rderer!" and turning towards his scholars, yelled: "Get
hold of him! stone him!"

But he addressed empty benches; the books lay scattered about and the
seats turned upside down. The scholars, seeing their master prostrate
under the table, and one of their companions rescued by main force,
had all rushed, partly from fright and partly from a wish for
liberty, through the door and dispersed about the town like a flight
of birds released from a cage.

The school was empty and the court deserted, except for a few grave
looking men who stood in the portico of the Bet-ha-Kahol, and towards
them rushed the frantic melamed, panting and tearing his hair. Meir
in the meanwhile went swiftly on, with the child in his arms, whose
tears fell thick and fast; but the eyes which looked through the
tears at Meir were no longer the tears of an idiot.

"Morejne!" whispered Lejbele.

"Morejne!" he repeated, in a still lower voice, "how good you are!"

At the corner of the little street where the tailor lived, Meir put
the child down.

"There," he said, pointing at Shmul's house, "go home now."

The child stiffened, put his hands into his sleeves, and remained
motionless. Meir smiled and looked into his face:

"Are you afraid?"

"I am afraid," said the motionless boy.

Instead of returning as he had intended, the young man went towards
Shmul's hut, followed at a distance by Lejbele. The day was almost
over, and so was work in the little street. The pale and ragged
inhabitants crowded before their thresholds.

Scarcely had Meir penetrated into the street, where he became aware
of a great change in the attitude of the people towards him.
Formerly, the grandson of Saul had been greeted effusively on all
sides; they had come to him with their complaints, sometimes asked
for advice; others had greeted him from their windows with loud
voices.

Now scarcely anybody seemed to notice him. The men looked away; the
women glanced at him with curiosity, whispered to each other, and
pointed their fingers at him. One of the woodcutters with whom he had
worked at his grandfather's looked at him sadly and withdrew into his
hut. Meir shrugged his shoulders impatiently.

"What is it all about?" he thought. "What wrong have I done to them?"
Strange it seemed to him also that the tailor did not rush out to
meet him with his usual effusive flatteries and complainings;
nevertheless he entered the dwelling. Lejbele remained outside,
crouching near