e," said he.

At once many were the suitors for his hand, and finally he agreed with
a rich man to bestow it on his daughter. After the wedding he pursued
his search for the heir to the manuscripts, and, on seeing the
caretaker of the Beth-Hamidrash, concluded he must be the man. He
induced his father-in-law to have a compartment partitioned off in the
school, wherein he could study by himself, and to monopolize the
services of the caretaker to attend upon him.

But when the student fell asleep, Israel began to study according to
his wont; and when _he_ fell asleep, his employer took one page of the
mystic manuscript and placed it near him. When Israel woke up and saw
the page he was greatly moved, and hid it. Next day the man again
placed a page near the sleeping Israel, who again hid it on awaking.
Then was the man convinced that he had found the inheritor of the
spiritual secrets, and he told him the whole story and offered all the
manuscripts on condition Israel should become his teacher. Israel
assented, on condition that he should outwardly remain his attendant
as before, and that his celestial knowledge should not be bruited
abroad. The man now asked his father-in-law to give him a room outside
the town, as his studies demanded still more solitude. He needed none
but Israel to attend him. His father-in-law gave him all he asked for,
rejoicing to have found so studious a son-in-law. As their secret
studies grew deeper, the pupil begged his master to call down the
Archangel of the Law for him to study withal. But Rabbi Israel
dissuaded him, saying the incantation was a very dangerous one, the
slightest mistake might be fatal. After a time the man returned to the
request, and his master yielded. Both fasted from one week's end to
the other and purified themselves, and then went through all the
ceremony of summoning the Archangel of the Law, but at the crucial
moment of the invocation Rabbi Israel cried out, "We have made a slip.
The Angel of Fire is coming instead. He will burn up the town. Run and
tell the people to quit their dwellings and snatch up their most
precious things."

Thus did Rabbi Israel's pupil leap to consideration in the town, being
by many considered a man of miracles, and the saviour of their lives
and treasures. But he still hankered after the Archangel of the Law,
and again induced Rabbi Israel to invoke him. Again they purified and
prepared themselves, but Rabbi Israel cried out--

"Alas!