'Do I not know it?' cried Pinchas. 'Were you but to say your lines, leaving all the others to be read by the prompter, the house would be spellbound, like Moses when he saw the burning bush.'
'That being so,' said Goldwater, 'you couldn't expect to have my wife in the same cast.'
'No, indeed,' said Pinchas enthusiastically. 'Two such tragic geniuses would confuse and distract, like the sun and the moon shining together.'
Goldwater coughed. 'But Ophelia is really a small part,' he murmured.
'It is,' Pinchas acquiesced. 'Your wife's tragic powers could only be displayed in "Hamlet" if, like another equally celebrated actress, she appeared as the Prince of Palestine himself.'
'Heaven forbid my wife should so lower herself!' said Goldwater. 'A decent Jewish housewife cannot appear in breeches.'
'That is what makes it impossible,' assented Pinchas. 'And there is no other part worthy of Mrs. Goldwater.'
"You compare my wife to a Kangaroo!"[ToList]