But the Red Beadle was unconvinced. "Besides, what should we make it up with the Christians for--the stupid people?" he asked, as he received his steaming coffee cup from Frau Herz. "It is a question of the Future of the World," said Zussmann gravely, as he shared out the herring, which had already been cut into many thin slices by the vendor and pickler. "This antagonism is a perversion of the principles of both religions. Shall we allow it to continue for ever?" "It will continue till they both understand that Nature makes herself," said the Red Beadle. "It will continue till they both understand my husband's book," corrected Hulda. "Not while Jews live among Christians. Even here they say we take the bread out of the mouths of the Christian shoemakers. If we had our own country now--" "Hush!" said Zussmann. "Do you share that materialistic dream? Our realm is spiritual. Nationality--the world stinks with it! Germany for the Germans, Russia for the Russians. Foreigners to the devil--pah! Egomania posing as patriotism. Human brotherhood is what we stand for. Have you forgotten how the Midrash explains the verse in the Song of Solomon: 'I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love till he please'?" The Red Beadle, who had never read a line of the Midrash, did not deny that he had forgotten the explanation, but persisted: "And even if we didn't kill Christ, what good will it do to tell the Jews so? It will only make them angry." "Why so?" said Zussmann, puzzled. "They will be annoyed to have been punished for nothing." "But they have not been punished for nothing!" cried Zussmann, setting down his fork in excitement. "They have denied their greatest son. For, as He said in Matthew, 'I come to fulfil the Law of Moses,' Did not all the Prophets, His predecessors, cry out likewise against mere form and sacrifice? Did not the teachers in Israel who followed Him likewise insist on a pure heart and a sinless soul? Jesus must be restored to His true place in the glorious chain of Hebrew Prophets. As I explain in my chapter on the Philosophy of Religion, which I have founded on Immanuel Kant, the ground-work of Reason is--" But here the Red Beadle, whose coffee had with difficulty got itself sucked into the right channel, gasped--"You have put that into your book?" The wife touched the manuscript with reverent pride. "It all stands here," she said. "What! Quotations from the New Testament?" "From our Jewish Apostles!" said Zussmann. "Naturally! On every page!" "Then God help you!" said the Red Beadle. III