"Useless it would be. Miriam is not one of those who say 'no' and then
'yes.'"
"Nearly two years you have known her. That was long to keep you in hope
and doubt. I think she is a coquette."
"You know her not, mother. Very few words of love have I dared to say.
We have been friends. I was happy to stand in the store and talk to
Cohen, and watch her. A glance from her eyes, a pleasant word, was
enough. I feared to lose all by asking too much."
"Then, why did you ask her to-night? It would have been better had your
father spoken first to Mr. Cohen."
"I did not ask Miriam to-night. She spared me all she could. She was in
the store as I passed, and I went in. This is what she said to me,
'Bram, dear Bram, I fear that you begin to love me, because I think of
you very often. And my grandfather has just told me that I am promised
to Judah Belasco, of London. In the summer he will come here, and I
shall marry him.' I wish, mother, you could have seen her leaning
against the black kas; for between it and her black dress, her face
was white as death, and beautiful and pitiful as an angel's."
"What said you then?"
"Oh, I scarce know! But I told her how dearly I loved her, and I asked
her to be my wife."
"And she said what to thee?"
"'My father I must obey. Though he told me to slay myself, I must obey
him. By the God of Israel, I have promised it often.'"
"Was that all, Bram?"
"I asked her again and again. I said, 'Only in this one thing, Miriam,
and all our lives after it we will give to him.' But she answered,
'Obedience is better than sacrifice, Bram. That is what our law teaches.
Though I could give my father the wealth and the power of King Solomon,
it would be worth less than my obedience.' And for all my pleading, at
the last it was the same, 'I cannot do wrong; for many right deeds will
not undo one wrong one.' So she gave me her hands, and I kissed
them,--my first and last kiss,--and I bade her farewell; for my hope is
over--I know that."
"She is a good girl. I wish that you had won her, Bram." And Lysbet put
down her work and went to her son's side; and with a great sob Bram laid
his head against her breast.