"It is true all the same—I am on my death-bed."
He started. A pang shot through his breast. He darted an agitated glance at her face.
"Is it not so? In this bed I shall die. But God knows how many years I shall lie in it."
Her calm gave him an uncanny shudder.
"And till the Holy One, blessed be He, takes me, thou wilt live a daily sinner."
"I am not to blame. God has stricken me. I am a young man."
"Thou art to blame!" Her eyes flashed fire. "Blasphemer! Life is sweet to thee—yet perchance thou wilt die before me."
His face grew livid. "I am a young man," he repeated tremulously.
"Dost thou forget what Rabbi Eliezer said? 'Repent one day before thy death'—that is to-day, for who knows?"
"What wouldst thou have me do?"