his coat when Hannah knocked at the door and called "Father."

"Speak not to me, Hannah," answered the Reb, roughly. "It is useless."
Then, as if repentant of his tone, he threw open the door, and passed
his great trembling hand lovingly over her hair. "Thou art a good
daughter," he said tenderly. "Forget that thou hast had a brother."

"But how can I forget?" she answered him in his own idiom. "Why should I
forget? What hath he done?"

He ceased to smooth her hair--his voice grew sad and stern.

"He hath profaned the Name. He hath lived like a heathen; he dieth like
a heathen now. His blasphemy was a by-word in the congregation. I alone
knew it not till last Passover. He hath brought down my gray hairs in
sorrow to the grave."

"Yes, father, I know," said Hannah, more gently. "But he is not all to
blame!"

"Thou meanest that I am not guiltless; that I should have kept him at my
side?" said the Reb, his voice faltering a little.

"No, father, not that! Levi could not always be a baby. He had to walk
alone some day."

"Yes, and did I not teach him to walk alone?" asked the Reb eagerly. "My
God, thou canst not say I did not teach him Thy Law, day and night." He
uplifted his eyes in anguished appeal.

"Yes, but he is not all to blame," she repeated. "Thy teaching did not
reach his soul; he is of another generation, the air is different, his
life was cast amid conditions for which the Law doth not allow."

"Hannah!" Reb Shemuel's accents became harsh and chiding again. "What
sayest thou? The Law of Moses is eternal; it will never be changed. Levi
knew God's commandments, but he followed the desire of his own heart and
his own eyes. If God's Word were obeyed, he should have been stoned with
stones. But Heaven itself hath punished him; he will die, for it is
ordained that whosoever is stubborn and disobedient, that soul shall
surely be cut off from among his people. 'Keep My commandments, that thy
days may be long in the land,' God Himself hath said it. Is it not
written: 'Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer
thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart and
in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou that for all these things the
Lord will bring thee into judgment'? But thou, my Hannah," he started
caressing her hair again, "art a good Jewish maiden. Between Levi and
thee there is naught in common. His touch would profane thee. Sadden not
thy innocent eyes with the sight o