nds us a separate greeting, long life to her, may she live
when my bones are dust. Let us go to the provisor, he shall read it; it
is written in French."

The provisor, the apothecary's foreman, who lived in the same house,
said the bride's letter was not written in French, but in Polish, that
she called Gittel her second mother, that she loved her son Moses as her
life, that he was her world, that she held herself to be the most
fortunate of girls, since God had given her Moses, that Gittel (once
more!) was her second mother, and she felt like a dutiful daughter
towards her, and hoped that Gittel would love her as her own child.

The bride declared further that she kissed her new sister, Beile, a
thousand times, together with Zlatke and their husbands and children,
and she signed herself "Your forever devoted and loving daughter
Regina."

An hour later all Gittel's children were assembled round her, her eldest
son Avremel with his wife, Zlatke and her little ones, Beile's husband,
and her son-in-law Yossel. All read the letter with eager curiosity,
brandy and spice-cakes were placed on the table, wine was sent for, they
drank healths, wished each other joy, and began to talk of going to the
wedding.

Gittel, very tired with all she had gone through this day, went to lie
down for a while to rest her head, which was all in a whirl, but the
others remained sitting at the table, and never stopped talking of
Moisheh.

"I can imagine the sort of engagement Moisheh has made, begging his
pardon," remarked the daughter-in-law, and wiped her pale lips.

"I should think so, a man who's been a bachelor up to thirty! It's easy
to fancy the sort of bride, and the sort of family she has, if they
accepted Moisheh as a suitor," agreed the daughter.

"God helping, this ought to make a man of him," sighed Moisheh's elder
brother, "he's cost us trouble and worry enough."

"It's your fault," Yossel told him. "If I'd been his elder brother, he
would have turned out differently! I should have directed him like a
father, and taken him well in hand."

"You think so, but when God wishes to punish a man through his own child
going astray, nothing is of any use; these are not the old times, when
young people feared a Rebbe, and respected their elders. Nowadays the
world is topsyturvy, and no sooner has a boy outgrown his childhood than
he does what he pleases, and parents are nowhere. What have I left
undone to make something out of hi