The woman burst into loud sobs and fell at his feet.

"They are right! they are right!" she cried. "I am a wicked creature.
It were better to let me perish."

The driver raised her tenderly. "Nay, in that instant you repented,"
he said, "and one instant's repentance wins back God. Henceforward you
shall live without sin."

"What! you would restore her to Brody?" cried the elder brother--"to
bring the wrath of Heaven upon so godly a town. Be you who you may,
saint or devil, that is beyond your power. Her husband assuredly will
not take her back. With her family she cannot live."

"Then she shall live with mine," said the _Shochet_. "My daughter
dwells in Brody. I will take her to her. Go your ways."

They stood disconcerted. Presently the younger said: "How know we
are not leaving her to greater shame?"

The old man's face grew terrible.

"Go your ways," he repeated.

They slunk off, and I watched them get into a two-horsed carriage,
which I now perceived on the other side of the copse. I ran forward to
give an arm to the woman, who was again half-fainting.

"Said I not," said the old man musingly, "that even the worst sinners
are better than these Rabbis? So blind are they in the arrogance of
their self-conceit, so darkened by their pride, that their very
devotion to the Law becomes a vehicle for their sin."

We helped the woman gently into the cart. I climbed in, but the old
man began to walk with the horse, holding its bridle, and reversing
its direction.

"Aren't you jumping up?" I asked.

"We are going up now, instead of down," he said, smiling. "Brody sits
high, in the seat of the scornful."

A pang of shame traversed my breast. What! I was riding and this fine
old fellow was walking! But ere I could offer to get down, a new
thought increased my confusion. I, who was bent on finding the Baal
Shem, was now off on a side-adventure to Brody. And yet I was loath to
part so soon with my new friend. And besides, I told myself, Brody was
well worth a visit. The reputation of its Talmudical schools was
spread over the kingdom, and although I shared the old man's
repugnance to them my curiosity was alert. And even on the Baal Shem's
account I ought to go there. For I remembered now that his early life
had had many associations with the town, and that it was his wife's
birthplace. So I said, "How far is Brody?"

"Ten miles," he said.

"Ten miles!" I repeated in horror.

"Ten miles," he said musingly,