she was not overpious, but how should God be
angry with such a Chavveh as this? If it must be, let him punish _them_
for her sin; they would willingly suffer in her place.

The sun had long set; the sky was grey, save for one red streak, and the
room had grown dark. Chavvehle rose to light the candles, and the women
started and wiped their tearful eyes, so that Chavveh should not remark
them. Chavveh saw the difficulty they had in opening their hearts to
her, and she began to speak to them of different things, offered them
refreshment according to their several tastes, and now Malkehle felt a
little more courageous, and managed to say:

"No, good, kind Chavvehle, we are not hungry. We have come to consult
with you on a very important matter!"

And then Breindel tried hard to speak in a soft voice, but it sounded
gruff and rasping:

"First of all, Chavveh, we want you to speak to us in Yiddish, not in
Polish. We are all Jewish women, thank God, together!"

Chavvehle, who had nodded her head during the whole of Breindel's
speech, made another motion of assent with her silken eyebrows, and
replied:

"I will talk Yiddish to you with pleasure, if that is what you prefer."

"The thing is this, Chavvehle," began Shifreh, the wholesale dealer, "it
is a shame and a sorrow to tell, but when the thunderbolt has fallen,
one must speak. You know Rochel Esther Leoh's. She is engaged, and the
wedding was to have been in eight weeks--and now she, the
good-for-nothing, is with child--and he, the son of perdition, says now
that if he isn't given more than five hundred rubles, he won't take
her----"

Chavvehle was deeply troubled by their words. She saw how great was
their distress, and found, to her regret, that she had little to say by
way of consolation.

"I feel with you," she said, "in your pain. But do not be so dismayed.
It is certainly very bad news, but these things will happen, you are not
the first----"

She wanted to say more, but did not know how to continue.

"But what are we to do?" asked several voices at once. "That is what we
came to you for, dearie, for you to advise us. Are we to give him all
the money he asks, or shall they both know as much happiness as we know
what to do else? Or are we to hang a stone round our necks and drown
ourselves for shame? Give us some advice, dear, help us!"

Then Chavvehle understood that it was not so much the women who were
speaking and imploring, as their stricken heart