unjust, and I'm cross with you,
Feigele."

"Why? Because I tell you the truth to your face?" she asks, looking into
his face and laughing.

He turns his head away, pretending to be offended.

"You little silly, are you feeling hurt? I was only joking, can't you
see?"

So it goes on, till the old mother's face peeps out from behind the
curtain, warning them that it is time to go to rest, when the young
couple bid each other good-night.

* * * * *

Reb Yainkel, Feigele's father, fell ill.

It was in the beginning of winter, and there was war between winter and
summer: the former sent a snowfall, the latter a burst of sun. The snow
turned to mud, and between times it poured with rain by the bucketful.

This sort of weather made the old man ill: he became weak in the legs,
and took to his bed.

There was no money for food, and still less for firing, and Feigele had
to lend for the time being.

The old man lay abed and coughed, his pale, shrivelled face reddened,
the teeth showed between the drawn lips, and the blue veins stood out on
his temples.

They sent for the doctor, who prescribed a remedy.

The mother wished to pawn their last pillow, but Feigele protested, and
gave up part of her wages, and when this was not enough, she pawned her
jacket--anything sooner than touch the dowry.

And he, Eleazar, came every evening, and they sat together beside the
well-known table in the lamplight.

"Why are you so sad, Feigele?"

"How can you expect me to be cheerful, with father so ill?"

"God will help, Feigele, and he will get better."

"It's four weeks since I put a farthing into the savings-bank."

"What do you want to save for?"

"What do I want to save for?" she asked with a startled look, as though
something had frightened her. "Are you going to tell me that you will
take me without a dowry?"

"What do you mean by 'without a dowry'? You are worth all the money in
the world to me, worth my whole life. What do I want with your money?
See here, my five fingers, they can earn all we need. I have two
hundred rubles in the bank, saved from my earnings. What do I want with
more?"

They are silent for a moment, with downcast eyes. "And your mother?" she
asks quietly.

"Will you please tell me, are you marrying my mother or me? And what
concern is she of yours?"

Feigele is silent.

"I tell you again, I'll take you _just as you are_--and you'll take me
the same, will yo