her. "Nina, I would wish to think about this before I speak of it more
fully. What step I may next take I cannot say without considering it
much. I would not wish to pain you if I could help it."
"Tell me at once what it is that you believe of me?"
"I cannot tell you at once. Rebecca Loth is friendly to you, and I will
send her to you to-morrow."
"I will not see Rebecca Loth," said Nina. "Hush! there is father's
voice. Anton, I have nothing more to say to you--nothing--nothing."
Then she left him, and went into her father's room.
For some minutes she was busy by her father's bed, and went about her
work with a determined alacrity, as though she would wipe out of her
mind altogether, for the moment, any thought about her love and the Jew
and the document that had been found in her desk; and for a while she
was successful, with a consciousness, indeed, that she was under the
pressure of a terrible calamity which must destroy her, but still with
an outward presence of mind that supported her in her work.
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