"Dear Children,
Be good, boys, and learn with diligence. We send you herewith half a cheese and a quarter of a pound of sugar, and a little berry-juice in a bottle.
Eat it in health, and do not quarrel over it.
From me, your father,
Chayyim Hecht."
That day Lezer the carrier was the best man in the world in their eyes, they would not have been ashamed to eat him up with horse and cart for very love. They wrote an answer at once—for letter-paper they used to tear out, with fluttering hearts, the first, imprinted pages in the Gemoreh—and gave it that evening to Lezer the carrier. Lezer took it coldly, pushed it into the breast of his coat, and muttered something like "All right!"
"What did he say, Berele?" asked Yainkele, anxiously.
"I think he said 'all right,'" Berele answered doubtfully.
"I think he said so, too," Yainkele persuaded himself. Then he gave a sigh, and added fearfully:
"He may lose the letter!"
"Bite your tongue out!" answered Berele, angrily, and they went sadly away to supper.