He again asked for the boy but she would not give him up.  In order that they might not take him away, I, myself, took him to northern Bohemia, to my own family, where it was well with him.  In the meantime the lawsuit ended, and they took him away from her because he was assigned to his father.  Because she did not give the boy up at once, he sent her, from her clothing and laundry, only what was old and shabby.  His relatives divided her beautiful, valuable garments among themselves.  Thus they dealt with her because nobody would protect her.  In those hard days, her uncle from America, who had arranged for her training in singing, helped her.  Thus she could pay for the upkeep of the boy, and we went first to Berlin, then to Rome and Paris.  She sang to make her living, but also that she might regain the honor of which Lord Gemer wanted to rob her, when he had parted with her and had told all kinds of evil about her, which he could not prove.  Later we went to England, and finally to Russia.  There she fared the best.  There she might have become a rich princess, but she would not look at any man again.  How glad the gentlemen there would have been if she would have spoken to them as kindly as she speaks here with you.  But the purer the life she led, the more they bothered her, and the more she did not want to live.  She said she wanted to see her boy once more before she died.  For a long time we could not find out where the boy was.  Finally, she got sick on the railroad, and by God’s direction Dr. H. helped her.  From him she learned all the truth, and after that he brought her here.  And now you know why she left the Lord de Gemer.”

“That robber, that gypsy, that deceiver, how he fooled and robbed her!  If one of us steals a chicken or the like he is put at once behind the bars.  Such a gentleman can do everything, but if she would just go to law he would have to return her everything,” said Joe angrily.

“Yes, he would have to, but she doesn’t want to.  She is not concerned about mammon.  All she wants is to have peace from him forever.  But that he should not make any trouble about the child, I wrote to our lawyer who was to make the arrangements for her, to threaten him with a lawsuit for the jewelry and money if he would not give up the boy willingly.  My lady will never know what I did.  Our lawyer is a good friend, and a decent and honest man, not such an one as we had before.”

That Joe did not keep this news to himself is true.  Thus Filina’s helpers found out what kind of a master they had only after he ceased to be their lord.  To the last one all took the lady’s part.  All were sorry for her and wished her to have the record very soon in black and white, that the boy was hers only, and the father had no more claims on him.  Everyone greeted her very respectfully wherever they met her.  She walked sadly and in deep contemplation.  Only among the boys was she cheerful.