he prophets of Israel, than act against my heart."

Having said this he rose and nodded to the girl.

"Peace to you!" he said.

"Peace to you," she answered softly, nodding to him slowly.

He went out, and after a while the girl rose, blew out the yellow
flame of the burned-out candle, and having wrapped herself in some
gray cloth, she lay down on the straw beside the sleeping old man.
She lay down, but for a long time she watched the shining stars.

CHAPTER VII

Eli Witebski possessed in his mind and character many
diplomatic qualities. He was neither born nor brought up in Szybow,
as were without exception all the inhabitants of the town; but three
years ago had settled there on account of business matters as well as
for various family reasons. Among the population who lived there for
generations he was therefore almost a stranger, and in addition to
that, having spent his whole life in a large city, he brought with
him many new customs which astonished and shocked the ultra-conservative
inhabitants of this lost corner of the world. Among these differences were
the different cut and material of his clothing, the wearing of the
diamond ring, the rejection of the skull cap on his head, the short
clipping of his beard, and the absolute lack in his house of Talmudistic
and Kabalistic books, and, principally, the possession of such a wife
as Pani Hannah, of a daughter who was studying somewhere in a
boarding school, and besides this daughter Mera, only two more
children. These innovations, never seen nor heard of before, should
have been the cause of drawing on the elegant merchant a general
dislike of the population of Szybow. But they did not. It is true that
at first so-and-so whispered to so-and-so that he was a misnagdim,
progressive and indifferent in matters of religion. But these suspicious
notions soon disappeared, stopped chiefly by Eli's extraordinary
affability, amiability, and the power of adapting himself to any
and all circumstances. Always good-natured smiling, and serene,
he never argued with anybody, stood out of the way for everybody,
affirmed nothing, avoided quarrels in order not to be obliged to
take sides with the participants and thus offend the other, and
when he could not avoid so doing, spoke so sweetly and convincingly
that the antagonists, enraptured with his eloquence, became
reconciled, bearing in their hearts gratitude and admiration for him,
and speaking of him with enthusiasm. E