of having
stolen it; and Nina had then prepared to go herself, but her father had
called her, and he had come out into the sitting-room and had remained
there during the afternoon, so that both the sale of the trinket and
the search in the desk had been postponed. The latter she might have
done at night, but when the night came the deed seemed to be more
horrid than it would be even in the day.

She observed also, more accurately than she had ever done before, that
he always carried the key of his desk with him. He did not, indeed, put
it under his pillow, or conceal it in bed, but he placed it with an old
spectacle-case which he always carried, and a little worn pocket-book
which Nina knew to be empty, on a low table which stood at his
bed-head; and now during the whole of the afternoon he had the key on
the table beside him. Nina did not doubt but that she could take the
key while he was asleep; for when he was even half asleep--which was
perhaps his most customary state--he would not stir when she entered
the room. But if she took it at all, she would do so in the day. She
could not bring herself to creep into the room in the night, and to
steal the key in the dark. As she lay in bed she still thought of it.
She had promised her lover that she would do this thing. Should she
resolve not to do it, in spite of that promise, she must at any rate
tell Anton of her resolution. She must tell him, and then there would
be an end of everything. Would it be possible for her to live without
her love?

On the following morning it occurred to her that she might perhaps be
able to induce her father to speak of the houses, and of those horrid
documents of which she had heard so much, without disobeying any of
Trendellsohn's behests. There could, she thought, be no harm in her
asking her father some question as to the ownership of the houses,
and as to the Jew's right to the property. Her father had very often
declared in her presence that old Trendellsohn could turn him into the
street at any moment. There had been no secrets between her and her
father as to their poverty, and there could be no reason why her tongue
should now be silenced, so long as she refrained from any positive
disobedience to her lover's commands. That he must be obeyed she still
recognised as the strongest rule of all--obeyed, that is, till she
should go to him and lay down her love at his feet, and give back to
him the troth which he had given her.

"Fat