me, come," the saintly man stammered out, "are you--are you mad,
Anna! What demon has possessed you? Why inflict the disgrace of such a
spectacle on me?"

But she did not listen to him, and did not reply, but suddenly she also
began to sway her hips about like an almah[10]. The reverend gentleman
could not believe his eyes, and in his stupefaction, he did not think of
covering them with his hands or even of shutting them. He looked at her,
stupefied and dumbfounded, a prey to the hypnotism of ugliness. He
watched her as she came forward and retired, and went up and down, as
she skipped and wriggled, and threw herself into extraordinary
attitudes. For a long time he sat motionless and almost unable to speak.
He only said in a low voice:

[Footnote 10: Egyptian dancing girl.--TRANSLATOR.]

"Oh, Lord! To think that twelve times!... twelve times!... a whole
dozen!"

However, she fell into a chair, panting and worn out, and said to
herself:

"Thank Heaven! William looks like he used to do formerly on the days
that he honored me. Thank Heaven! There will be a thirteenth tribe, and
then a fresh series of tribes, for William is very methodical in all
that he does!"

But William merely took a blanket off the bed and threw it over her,
saying in a voice of thunder:

"Your name is no longer Anna, Mrs. Greenfield; for the future you shall
be called Jezabel. I only regret that I have twelve times mingled my
blood with your impure blood." And then, seized by pity, he added: "If
you were only in a state of inebriety, of intoxication, I could excuse
you."

"Well, yes, yes!" she exclaimed, repentantly, "yes, I am in that
state ... Forgive me, William--forgive a poor drunken woman!"

"I will forgive you, Anna," he replied, and he gave her a wash-hand
basin, saying: "Cold water will do you good, and when your head is
clear, remember the lesson which you must learn from this occurrence."

"What lesson?" she asked, humbly.

"That people ought never to depart from their usual habits."

"But why, then, William," she asked, timidly, "have you changed your
habits?"

"Hold your tongue!" he cried--"hold your tongue, Jezabel! Have you not
got over your intoxication yet? For twelve years I certainly followed
the divine precept: _increase and multiply_, once a year. But since
then, I have grown accustomed to something else, and I do not wish to
alter my habits."

And the Reverend William Greenfield, Vicar of St. Sampson's, Tottenh