'Yes, it is,' shouted Mendel. 'As a member of the Sub-Committee you can't dissociate yourselves from us.'
'A nice idea that—I'm to be dragged into your law-suits!'
'Hush, leave off these squabbles!' said Solomon Barzinsky. 'The law is slow, and not even sure. The time has come for desperate measures. We must root out the plague-spot with our own hands.'
'Hear, hear,' said the rest of the Sub-Committee.
XIX
On the succeeding Sabbath Simeon Samuels was not the only figure in the synagogue absorbed in devotion. Solomon Barzinsky, Ephraim Mendel, and Peleg the pawnbroker were all rapt in equal piety, while the rest of the congregation was shaken with dreadful gossip about them. Their shops were open, too, it would seem.
Immediately after the service the Parnass arrested Solomon Barzinsky's exit, and asked him if the rumour were true.
'Perfectly true,' replied Solomon placidly. 'The Executive Sub-Committee passed the resolution to——'
'To break the Sabbath!' interrupted the Parnass.
'We had already sacrificed our money; there was nothing left but to sacrifice our deepest feelings——'