yourself admit that you can afford to give charity now. That looks as if
you'd come to something--not nothing."

"Yes," said the poet, looking up eagerly, "and I am famous through the
vorld. _Metatoron's Flames_ vill shine eternally." His head drooped
again. "I have all I vant, and you are the best man in the vorld. But I
am the most miserable."

"Nonsense! cheer up," said Raphael.

"I can never cheer up any more. I vill shoot myself. I have realized the
emptiness of life. Fame, money, love--all is Dead Sea fruit."

His shoulders heaved convulsively; he was sobbing. Raphael stood by
helpless, his respect for Pinchas as a poet and for himself as a
practical Englishman returning. He pondered over the strange fate that
had thrown him among three geniuses--a male idealist, a female
pessimist, and a poet who seemed to belong to both sexes and categories.
And yet there was not one of the three to whom he seemed able to be of
real service. A letter brought in by the office-boy rudely snapped the
thread of reflection. It contained three enclosures. The first was an
epistle; the hand was the hand of Mr. Goldsmith, but the voice was the
voice of his beautiful spouse.

"DEAR MR. LEON:

"I have perceived many symptoms lately of your growing divergency
from the ideas with which _The Flag of Judah_ was started. It is
obvious that you find yourself unable to emphasize the olden
features of our faith--the questions of _kosher_ meat, etc.--as
forcibly as our readers desire. You no doubt cherish ideals which
are neither practical nor within the grasp of the masses to whom we
appeal. I fully appreciate the delicacy that makes you
reluctant--in the dearth of genius and Hebrew learning--to saddle
me with the task of finding a substitute, but I feel it is time for
me to restore your peace of mind even at the expense of my own. I
have been thinking that, with your kind occasional supervision, it
might be possible for Mr. Pinchas, of whom you have always spoken
so highly, to undertake the duties of editorship, Mr. Sampson
remaining sub-editor as before. Of course I count on you to
continue your purely scholarly articles, and to impress upon the
two gentlemen who will now have direct relations with me my wish to
remain in the background.

"Yours sincerely,

"HENRY GOLDSMITH.

"P.S.--On second thoughts I beg to enclose a cheque for