I will not give you back your promises, Nina." The enraptured girl again clung to him.

"My own one," she said, "my darling, my husband; when you speak to me like that, there is no girl in Bohemia so happy as I am.

Hush! I thought it was father.

But no; there is no sound.

I do not mind what anyone says to me, as long as you are kind." She was now sitting on his knee, and his arm was round her waist, and she was resting her head against his brow; he had asked for no pardon, but all the past was entirely forgiven; why should she even think of it again?
Some such thought was passing through her mind, when he spoke a word, and it seemed as though a dagger had gone into her heart.