"It is no trifle to me, aunt. I am going to be married to--Anton Trendellsohn." She said the words slowly, standing bolt-upright, at her greatest height, as she spoke them, and looking her aunt full in the face with something of defiance both in her eyes and in the tone of her voice. She had almost said, "Anton Trendellsohn, the Jew;" and when her speech was finished, and admitted of no addition, she reproached herself with pusillanimity in that she had omitted the word which had always been so odious, and would now be doubly odious--odious to her aunt in a tenfold degree. Madame Zamenoy stood for a while speechless--struck with horror. The tidings which she heard were so unexpected, so strange, and so abominable, that they seemed at first to crush her. Nina was her niece--her sister's child; and though she might be repudiated, reviled, persecuted, and perhaps punished, still she must retain her relationship to her injured relatives. And it seemed to Madame Zamenoy as though the marriage of which Nina spoke was a thing to be done at once, out of hand--as though the disgusting nuptials were to take place on that day or on the next, and could not now be avoided. It occurred to her that old Balatka himself was a consenting party, and that utter degradation was to fall upon the family instantly. There was that in Nina's air and manner, as she spoke of her own iniquity, which made the elder woman feel for the moment that she was helpless to prevent the evil with which she was threatened. "Anton Trendellsohn--a Jew," she said, at last. "Yes, aunt; Anton Trendellsohn, the Jew. I am engaged to him as his wife." There was a something of doubtful futurity in the word engaged, which gave a slight feeling of relief to Madame Zamenoy, and taught her to entertain a hope that there might be yet room for escape. "Marry a Jew, Nina," she said; "it cannot be possible!" "It is possible, aunt. Other Jews in Prague have married Christians." "Yes, I know it. There have been outcasts among us low enough so to degrade themselves--low women who were called Christians. There has been no girl connected with decent people who has ever so degraded herself. Does your father know of this?" "Not yet." "Your father knows nothing of it, and you come and tell me that you are engaged--to a Jew!" Madame Zamenoy had so far recovered herself that she was now able to let her anger mount above her misery. "You wicked girl! Why have you come to me with such a story as this?" "Because it is well that you should know it. I did not like to deceive you, even by secrecy. You will not be hurt. You need not notice me any longer. I shall be lost to you, and that will be all." "If you were to do such a thing you would disgrace us. But you will not be allowed to do it." "But I shall do it." "Nina!" "Yes, aunt. I shall do it. Do you think I will be false to my troth?" "Your troth to a Jew is nothing. Father Jerome will tell you so."