The more Madame Zamenoy thought of the terrible tidings which had reached her, the more determined did she become to prevent the degradation of the connection with which she was threatened.

She declared to her husband and son that all Prague were already talking of the horror, forgetting, perhaps, that any knowledge which Prague had on the subject must have come from herself.

She had, indeed, consulted various persons on the subject in the strictest confidence.

We have already seen that she had told Lotta Luxa and her son, and she had, of course, complained frequently on the matter to her husband.

She had unbosomed herself to one or two trusty female friends who lived near her, and she had applied for advice and assistance to two priests.
To Father Jerome she had gone as Nina's confessor, and she had also applied to the reverend pastor who had the charge of her own little peccadilloes.