He was gathering together the tools on the table, and methodically fitting each graver into a big leather purse.
"The Grand Duke does not stone me in the street, nor set fire to my houses," he said.
"Nor the Grand Duchess," said the girl meaningly, and he looked at her from under his lowered brows.
"The Grand Duchess is beyond the understanding of such as you," he said harshly, and the woman laughed.
"There will come a day when she will be on her knees to me," she said prophetically, and she got up from the table with a heavy yawn. "That I promise myself, and with this promise I put myself to sleep every night."
She went on and she spoke without heat.
"I see her sweeping my floors and eating the bread I throw to her."
Israel Kensky had heard all this before, and did not even smile.
"You are an evil woman, Sophia," he said. "God knows how such a one could be a daughter of mine. What has the Grand Duchess done to you that you should harbour such venom?"
"I hate her because she is," said the woman evenly. "I hate her not for the harm she has done me, but for the proud smile she gives to her slaves. I hate her because she is high and I am low, and because all the time she is marking the difference between us."