t day, just before Passover Eve; and then
old Hannah had kneaded the dough badly, and the maids had rolled it too
thin, and half of it was scorched in baking, and worst of all, rain came
pouring through the bake-house roof; and so, wet and weary, they had had
to work till late in the night.

"And, my dear Mrs. Floersheim," said Mrs. Flaesch, with gracious
friendliness most insincere, "you were a little to blame for that,
because you did not send your people to help me in baking."

"Ah! pardon," replied the other. "My servants were so busy--the goods
for the fair had to be packed--my husband"--

"Yes, I know," interrupted Mrs. Flaesch, with cutting irony in her
speech. "I know that you have much to do--many pledges and a good
business, and necklaces"--

And a bitter word was just about to slip from the lips of the speaker,
and Dame Floersheim had turned as red as a lobster, when Puppy Reiss
cried out loudly, "For God's sake!--the strange lady lies dying--water!
water!"

Beautiful Sara lay in a faint, as pale as death, while a swarm of
excited women crowded around her, one holding her head, another her arm,
while some old women sprinkled her with the glasses of water which hung
behind their prayer desks for washing the hands in case they should by
accident touch their own bodies. Others held under her nose an old lemon
full of spices, which was left over from the last feast-day, when it had
served for smelling and strengthening the nerves. Exhausted and sighing
deeply, Beautiful Sara at last opened her eyes, and with mute glances
thanked them for their kind care. But now the eighteen-prayer, which no
one dared neglect, was being solemnly chanted below, and the busy women
hurried back to their places and offered the prayer as the rite ordains,
that is, standing up with their faces turned toward the east, which is
that part of the heavens where Jerusalem lies. Birdie Ochs,
Schnapper-Elle, and Puppy Reiss stayed to the last with Beautiful
Sara--the first two to aid her as much as possible, the other two to
find out why she had fainted so suddenly.

Beautiful Sara had swooned from a singular cause. It is a custom in the
synagogue that any one who has escaped a great danger shall, after the
reading of the extracts from the Law, appear in public and return thanks
for his divine deliverance. As Rabbi Abraham rose to his feet to make
his prayer, and Beautiful Sara recognized her husband's voice, she
noticed that his voice