f his end. Think of him as one who
died in boyhood. My God! why didst thou not take him then?" He turned
away, stifling a sob.

"Father," she put her hand on his shoulder, "we will go with thee to
Stockbridge--I and the mother."

He faced her again, stern and rigid.

"Cease thy entreaties. I will go alone."

"No, we will all go."

"Hannah," he said, his voice tremulous with pain and astonishment, "dost
thou, too, set light by thy father?"

"Yes," she cried, and there was no answering tremor in her voice. "Now
thou knowest! I am not a good Jewish maiden. Levi and I are brother and
sister. His touch profane me, forsooth!" She laughed bitterly.

"Thou wilt take this journey though I forbid thee?" he cried in acrid
accents, still mingled with surprise.

"Yes; would I had taken the journey thou wouldst have forbidden ten
years ago!"

"What journey? thou talkest madness."

"I talk truth. Thou hast forgotten David Brandon; I have not. Ten years
last Passover I arranged to fly with him, to marry him, in defiance of
the Law and thee."

A new pallor overspread the Reb's countenance, already ashen. He
trembled and almost fell backwards.

"But thou didst not?" he whispered hoarsely.

"I did not, I know not why," she said sullenly; "else thou wouldst never
have seen me again. It may be I respected thy religion, although thou
didst not dream what was in my mind. But thy religion shall not keep me
from this journey."

The Reb had hidden his face in his hands. His lips were moving; was it
in grateful prayer, in self-reproach, or merely in nervous trembling?
Hannah never knew. Presently the Reb's arms dropped, great tears rolled
down towards the white beard. When he spoke, his tones were hushed as
with awe.

"This man--tell me, my daughter, thou lovest him still?"

She shrugged her shoulders with a gesture of reckless despair.

"What does it matter? My life is but a shadow."

The Reb took her to his breast, though she remained stony to his touch,
and laid his wet face against her burning cheeks.

"My child, my poor Hannah; I thought God had sent thee peace ten years
ago; that He had rewarded thee for thy obedience to His Law."

She drew her face away from his.

"It was not His Law; it was a miserable juggling with texts. Thou alone
interpretedst God's law thus. No one knew of the matter."

He could not argue; the breast against which he held her was shaken by a
tempest of grief, which swept away all save hum