no
Christian now who would say a kind word to her. Rebecca spoke to her
very kindly, and was soft and gentle with her. She could not go where
she would be alone. Even if left to do so, all physical power would
fail her. She knew that she was weak as a child is weak, and that
she must submit to be governed. She thought it would be better to be
governed by Rebecca Loth at the present moment than by anyone else whom
she knew. Rebecca had spoken of her mother, and Nina was conscious of
a faint wish that there had been no such person in her friend's house;
but this was a minor trouble, and one which she could afford to
disregard amidst all her sorrows. How much more terrible would have
been her fate had she been carried away to aunt Sophie's house! "Does
he know?" she said, whispering the question into Rebecca's ear.

"Yes, he knows. It was he who sent me." Why did he not come himself?
That question flashed across Nina's mind, and it was present also to
Rebecca. She knew that it was the question which Nina, within her
heart, would silently ask. "I was there when the note came," said
Rebecca, "and he thought that a woman could do more than a man. I
am so glad he sent me--so very glad. Shall we go, dear?"

Then Nina rose from her seat, and stood up, and began to move slowly.
Her limbs were stiff with cold, and at first she could hardly walk; but
she did not feel that she would be unable to make the journey. Souchey
came to her side, but she rejected his arm petulantly. "Do not let him
come," she said to Rebecca. "I will do whatever you tell me; I will
indeed." Then the Jewess said a word or two to the old man, and he
retreated from Nina's side, but stood looking at her till she was out
of sight. Then he returned home to the cold desolate house in the
Kleinseite, where his only companion was the lifeless body of his old
master. But Souchey, as he left his young mistress, made no complaint
of her treatment of him. He knew that he had betrayed her, and brought
her close upon the step of death's door. He could understand it all
now. Indeed he had understood it all since the first word that Anton
Trendellsohn had spoken after reading Nina's note.

"She will destroy herself," Anton had said.

"What! Nina, my mistress?" said Souchey. Then, while Anton had called
Rebecca to him, Souchey had seen it all. "Master," he said, when the
Jew returned to him, "it was Lotta Luxa who put the paper in the desk.
Nina knew nothing of its being