“That’s all,” was her reply.
“Miss Perkins regrets that owing to the wishes of some of the parents of her scholars she is obliged to ask Mrs. Emanuel to remove her two daughters, Pearl and Charlotte, from the school. Miss Perkins ventures to respectfully suggest that the girls would be happier if educated at a Hebrew school, or by a Hebrew governess at home.”
Raie tossed the note impatiently aside.
“I wish people wouldn’t call us ‘Hebrews,’” she said. “It irritates me. Well, I suppose Pearl and Lottie will be able to exist without the advantages obtained at Miss Perkins’ seminary. But how absurd it all is. As if Pearl and Lottie were the least bit different to the Smiths, Jones, and Robinson girls!”
“And I’m no different to the other chaps at the office,” Walter added, in an aggrieved tone; “but just because old Blank has taken a dislike to the name of Jew, I’ve got the sack. I wish I’d never been born a Jew.”
“Oh, you must not say that,” Raie said reprovingly. “It is a great privilege to be a Jew, and if Christians believed what they preach, they would give us the honour which is our due.”
This little speech was à la Lady Montella, whose views the girl unconsciously imbibed. The Emanuels regarded Raie as the oracle of the family, and looked up to her as living on a higher plane than themselves. Mrs. Emanuel was a widow, with six children and a small income. It had been no easy matter to rear and educate these children, even though the eldest had been taken off her hands at the age of fourteen. The second girl, Harriet, had just become engaged to the son of a wealthy stockbroker, which was a matter for congratulation to the Emanuels and their relatives. Harriet was a bright girl of seventeen, with what her mother called a “taking” manner. She contributed to the family purse by teaching music at a kindergarten school, and was out when Raie arrived.
“We’ve been looking at houses all the week,” Mrs. Emanuel said, when the girl inquired after her sister. “The sooner they get settled the better. I don’t believe in long engagements; never did.”
Raie considered a moment.
“I wonder if Harriet will be happy with Harry Levi,” she said thoughtfully. “He is not a man I could care for in the least.”