ir, but to obtain some wine
and food out of the charity of their wealthier brethren. To these the
servant carried bread and clotted milk and small copper coins. The
murmur of their thanks and blessings penetrated to the kitchen, where
the two busy women smiled yet more contentedly, and produced more
small coins from their capacious pockets.

In another part of the roomy kitchen stood the children of the house,
pleased with their pretty dresses and coral necklaces, eating sweets.
The elder boys listened to the conversation of the men, and a few of
the younger children played on the floor. Close to this group sat the
great-grandmother, Freida. Days like this conveyed to her clouded
memory pictures of the past, when she herself, a happy wife and
mother, looked after the comforts of her numerous guests. Her
great-granddaughter had roused her earlier than usual to-day, and
dressed her in the costliest garments, and now, before she would be
led into the sitting-room to her chair near the window, they were
completing her toilette. The black-eyed Lija fastened the diamond
star into her turban; her younger sister arranged the pendants;
another put the costly pearls around her neck and twisted the golden
chain cunningly among the soft folds of her white apron. Having done
this they smiled and drew back a little to admire the effect of their
handiwork, or peeped roguishly into the great-grandmother's eyes and
kissed her on the forehead.

The men sitting round the wall nodded their heads sympathetically,
looked reverentially at the old lady, and now and then exclamations
of wonder and pleasure at seeing her surrounded by such tender care
escaped from their lips.

The other part of the house, which had been so lively early in the
morning, was now silent and deserted. Meir crossed the narrow passage
that divided the house, and opened the door of his Uncle Raphael's
room, meeting his friend and cousin Haim upon the threshold. The
youthful, almost childish face, surrounded by golden hair, looked
beaming and excited.

"Where is Uncle Raphael?" asked Meir.

"Where should he be? He is at the fair, together with Ber, buying
bullocks."

"And you, Haim, where are you going?"

But the lad did not even hear the question. Trilling a gay song, he
had rushed off where the stir and lively spectacle of the fair
attracted him.

Meir went out into the porch and looked around. The fair had scarcely
begun, but in the midst of some forty car