What they had told her of her lover was after all true. That was the
first idea that occurred to her as she sat in her chair, stunned by
the sorrow that had come upon her. They had dinned into her ears their
accusations, not against the man himself, but against the tribe to
which he belonged, telling her that a Jew was, of his very nature,
suspicious, greedy, and false. She had perceived early in her
acquaintance with Anton Trendellsohn that he was clever, ambitious,
gifted with the power of thinking as none others whom she knew could
think; and that he had words at his command, and was brave, and was
endowed with a certain nobility of disposition which prompted him to
wish for great results rather than for small advantages. All this had
conquered her, and had made her resolve to think that a Jew could be as
good as a Christian. But now, when the trial of the man had in truth
come, she found that those around her had been right in what they had
said. How base must be the nature which could prompt a man to suspect
a girl who had been true to him as Nina had been true to her lover!
She would never see him again--never! He had left the room without even
answering the question which she had asked him. He would not even say
that he trusted her. It was manifest that he did not trust her, and
that he believed at this moment that she was endeavouring to rob him in
this matter of the deed. He had asked her if she had it in her desk or
among her clothes, and her very soul revolted from the suspicion so
implied. She would never speak to him again. It was all over. No; she
would never willingly speak to him again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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