the door to
the room filled with lights, the prayers had already changed to
conversation, and the gathered company, with traces of solemnity in
their faces, but yet mingled with joyful smiles, was standing around
the table spread with abundant viands.

The company was composed of different faces and figures. There were
two of Saul's sons living with the father; Raphael and Abraham,
already gray, dark-eyed, with severe and thoughtful faces. Then
Saul's son-in-law, light-haired, pale, with soft eyes--Ber. There
were also daughters, sons, and grandchildren of the host of the
house; matured women, with stately figures and high caps on
carefully-combed wigs; or young girls, with swarthy complexions and
thick tresses, their young eyes, brightened by the feast, shone like
live coals.

Several young men belonging to the family, and numerous children of
different ages, gathered at the other end of the table. Saul stood at
the head of it, looking at the door leading to the other rooms of the
house, as though he were waiting. After a while, two women appeared
in the doorway. One of them gleamed with rainbow-like, almost
dazzling light. She was very, very old, but still erect, and looked
strong. Her head was surmounted by a turban of bright colours,
fastened with an enormous buckle of diamonds. Around her neck she
wore a necklace composed of several strands of big pearls which fell
on her breast, also fastened with diamonds. She wore a silk dress of
bright colours. She also had diamond earrings, which were so long
that they reached her shoulders, and so heavy that it was necessary
to support them with threads attached to the turban; they gleamed
with the dazzling light of diamonds, emeralds, and rubies, and at
every movement they rustled, striking the pearls and a heavy gold
chain beneath them.

This hundred-year-old woman, dressed in all the riches accumulated
for centuries, was, it seemed, a relic of the family, much respected
by all these people. When, led by her grand-daughter--a girl with a
swarthy face and dark hair--she stopped on the threshold of the room,
all eyes turned toward her, and all mouths smiled and whispered:

"Bobe! Elte Bobe!" (Grandmother! Great-grandmother!)

The majority of those present said the last words, because there were
present more great-grandchildren than grandchildren. Only the host of
the house, and the head of the whole family, said to the woman
softly:

"Mamma!"

This word, suitable