is brilliance was occasionally dazzling to the sober tutors upon whom
he flashed his sudden thought, which stirred up that which had better
been left asleep. Why was he not as other sons, why did he pace the
street with unobservant eyes, why did he weep over the profane Hebrew
of the Spanish love-singers as if their songs were _Selichoth_ or
Penitential Verses? Why did he not marry Miriam, as one could see the
girl wished? Why did he set at naught the custom of the Ghetto, in
silently refraining from so obvious a match between the children of
two old friends, equally well-to-do, and both possessing the _Jus
Gazzaga_ or leasehold of the houses in which they lived; tall, quaint
houses, separated only by an ancient building with a carved porch, and
standing at the end of the great Via Rua where it adjoined the narrow
little street, Delle Azzimelle, in which the Passover cakes were made.
Miriam's family, being large, had their house to themselves, but a
good deal of Manasseh's was let out; for room was more and more
precious in the Ghetto, which was a fixed space for an ever-expanding
population.

II

They went to bed. Manasseh insisted upon that. They could not possibly
expect Joseph till the morning. Accustomed as Rachel was to lean upon
her husband's strength, at this moment his strength seemed harshness.
The night was long. A hundred horrid visions passed before her
sleepless eyes. The sun rose upon the Ghetto, striving to slip its
rays between the high, close-pressed tops of opposite houses. The five
Ghetto gates were thrown open, but Joseph did not come through any.
The Jewish pedlars issued, adjusting their yellow hats, and pushing
before them little barrows laden with special Christmas wares. "_Heb,
heb_," they shouted as they passed through the streets of Rome. Some
sold simples and philtres, and amulets in the shape of miniature
mandores or four-stringed lutes to preserve children from maladies.
Manasseh, his rugged countenance grown harder, went to his place of
business. He had forbidden any inquiries to be made outside the pale
till later in the day; it would be but to betray to the enemy Joseph's
breach of the law. In the meantime, perhaps, the wanderer would
return. Manasseh's establishment was in the Piazza Giudea. Numerous
shops encumbered the approaches, mainly devoted to the sale of
cast-off raiment, the traffic in new things being prohibited to Jews
by Papal Bull, but anything second-hand might be had