while, and at the
remembrance of those, his best friends, he laughed aloud.

But from Meir's lips the slight smile had vanished.

He sighed and said, as if to himself:

"How shall I act? What ought I to do?"

Golda, with her hands crossed above her head, looked thoughtfully up
to the starry sky. After a while she whispered timidly:

"I will ask zeide; zeide is very learned; he knows the whole Bible by
heart."

"Ask him," said Meir.

The girl turned her head towards the dark interior, and called out:

"Zeide! What does Jehovah command a man to do, from whom the people
have turned away because he will not act against his conscience?"

Abel interrupted his prayers. He was accustomed to his
grand-daughter's inquiries, and to answer them.

He seemed to ponder a few minutes, and then in his quavering but
distinct voice, replied:

"Jehovah says: 'I made you a prophet, a guardian over Israel! Hear my
words and repeat them to the people. If you do this, I shall call you
a faithful servant; if you remain silent, on your head be the woes of
Israel.'"

The old voice became silent, but Meir listened still, with glowing
eyes. Then he pointed into the dark room and said:

"He has said the truth! Through his mouth has spoken the old covenant
of Moses, the one true covenant."

Tears gleamed in Golda's eyes; but Meir saw them not, so deeply was
he absorbed in thoughts which fired his whole being. He gently bent
his head before the girl and went away.

She remained at the open window. Her bearing was quiet, but silent
tears one after another rolled down her thin face.

"They beheaded the prophet Hosea, and drove the prophet Jeremiah out
of Jerusalem," she whispered.

At a distance from the hut, Meir raised his face to heaven:

"Rabbi Akiba died in great tortures for his convictions," he
murmured.

Golda's eyes followed him still though she could see him no longer;
and folding her hands, she murmured:

"Like as Ruth said to Naomi, I wilt say to the light of my soul:
'Whither thou goest I will go; where thou diest, I will die!'"

In this way these two children, thoroughly imbued with the old
history and legends of Israel, which represented to them all earthly
knowledge, drew from them comfort and courage.

CHAPTER IX

The day had scarcely begun to dawn when, in Kamionker's house,
everybody, with the exception of the little children, was awake and
stirring. It was an important day for the landlord of the in