Ber! hush! they will be angry with you for your rash words."

Saul raised his head several times arid bent it down again. One might
have said that gratitude for Ber's defence of his grandson struggled
with his rising anger.

"Ber, your own sins have spoken through your mouth. You stand up for
Meir because you were once what he is now," said the passionate
Abraham.

Raphael, with his usual gravity, said:

"You say, Ber, that he has not sinned against the ten commandments.
That is true; but you forget that the covenant does not stand alone
upon the ten commandments which Moses brought from Sinai, but also
upon the six hundred and thirteen which the great Tanaites, Amoraits
and Gaons, with other Wise Men, have put down in the Talmud. We not
only owe obedience to them, but also to the six hundred and thirteen
of the Talmud; and Meir has transgressed many of them."

"He has sinned greatly," called out Abraham, "but the greatest and
blackest sin be committed to-day, when he denounced a brother
Israelite before the stranger, and thus broke the solidarity and
faith of his people. What will become of us if we accuse each other
before the stranger? Whom shall we love and shield if not our
brethren, who are bones of our bones and our blood. He felt more
sorry for a stranger than for a brother Israelite, and for that he
ought to--"

The violent and impulsive man broke off his sentence in the middle
and remained open-mouthed, like one turned to stone.

He sat opposite the window, at which he stared fixedly with stupefied
eyes.

"What is that?" he called out in a trembling voice:

"What is that?" said everybody; and all except Saul rose from their
seats.

The room, which had been quite dark, became suddenly lighted up, as
if by the reflection of thousands of torches from without; not only
the house of Ezofowich, but the whole sky above was illuminated by a
red glare.

The men and women stood spell-bound in the middle of the room, and
looked silently at the fiery volumes, which rose higher and higher
into the heavens above.

"How quickly he has done the deed!" said Abraham.

Nobody answered.

The little town, so quiet a moment before, became suddenly very noisy
and tumultuous. No nation in the world is so easily carried away by
sensations of any kind. This time the sensation was a powerful one.
It was aroused by the mighty element which carries destruction upon
earth and lifts its blood-red banner up to the skies,