"Oh, father!"
"Have you not ruined everything with your Jew lover? Did you not hear how I was treated? What could I say to your aunt when she stood there and reviled us?"
"Father, I was so grateful to you for saying nothing!"
"But I knew that she was right. A Christian should not marry a Jew. She said it was abominable; and so it is."
"Father, father, do not speak like that! I thought that you had forgiven me. You said to aunt Sophie that I was a good daughter. Will you not say the same to me — to me myself?"
"It is not good to love a Jew."
"I do love him, father. How can I help it now? I cannot change my heart."
"I suppose I shall be dead soon," said old Balatka, "and then it will not matter. You will become one of them, and I shall be forgotten."
"Father, have I ever forgotten you?" said Nina, throwing herself upon him on his bed. "Have I not always loved you? Have I not been good to you? Oh, father, we have been true to each other through it all. Do not speak to me like that at last."