"No; I do not love you less on that account. I would have you be true and faithful in all things."
Though the words themselves were assuring, there was something in the tone of his voice which repressed her. "To you I am true and faithful in all things; as faithful as though you were already my husband. What were you saying of a time that is soon coming?"
He did not answer her question, but turned the subject away into another channel. "I have brought something for you," he said — "something which I hope you will be glad to have."
"Is it a present? she asked. As yet he had never given her anything that she could call a gift, and it was to her almost a matter of pride that she had taken nothing from her Jew lover, and that she would take nothing till it should be her right to take everything.
"Hardly a present; but you shall look at it as you will. You remember Rapinsky, do you not?" Now Rapinsky was the jeweller in the Grosser Ring, and Nina, though she well remembered the man and the shop, did not at the moment remember the name. "You will not have forgotten this at any rate," said Trendellsohn, bringing the necklace from out of his pocket.
"How did you get it?" said Nina, not putting out her hand to take it, but looking at it as it lay upon the table.
"I thought you would be glad to have it back again."
"I should be glad if — "
"If what? Will it be less welcome because it comes through my hands?"
"The man lent me money upon it, and you must have paid the money."