Elias snorted incredulously.
As soon as Sugarman heard of the breaking of the engagement he flew to Elias, his blue bandanna streaming from his coat-tail.
'If you had come to me,' he crowed, 'I should have found you a more reliable article. However, Heaven has given you a second helping. A well-built wage-earner like you can look as high as a greengrocer's daughter even.'
'I never wish to look upon a woman again,' Elias groaned.
'Schtuss!' said the great marriage-broker. 'Three days after the Fast of Atonement comes the Feast of Tabernacles. The Almighty, blessed be He, who created both light and darkness, has made obedient females as well as pleasure-seeking jades.' And he blew his nose emphatically into his bandanna.
'Yes; but she won't return me my ring,' Elias lamented.
'What!' Sugarman gasped. 'Then she considers herself still engaged to you.'
'Not at all. She laughs in my face.'
'And she has given you back your promise?'
'My promise—yes. The ring—no.'