"Cousin! comme c'est ennuyant ici!"
"Oui, cousine! cette vilaine petite ville est une place tres ennuyante!" answered he, whistling.
The two mothers, seated on the sofa, did not understand a word, but they looked at each other and blushed for joy, and Pani Hannah stretched her plump hand across the table and caressed her daughter's hair.
"Fischele!" (little fish) said she, with an indescribable smile of beautitude and love on her lips.
Even on Eli the French language made some impression. His face, which had been a little sorrowful, became serene again. He rose and said cheerfully:
"Nu, let us be going. It's time."
In a few minutes they descended from the piazza into the street. Eli's face had again become sorrowful. Nothing could be more unorthodox than the dress of his relative. It consisted of a short, fashionable coat, shining shoes and very widely-open waistcoat, which showed the entire snowy shirtfront. On his head he wore a small cap, with the official star, and before going out he had lighted a cigarette.
It was a hard thing for Eli to contradict anyone—much more his guest and the pet of the two women whom he at any rate respected. But when he went out on the piazza and saw the crowds of people—whom the Sabbath day brought out in swarms—he could not refrain from warning the lad.
"Leopold, listen!" said he, quietly and gently, "you had better throw that cigarette away. The people are stupid here, but you had better not irritate them. And perhaps," he added immediately, "God himself forbad smoking on the Sabbath. Who can tell?"
Leopold laughed aloud.