that he was not attracted by any of
these groups of people filling the house. He was among his own
people--among those who were nearest to him in blood and
affection--but it might be said that he was in the desert, so lonely did
he stand in the room, and so sorrowfully did he look around him.
He went out. Descending the stairs leading from the piazza he passed
the dark square, and entered the little house of Reb Jankiel.

After the large, clean, well-lighted, and comfortable rooms of his
grandfather's home, the dwelling of Reb Jankiel, the possessor of the
largest inn in Szybow, whisky merchant, and a member of kahal, seemed
to Meir narrow, dark, dirty, and mean. The Sabbath feast was over. It
never was long, for it was scanty and passed in gloomy silence,
interrupted only by quarrelling and the biting remarks of the father
of the family. It was known that Reb Jankiel was avaricious. He
gathered much money, but he did not care for the comfort of the
house, because he was seldom there, being busy with whisky
distilleries, with dram-shops in the neighbouring villages, returning
to the town only when religious affairs required his presence. His
wife, Jenta, and two grown-up daughters conducted the business of the
inn.

The appearance of riches in his house only occurred when Reb Jankiel
received eminent guests, as the saintly Rabbi, with whom he was a
great favourite, the colleagues of the kahal, or wealthy merchants.
Cleanliness and gaiety were well-known virtues.

In the first room, which Meir entered through a door opening into the
dark hall, only one little candle burned in a brass candlestick. The
smell of the food, which was just cleared off the table, was here
mingled with the mustiness of the dirty walls and the greasy
exhalations from the smoky chimney. It was dark and dull here. From
the other room, completely dark, sounded the loud snoring of the
master of the house, who was already fast asleep. In the third small
room, filled with beds and trunks, Meir perceived, by the light of a
small lamp burning in the stove around which was suspended a quantity
of cabbages, a woman who was rocking a cradle with her foot, and
trying to lull to sleep a crying child. Meir greeted her, and she
answered him in a friendly manner and continued to hum.

Behind the closed door could be heard the muffled sound of human
voices. Meir opened that door and entered the room of Eliezer.

Eliezer the cantor and the possessor of that