ger of the basement I am," he said, and struck an
elegant attitude against the case of misses'-ready-to-wear coats. "And
when you come back to Winnebago, Miss Fanny,--and the saints send it
be soon--I'll bet ye'll see me on th' first flure, keepin' a stern but
kindly eye on the swellest trade in town. Ev'ry last thing I know I
learned off yur poor ma."

"I hope it will serve you here, Aloysius."

"Sarve me!" He bent closer. "Meanin' no offense, Miss Fanny; but say,
listen: Oncet ye get a Yiddish business education into an Irish head,
and there's no limit to the length ye can go. If I ain't a dry-goods
king be th' time I'm thirty I hope a packin' case'll fall on me."

The sight of Aloysius seemed to recall so vividly all that was happy and
all that was hateful about Brandeis' Bazaar; all the bravery and pluck,
and resourcefulness of the bright-eyed woman he had admiringly called
his boss, that Fanny found her self-control slipping. She put out her
hand rather blindly to meet his great red paw (a dressy striped cuff
seemed to make it all the redder), murmured a word of thanks in return
for his fervent good wishes, and fled up the basement stairs.

On Friday night (she was to leave next day) she went to the temple. The
evening service began at seven. At half past six Fanny had finished her
early supper. She would drop in at Doctor Thalmann's house and walk with
him to temple, if he had not already gone.

"Nein, der Herr Rabbi ist noch hier--sure," the maid said in answer
to Fanny's question. The Thalmann's had a German maid--one Minna--who
bullied the invalid Mrs. Thalmann, was famous for her cookies with
walnuts on the top, and who made life exceedingly difficult for
unlinguistic callers.

Rabbi Thalmann was up in his study. Fanny ran lightly up the stairs.

"Who is it, Emil? That Minna! Next Monday her week is up. She goes."

"It's I, Mrs. Thalmann. Fanny Brandeis."

"Na, Fanny! Now what do you think!"

In the brightly-lighted doorway of his little study appeared Rabbi
Thalmann, on one foot a comfortable old romeo, on the other a street
shoe. He held out both hands. "Only at supper we talked about you. Isn't
that so, Harriet?" He called into the darkened room.

"I came to say good-by. And I thought we might walk to temple together.
How's Mrs. Thalmann tonight?"

The little rabbi shook his head darkly, and waved a dismal hand. But
that was for Fanny alone. What he said was: "She's really splendid
to-day. A l