The old man shook his head. Then he struck his brow with his fist. "Ach, Gott!" he cried. "Why did I not think of finding out before? But thank God I know it in time."
"Finding out what?" said David, fearing the old man's reason was giving way.
"My daughter cannot marry you," said Reb Shemuel in hushed, quavering tones.
"Eh? What?" said David blankly.
"It is impossible."
"What are you talking about. Reb Shemuel?"
"You are a Cohen. Hannah cannot marry a Cohen."
"Not marry a Cohen? Why, I thought they were Israel's aristocracy."
"That is why. A Cohen cannot marry a divorced woman."
The fit of trembling passed from the old Reb to the young man. His heart pulsed as with the stroke of a mighty piston. Without comprehending, Hannah's prior misadventure gave him a horrible foreboding of critical complications.