e.

"Meir," he said at last, "an hour ago your grandfather had a long
talk with his son, Abraham. He left his visitors on purpose to speak
with him, and bade me to be present at their conversation. Rest in
peace, Meir; your uncle will have no hand in the vile deed which will
be perpetrated."

"Will be perpetrated?" interrupted Meir passionately. "Not if I can
prevent it."

Ber smiled bitterly

"How can you prevent it? I guessed you wanted to speak about it to
the Rabbi, and I went after you to warn you and save you from the
consequences of such a step. You thought that if you put the case
before him, he would rise in anger and forbid any one to do such an
infamous deed If he did that they would obey him; but he will not."

"Why should he not?" exclaimed Meir.

"Because he does not understand anything about it. If you questioned
him about clean or unclean food, whether it was allowed to snuff a
candle on the Sabbath, or gird the loins with pocket-handkerchiefs,
he would answer readily enough. He would tell you whether to bless
first the wine or first the bread, or how the spirits transmigrate
from one body to another, how many Sefirots emanate from Jehovah and
how to transpose the sacred letters in order to discover fresh
mysteries, or about the arrival of the Messiah. But if you began to
speak to him about distilleries, taxes, estates, and things in
connection with them, he would open his eyes widely and would listen
to you like a man struck with deafness, because these things are to
him like a sealed letter. For him, beyond his sacred books, the world
is like a great wilderness."

Meir bent his head.

"I feel the truth of what you say; yet if I asked him whether it be
right for the sake of gain to wrong an innocent man?"

Ber answered:

"He would ask you whether the innocent man were an Edomite or an
Israelite."

Meir looked intently at the sky, thinking deeply, and evidently
puzzled.

"Ber," he said at last, "do you hate the Edomites?"

The questioned man shook his head.

"Hatred is like poison to the human mind. Once, when I was young, I
even thought of going to them and entreating them to help us. I am
glad now that I did not do it and remained with my own people, but I
have no ill-feeling towards them."

"And I have none," said Meir. "Do you think Kamionker hates them?"

"No," said her decidedly. "He makes use of them. They are his milch
cows. He may despise them, because they do not look aft