Nina, as she returned home from the Jews' quarter to her father's house in the Kleinseite, paused for a while on the bridge to make some resolution--some resolution that should be fixed--as to her immediate conduct.

Should she first tell her story to her father, or first to her aunt Sophie?
There were reasons for and against either plan.

And if to her father first, then should she tell it to-night?
She was nervously anxious to rush at once at her difficulties, and to be known to all who belonged to her as the girl who had given herself to the Jew.

It was now late in the evening, and the moon was shining brightly on the palace over against her.

The colonnades seemed to be so close to her that there could hardly be room for any portion of the city to cluster itself between them and the river.