.

"If these English people see you at work," she said presently, "they
will think you are some poor man, little father."

Israel Kensky did not stop his work.

"What book are you binding?" she asked after awhile. "Is it the Talmud
which Levi Leviski gave you?"

The old man did not answer, and a dark frown gathered on the woman's
heavy face. You might not guess that they were father and daughter, yet
such was the case. But between Sophia Kensky and her father there was
neither communion of spirit nor friendship. It was amazing that she
should accompany him, as she did, wherever he went, or that he should be
content to have her as his companion. The gossips of Kieff had it that
neither would trust the other out of sight; and it may be that there was
something in this, though a stronger motive might be suspected in so far
as Sophia's actions were concerned.

Presently the old man put down his tools, blinked, and pushed back his
chair.

"It is a design for a great book," he said, and chuckled hoarsely. "A
book with steel covers and wonderful pages." He smiled contemptuously.
"The Book of All-Power," he said.

"Little father, there are times when I think you are mad. For how can
you know the secrets which are denied to others? And you who write so
badly, how can you fill a great book with your writings?"

"The Book of All-Power," repeated the man, and the smile on the woman's
face grew broader.

"A wonderful book!" she scoffed, "filled with magic and mystery and
spells--do you wonder that we of Kieff suspect you?"

"We of Kieff?" he repeated mockingly, and she nodded.

"We of Kieff," she said.

"So you are with the rabble, Sophia!" He lifted one shoulder in a
contemptuous little gesture.

"You are also of the rabble, Israel Kensky," she said. "Do you take your
dinner in the Grand Duke's palace?"

He was gathering together the tools on the table, and methodically
fitting each graver into a big leather purse.

"The Grand Duke does not stone me in the street, nor set fire to my
houses," he said.

"Nor the Grand Duchess," said the girl meaningly, and he looked at her
from under his lowered brows.

"The Grand Duchess is beyond the understanding of such as you," he said
harshly, and the woman laughed.

"There will come a day when she will be on her knees to me," she said
prophetically, and she got up from the table with a heavy yawn. "That I
promise myself, and with this promise I put myself to sleep every