Her sobs gave him no assurance. Presently the contagion of sobbing took him too.
"O God! God!" he moaned. "What sin have I committed; that thou shouldst punish my child thus?"
"Don't blame God!" burst forth David at last. "It's your own foolish bigotry. Is it not enough your daughter doesn't ask to marry a Christian? Be thankful, old man, for that and put away all this antiquated superstition. We're living in the nineteenth century."
"And what if we are!" said Reb Shemuel, blazing up in turn. "The Torah is eternal. Thank God for your youth, and your health and strength, and do not blaspheme Him because you cannot have all the desire of your heart or the inclination of your eyes."
"The desire of my heart," retorted David. "Do you imagine I am only thinking of my own suffering? Look at your daughter—think of what you are doing to her and beware before it is too late."
"Is it in my hand to do or to forbear?" asked the old man, "It is the
Torah. Am I responsible for that?"
"Yes," said David, out of mere revolt. Then, seeking to justify himself, his face lit up with sudden inspiration. "Who need ever know? The Maggid is dead. Old Hyams has gone to America. So Hannah has told me. It's a thousand to one Leah's people never heard of the Law of Leviticus. If they had, it's another thousand to one against their putting two and two together. It requires a Talmudist like you to even dream of reckoning Hannah as an ordinary divorced woman. If they did, it's a third thousand to one against their telling anybody. There is no need for you to perform the ceremony yourself. Let her be married by some other minister—by the Chief Rabbi himself, and to make assurance doubly sure I'll not mention that I'm a Cohen" The words poured forth like a torrent, overwhelming the Reb for a moment. Hannah leaped up with a hysterical cry of joy.
"Yes, yes, father. It will be all right, after all. Nobody knows. Oh, thank God! thank God!"
There was a moment of tense silence. Then the old man's voice rose slowly and painfully.
"Thank God!" he repeated. "Do you dare mention the Name even when you propose to profane it? Do you ask me, your father, Reb Shemuel, to consent to such a profanation of the Name?"