gh the room to where the company were gathered around
the yellow sofa. Raphael raised his head in astonishment and looked
back at him. Saul also looked toward the window, and rising from
the sofa he said politely but with determination:

"I beg your pardon, but I cannot permit anything in my house which is
contrary to the holy law."

Having said this he sat down again looking at Leopold from beneath
his bushy eyebrows. Leopold grew very red, threw the cigarette on the
floor, and crushed it angrily with his foot.

"Such is your civility!" said he to Meir.

"And why do you smoke on the Sabbath?"

"Don't you smoke?" asked the guest satirically looking Meir in the
face.

"No," answered Meir

"And you wish to lead human souls out of darkness! And you believe
that it is a holy law not to smoke on the Sabbath!"

"No, I don't believe it," answered Meir, with as much determination
as before.

"You wish to cause the people to rebel against the great Rabbi and
the kahal, and you yourself give way before the enemy."

Meir's eyes shone again, but this time angrily.

"If it was a question of saving a human soul from obscurity, or a
human body from ignorance, I would not give way, because such things
are important; but when it is a question of denying myself a
pleasure, I give way because it is a trifle. And although I do not
believe that such a law is holy and comes from God, I know that the
old people believe in it, and I think that it would be rude to
contradict them in a trifle like this."

After this speech Leopold turned away from Meir and walked over to
where Mera sat. For a while Meir followed him with a glance in which
there was a mixture of disappointment and anger. Then he left the
window and went out.

This sudden disappearance of the young man made a great impression on
the women. The men hardly noticed it, for they thought it very
natural and praiseworthy that the bridegroom, through modesty,
avoided the fiancee chosen for him by the older people. But Pani
Hannah and her sister became gloomy, and Mera whispered to her
mother:

"Maman, let us go home!"

In the meantime Meir was on the way to the house of his friend
Eliezer, but he only looked in at the window, and went further, for
the cantor's room was empty; but he evidently knew where to find his
comrades, and he went directly toward the meadow situated beyond the
town. As a few weeks ago this meadow--a true oasis of quiet and
freshness--was all b