You never had a better servant in your house.

Sachel.

[Fetches shutters and awkwardly adjusts them.] She is a Christian. It is bad luck—it was wrong for us to take her in.

Esther.

You were glad enough to have her. Would a Jewess light your fire on Sabbath—would a Jewess open your letters for you? Shall I send her away?

Sachel.

Not yet.

Esther.

No. Because on Sabbath your feet would be cold and your letters would lie unopened, even if you were not blind. I pity the girl; I have heard that her father was a gentleman and died poor and in exile, because he had given succour to the persecuted Jews.

Enter Rosa.