In spite of all Jewish obligations and the condemnation of the press, however, the assimilation plan was not unanimously rejected by the Jews. Some were too deaf to the claims of race and faith to care to retain them; others were less insensible, but could not bear the thought of suffering; others, again, were prepared to sacrifice their personal feelings for the sake of the public good. It was one thing to cherish one’s old traditions, and look kindly on all things Jewish for old association’s sake; it was quite another thing to have to pay for the privilege of doing so by expulsion, physical discomfort, money, and loss of pride. It was found that the majority of those Jews who had long mixed with the _élite_ of English society, including some of the princes of finance, were quite willing to take the oath; but the number of faithful Jews increased as one descended the social scale. It is ever so when a religious or moral upheaval affects the heart of a people; for a passionate and public adherence to a religious or moral belief one has to look amongst the poor. The Montellas were a notable exception amongst their prosperous _confrères_. The loyal faith and inherent sense of duty possessed by Lady Montella were shared by her son, and to him the rest of their co-religionists looked for help. Young as he was, he possessed all the characteristics which conduce to the making of a good leader, and in his devotion to the cause he made a worthy protector of his people’s interests. It was good to know that amidst the trouble and confusion of this terrible crisis there was a man in Israel on whom one could depend—a man who possessed the power of wealth and influence as well as that of intellectual attainments, whose very personality inspired confidence in the souls of the depressed, whose heart was in truth a heart of gold. Encouraged by the resolute faith of his mother, and influenced by the beautiful disposition of his wife, his character expanded in breadth without losing its manliness. Difficulties which would have filled others with alarm, were to him as so many easily surmounted obstacles to be overcome. With a clearness of vision, granted only to the few, he was able to look onward in the future, seeing not the immediate distress of present circumstances, but only the coming glory of that Eastern Land. BOOK II THE LAND OF THEIR FATHERS “_And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth._”—ISAIAH xi. 12. CHAPTER I PURIM IN HAIFA