Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive 1. Page scan source: http://www.archive.org/details/judithtrachtenb00lewigoog JUDITH TRACHTENBERG A Novel By KARL EMIL FRANZOS AUTHOR OF "FOR THE RIGHT" ETC. TRANSLATED BY (Mrs.) L. P. and C. T. LEWIS NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 1891 Copyright, 1891, by Harper & Brothers. * * * _All rights reserved_. JUDITH TRACHTENBERG. CHAPTER I. About sixty years ago, during the reign of the Emperor Francis the First, there lived in a small town in Eastern Galicia an excellent man, who had been greatly favored by fortune. His name was Nathaniel Trachtenberg; his occupation was that of a chandler. He had inherited from his father a modest business, which he had increased by his energy and perseverance, by adding to it the manufacture of wax candles, and by the admirable quality of his goods. Possibly, also, by the wise moderation he used in demanding payment, which had secured nearly all the noble families of the country as his patrons. His intellectual progress kept pace with his increase of riches. Richly endowed by nature, he acquired, by his intercourse with those of superior position and by the numerous journeys he made to the West for business purposes, a higher degree of culture than was usual with his co-religionists of that period. He spoke and wrote German fluently; he read the Vienna papers regularly, and even occasionally a poet, such as Schiller or Lessing. But, no matter how widely his opinions might vary from those of his less-cultivated co-religionists as to the aims and purposes of life, he bound himself closely to them in matters of dress and style of living, and not only conformed to every command of the Law, but carried out every injunction of the rabbis with punctilious exactitude.