"Zeide," he said sadly, "why do you reproach me? It is not about my own affairs I came to you."
"And what right have you to meddle with affairs that are not your own?" said Saul, with hesitation in his voice.
"They are our own, zeide. Kamionker is an Israelite, and as such ought not to cast a slur on our race; besides, they are our own, still more because your son, zeide, Abraham belongs to it."
Saul rose suddenly from the sofa and fell back again. Then he fixed his penetrating eyes upon Meir.
"Are you speaking the truth?" he asked sternly.
"I have seen and heard it all myself," whispered Meir.
Saul remained thinking a long time.
"Well," he said slowly, "you have the right to accuse your uncle. He is your father's brother, and from his deed shame and ignominy might come upon our house. The family of Ezofowich never did dishonourable things. I shall forbid Abraham to have anything to do with it."
"Zeide, tell also Kamionker and Kalman not to do it."
"You are foolish," said Saul. "Are Kamionker and Kalman my sons or my daughters' husbands? They would not listen to me."