“Your wife!” said Fanny, lugubriously. “You forget that what separates me from you is not only my husband, but also my religion. The Jewess can never become the wife of the Prince von Lichtenstein.”
“You will cast off the semblance of a religion which in reality is yours no longer,” said the prince. “You have ceased to be a Jewess, owing to your education, to your habits, and to your views of life. Leave, then, the halls of the temple in which your God is no longer dwelling, and enter the great church which has redeemed mankind, and which is now to redeem you. Become a convert to the Christian religion, which is the religion of love.”
“Never!” exclaimed the baroness, firmly and decidedly—“never will I abandon my religion and prove recreant to my faith, to which my family and my tribe have faithfully adhered for thousands of years. The curse of my parents and ancestors would pursue the renegade daughter of our tribe and cling like a sinister night-bird to the roof of the house into which the faithless daughter of Judah, the baptized Jewess, would move in order to obtain that happiness she is yearning for. Never—But what is that?” interrupting herself all at once; “what is the matter in the adjoining room?”
Two voices, one of them angrily quarrelling with the other, which replied in a deprecating manner, were heard in the adjoining room.
“I tell you the baroness is at home, and receives visitors!” exclaimed the violent and threatening voice.
“And I assure you that the baroness is not at home, and cannot, therefore, receive any visitors,” replied the deprecating voice.
“It is Baron Weichs, the proud prebendary, who wants to play the master here as he does everywhere else,” said the prince, disdainfully.
“And my steward refuses to admit him, because I have given orders that no more visitors shall be received to-day,” whispered Fanny.
The face of the young prince became radiant with delight. He seized Fanny’s hands and pressed them impetuously to his lips, whispering, “I thank you, Fanny, I thank you!”
Meantime the voice in the reception-room became more violent and threatening, “I know that the baroness is at home,” it shouted, “and I ask you once more to announce my visit to her!”