"And how happy your dear mother would be if you would soon present her with a nice daughter-in-law! If the girl is fine and educated, your mother might even live with you, and end her days under your roof. Many young girls, to be sure, are not in favor of such an arrangement; but that depends, and Edith Ehrlich is such a clever person...." I jumped from my seat, and came near laughing out loud. At last the mystery was solved. Herr Jonas Goldstuecker, who honored me with so curious and intimate a visit, was a _Shadchen_, the marriage broker of the congregation! It was highly entertaining. But apparently he did not care to notice that I took the matter as a joke, for he remained quietly seated and continued: "And Herr Sanitaetsrat prefers a physician, who might take up his practice later...." "Marry into the profession, so to speak," I interjected. "Yes, Herr Kreisphysikus. But that's only by the way. In addition he will give his daughter fifty thousand marks, just as much as Rechtsanwalt Bobrecker got, and if you--you might pay a visit there anyway--I am sure if you once get to know Miss Edith, you will see that the description I gave of her is true from head to foot. She has a beautiful head of chestnut brown hair...." The association of ideas was delicious. "She has a fine figure, medium size, and when I think how glad your old mother would be...." I do not know whether I politely showed Herr Jonas Goldstuecker the door, or whether he went voluntarily. At all events he was gone. But this very day I mean to write a letter to my cousin, Doktor Feilchenstein, and give him a piece of my mind. OCTOBER 10. "Do you know what a _Roshekol_ is?" Simon Eichelkatz asked me with a mischievous smile, when I visited him this afternoon. "A Roshekol is the head of a congregation," I answered. He laughed a gentle, chuckling laugh, which was the usual expression of good temper with him, and said: "A Roshekol is a disagreeable fellow." "But not always, Herr Eichelkatz?"