Then Nina Balatka had come across his path, and he was compelled to shape his dreams anew.

How could a Jew among Jews hold up his head as such who had taken to his bosom a Christian wife?
But again he shaped his dreams aright--so far aright that he could still build the castles of his imagination to his own liking.

Nina should be his wife.

It might be that she would follow the creed of her husband, and then all would be well.

In those far cities to which he would go, it would hardly in such case be known that she had been born a Christian; or else he would show the world around him, both Jews and Christians, how well a Christian and a Jew might live together.