Hersh motioned her to a chair, in which she sat immediately.
"Freida," he began, "have you heard of what happened in the town to-day?"
"Yes, I have heard," she answered softly. "My brother Joseph came to see me, and told me that you had quarrelled with Reb Nohim."
"He wishes to eat me up as his great-grandfather ate up my great-grand father."
Freida's dark eyes became filled with fear.
"Hersh!" she exclaimed, "you must not quarrel with him. He is a great and saintly man. All will be with him!"
"No," answered the husband, with a smile, "don't be afraid. Now other times are corning--he can't harm me. And as for me, I can't shut my mouth when my heart shouts within me that I must speak. I can no longer stand by to hear that man teaching that what is good is bad, and see the stupid people look into his eyes and shout, although they do not understand anything. No! And how can they understand? Has Todros ever taught them to distinguish good from evil, and separate that which was from that winch shall be?"
After a few moments of silence, Hersh continued:
"Freida."
"What, Hersh?"
"Have you forgotten what I told you about Michael the Senior?"
The woman folded her hands devoutly.
"Why should I forget it?" she asked. "You told me beautiful things of him."
"He was a great--a very great man. Todros ate him up. If that family had not eaten him up he would have accomplished great things for the Jews. But no matter about that. I will ask him what he wished to do.
He will teach me, and I will do it!"
Freida grew pale.
"But how will you ask him?" she whispered in fear, "he is dead a long time ago."
A mysterious smile played about the merchant's thin lips.
"I know how. Sometimes God permits those who have died to talk with and teach their grandchildren, Freida," he continued, after another pause, "do you know what the Senior did when he saw that Todros would eat him up, and that he would die before the good times would come?"
"No, what did he do?"
"He shut himself up in a room, and he sat there without eating or drinking or sleeping, and--he only wrote. And what did he write? That nobody yet knows, because he hid what he had written, and when he felt that his end was near, he said to his sons: 'I have written down everything that I have known and felt, and what I intended to do; but I have hidden my writings from you, because now such times are at hand that all is useless for the present. The Todros rule, and they will rule for a long time, and they will do this that neither you, nor your sons, nor your grandsons will care to see my writing, and even were they to see it, they would tear it into pieces, and scatter it to the winds for annihilation, ant they would say that Michael the Senior was kofrim (heretic), and they would excommunicate him as they did the second Moses. But there will come a time when my great-grandson will wish for what I had written--to ask for guidance in his thoughts and actions in order to free the Jews from Todros'
captivity, and to lead them to that sun from which the other nations receive the warmth. Thus, my great-grandson who desires to have my writings, will find the writings, and you have only to tell the eldest son of that family on your deathbed that it exists, and that there are many wise things written down. It must be thus from generation to generation. I command you thus. Remember to be obedient to this one, whose soul deserved to be immortal! (It was the teaching of Moses Majmonides, in regard to the immortality of the soul, that every man, according to the culture of his mind and moral perfection, could attain immortality, and that annihilation was the punishment for misdeeds)."
Hersh stopped speaking. Freida sat motionless looking into her husband's face with intense curiosity.
"Shall you search for that writing?" she asked softly.
"I shall search for it," said her husband, "and I shall find it, because I am that great-grandson of whom Michael Senior spoke when dying. I shall find that writing--you must help me to find it."
The woman stood erect, beaming with joy.
"Hersh, you are a good man!" she exclaimed. "You are kind to associate me, a woman, with such an important affair and great thoughts."
"Why should I not do it? Are you a bad housekeeper or a bad mother?
You do everything well, and your soul is as beautiful as your eyes."
The white face of the young Hebrew woman became scarlet. She dropped her eyes, but her coral-like lips whispered some words of love and gratitude.
Hersh rose.
"Where shall we search for the writing?" said he thoughtfully.
"Where?" repeated the woman.
"Freida," said the husband, "Michael the Senior could not have hidden his writing in the earth, for he knew that there the worms would eat it, or that it would turn to dust. Is this writing in the earth?"
"No," answered the woman, "it is not there."
"He could not have hidden it in the wails of the house, for he knew that they would rot, and that they would be destroyed, and new ones built. These walls I have built myself, and I carefully searched the old ones, but there was no writing."
"There was not," repeated Freida sorrowfully.
"He could not have hidden it in the roof, because he knew it would not be safe there. When I was born there was perhaps the tenth roof built over our house, but it seems to me that the writing could not have been there. Where is it?"
Both were thoughtful. All at once, after a while, the woman exclaimed:
"Hersh, I know where the writing is!"
Her husband raised his head. His wife was pointing to the large library filled with books, which stood in a corner of the room.
"There?" said Hersh, hesitatingly.
"There," repeated the woman, with conviction. "Have you not told me that these are Michael Senior's books, and that all the Ezofowichs have preserved them, but no one has read them because Todros would not permit the reading of books."
Hersh passed his hand over his forehead, and the woman spoke further.
"Michael the Senior was a wise man, and he saw the future. He knew that for a long time no one would read those books, and that only the one who would read them would be that great-grandson who would find his writings."
"Freida, Freida," exclaimed Hersh, "you are a wise woman!"
She modestly dropped her dark eyes.
"Hersh, I am going to see why the baby is crying. I will give the servants their orders, and have them keep the fire, then I will come here and aid you in your work."
"Come!" said her husband, and when she had gone to the room from which came the sounds of children's voices, he said to himself:
"A wise woman is more precious than gold and pearls. Besides, her husband's heart is quiet."
After a while she returned, locked the door, and asked softly: