“Reulah!” he exclaimed, “the Lord be with you.”
And Reulah answering, as etiquette required, “Unto you be peace, and to your house be peace, and unto all you have be peace,” the two friends clasped hands raised them as though to kiss them, then each withdrawing kissed his own hand, and struck it on his forehead.
Singularly enough, host and guest looked much alike. Simon had the appearance of one conscious of and strong in his own rectitude, while Reulah seemed humbler and more effaced. Otherwise [pg 115]there was not a pin to choose between them.
To Simon’s face had come an expression of perplexity in which there was zeal.
“I was thinking, Reulah,” he announced, “of the rabbi who is to break bread with us to-day. His teaching does not comfort me.”
Reulah was unlatching his shoes. “Nor me,” he interjected.
“On questions of purity and impurity he seems unscrupulously negligent. I have heard that he is a glutton and a wine-bibber. I have heard that he despises the washing of the hands.”
“Whoso does,” Reulah threw back, “will be rooted out of the world.”
Simon nodded; a smile of protracted amiability hovered in the corners of his mouth. For a moment he played with his beard.
“I think,” he added, “that he will find here food in plenty, and counsel as well.”