uiet! Zeide, don't shout! Zeide, don't be afraid!"

All at once, from behind the crowd of children, someone exclaimed
threateningly and imperatively:

"Shtyl Bube! What are you doing here, you rascals? Get out!"

The children at once became silent. The man who caused the
tranquillity by his loud voice was tall and well built. His long
dress was lined with fur. His face looked pale in the dusk, and his
eyes shone as only young eyes can shine.

"What are you doing here?" he repeated, in an angry and decided
voice. "Do you think that this house is inhabited by wolves, and that
you can howl at them and break the windows?"

The boys, gathered in one compact body, were silent. After a while,
however, one of them, the tallest, and evidently the boldest, said:

"Why do they not show some light on Sabbath?"

"That's none of your business," said the man.

"No! That's none of yours either," said the stubborn boy. "We come
here every week and do the same--what then?"

"I know that you do the same every week. Therefore I watched to catch
you here . . . now go home! quick!"

"And you, Meir, why don't you go yourself to your house? Your bobe
and your zeide are eating the fish without you. Why do you drive us
from here, and not observe the Sabbath yourself?"

The eyes of the young man became more fiery. He stamped the earth
with his foot and shouted so angrily that the younger children
dispersed immediately, and only the oldest boy, as though he would
have revenge for the scolding, seized a clod of earth and wished to
throw it into the little house.

But two strong hands seized him by the arms and the collar.

"Come," said the young man, "I will take you back home."

The boy shouted, and tried to escape. But the strong arm held him
fast, and a quiet voice ordered him to be silent. He obeyed, dropping
his head.

Around the hut it was now deep dusk. From the dark interior came the
sound of heavy, hoarse sighing as from some very old breast, and near
the broken window sounded the girl's voice:

"Thank you."

"Rest in peace," answered the young man, and went off, leading the
little prisoner.

They passed silently through a few streets, and went toward a house
situated at the square.

The house was low and long, with a piazza, and a long corridor ran
through the whole building. All this announced an inn. The windows in
the part of the house assigned to guests were dark. In the others,
situated opposite the piazza, a