in whispers and looking up at the
darkened windows with awe. But the synagogue knew nothing of it.
Israel had omitted the customary ceremony, and in that omission lay the
advantage of his enemies. He must humble himself and send to them. Until
he did so they would leave him alone.

Israel did not send. Never once since the birth of Naomi had he crossed
the threshold of the synagogue. He would not cross it now, whether in
body or in spirit. But he was still a Jew, with Jewish customs, if he
had lost the Jewish faith, and it was one of the customs of the Jews
that a body should be buried within twenty-four hours, at farthest, from
the time of death. He must do something immediately. Some help must be
summoned. What help could it be?

It was useless to think of the Muslimeen. No believer would lend a hand
to dig a grave for an unbeliever, or to make apparel for his dead. It
was just as idle to think of the Jews. If the synagogue knew nothing of
this burial, no Jew in the Mellah would be found so poor that he would
have need to know more. And of Christians of any sort or condition there
were none in all Tetuan.

The gall of Israel's heart rose to his throat. Was he to be left alone
with his dead wife? Did his enemies wish to see him howk out her grave
with his own hands? Or did they expect him to come to them with bowed
forehead and bended knee? Either way their reckoning was a mistake.
They might leave him terribly and awfully alone--alone in his hour of
mourning even as they had left him alone in his hour of rejoicing, when
he had married the dear soul who was dead. But his strength and energy
they should not crush: his vital and intellectual force they should
not wither away. Only one thing they could do to touch him--they could
shrivel up his last impulse of sweet human sympathy. They were doing it
now.

When Israel had put matters to himself so, he despatched a message
to the Governor at the Kasbah, and received, in answer, six State
prisoners, fettered in pairs, under the guard of two soldiers.

The burial took place within the limit of twenty-four hours prescribed
by Jewish custom. It was twilight when the body was brought down from
the upper room to the patio. There stood the coffin on a trestle that
had been raised for it on chairs standing back to back. And there, too,
sat Israel, with Naomi and little black Ali beside him.

Israel's manner was composed; his face was as firm as a rock, and
his dress was mor