"You have given us too much already, more than we can ever repay," protested Hushiel, but his modest answer was quite drowned by Peninah's shrill:
"I want a new dress and a bonnet with strings and slippers like the little American girls wear!"
"Peninah! Aren't you ashamed to ask for so much," chided her brother.
"And I want a little black silk bag to carry tomorrow," went on Peninah, unabashed. "And I think I'd like blue ribbons on the bonnet."
Mr. Noah smiled indulgently, but he shook his head. "I will get you an outfit such as little American girls wear," he promised, kindly, "but you must not wear it tomorrow."
Peninah stared at him. "But I want them for tomorrow," she protested. "All the little girls I have met here in your house are coming tomorrow and if I am dressed as they are, they will not stare at me as though I were a dancing girl at a fair. I'm going to take off these," she tugged angrily at the bright beads about her neck, "and these," and she gave a defiant twitch to her hated Oriental trousers.
"Your clothes are very pretty," soothed Mr. Noah, "but if you prefer to dress like the people of our country, I will buy you everything you need. Only tomorrow you must wear the clothes you wore at home—even if the people stare."
"But why?—I look so different——"
"It is just because your clothes are so different," explained Mordecai Noah patiently, "that I want you to wear them. My dream is to have our city a refuge for the Jews of all the nations of the earth. Many people of Buffalo have heard your story, but they have not seen you. When they see you and Hushiel in your native dress, it will impress them greatly as they realize that even the children of the lands far across the sea have sought my city and long to make their home there. You understand, don't you?"
Hushiel nodded, but Peninah stamped her small, slippered foot angrily. "I won't go if I have to wear these horrid clothes which make people stare at me," she declared angrily, and ran from the room, crying as she went. Mr. Noah seemed really disturbed and was about to call her back, but Hushiel only laughed a little and shrugged at her anger.