Tears gleamed in Golda's eyes; but Meir saw them not, so deeply was he absorbed in thoughts which fired his whole being. He gently bent his head before the girl and went away.
She remained at the open window. Her bearing was quiet, but silent tears one after another rolled down her thin face.
"They beheaded the prophet Hosea, and drove the prophet Jeremiah out of Jerusalem," she whispered.
At a distance from the hut, Meir raised his face to heaven:
"Rabbi Akiba died in great tortures for his convictions," he murmured.
Golda's eyes followed him still though she could see him no longer; and folding her hands, she murmured:
"Like as Ruth said to Naomi, I wilt say to the light of my soul:
'Whither thou goest I will go; where thou diest, I will die!'"
In this way these two children, thoroughly imbued with the old history and legends of Israel, which represented to them all earthly knowledge, drew from them comfort and courage.
CHAPTER IX
The day had scarcely begun to dawn when, in Kamionker's house, everybody, with the exception of the little children, was awake and stirring. It was an important day for the landlord of the inn, as it was that of the principal fair, which brought crowds of people of all sorts to the town. Both Jankiel's daughters, two strong, plain, and slatternly girls, with the help of the boy Mendel, whose stupid, malicious face bore the traces of Reb Moshe's training, were busy preparing the two guest rooms for the arrival of distinguished customers. Next to the guest rooms was the large bar-room, where, during the fair, crowds of country people were wont to drink and to dance. The servant pretended to clean the benches around the wall, and made a scanty fire in the great black stove, as the morning was cool and the air damp and musty. In Jankiel's room, the first from the entrance, the window of which looked upon the still empty market-square, were two people, Jankiel and his wife Jenta, both at their morning prayers.