'I an anti-Semite! Ho! ho! ho!' Sir Asher's anger broke down in sheer amusement. 'I have made every allowance for your excitement,' he said, recovering his magisterial note. 'I was once in love myself. But when it comes to calling _me_ an anti-Semite, it is obvious you are not in a fit state to continue this interview. Indeed, I no longer wonder that you think yourself the Messiah.' 'Even if I do, our tradition only makes the Messiah a man; somebody some day will have to win your belief. But what I said was that God acts through man.' 'Ah yes,' said Sir Asher good-humouredly. 'Three-in-one and one-in-three.' 'And why not?' said Barstein with a flash of angry intuition. 'Aren't you a trinity yourself?' 'Me?' Sir Asher was now quite sure of the sculptor's derangement. 'Yes--the Briton, the Jew, and the anti-Semite--three-in-one and one-in-three.' Sir Asher touched one of the electric bells with a jerk. He was quite alarmed. Barstein turned white with rage at his dismissal. Never would he marry into these triune tribes. 'And it's the same in every land where we're emancipated, as it is called,' he went on furiously. 'The Jew's a patriot everywhere, and a Jew everywhere and an anti-Semite everywhere. Passionate Hungarians, and true-born Italians, eagle-waving Americans, and loyal Frenchmen, imperial Germans, and double Dutchmen, we are dispersed to preach the Unity, and what we illustrate is the Jewish trinity. A delicious irony! Three-in-one and one-in-three.' He laughed; to Sir Asher his laugh sounded maniacal. The old gentleman was relieved to see his stalwart doorkeeper enter. Barstein turned scornfully on his heel. 'Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance,' he ended grimly. THE SABBATH QUESTION IN SUDMINSTER THE SABBATH QUESTION IN SUDMINSTER I There was a storm in Sudminster, not on the waters which washed its leading Jews their living, but in the breasts of these same marine storekeepers. For a competitor had appeared in their hive of industry--an alien immigrant, without roots or even relatives at Sudminster. And Simeon Samuels was equipped not only with capital and enterprise--the showy plate-glass front of his shop revealed an enticing miscellany--but with blasphemy and bravado. For he did not close on Friday eve, and he opened on Saturday morning as usual.