"I? Nothing of the kind. I had heard of you and your ministrations to mourners, and meeting you in the street this afternoon for the first time, it struck me to enquire why you did not carry your consolations into the bosom of my community where so much more money is to be made. I said I wondered you had not done so from the first. And you--invited me to dinner. I still wonder. That is all, my good man." He rose to go. The haughty rebuke silenced the Rabbi, though his heart was hot with a vague sense of injury. "Do you come my way, Yankelé?" said Manasseh carelessly. The Rabbi turned hastily to his second guest. "When do you want me to marry you?" he asked. "You have married me," replied Yankelé. "I?" gasped the Rabbi. It was the last straw. "Yes," reiterated Yankelé. "Hasn't he, Mr. da Costa?" His heart went pit-a-pat as he put the question. "Certainly," said Manasseh without hesitation. Yankelé's face was made glorious summer. Only two of the quartette knew the secret of his radiance. "There, Rabbi," he cried exultantly. "Good Sabbath!" "Good Sabbath!" added Manasseh. "Good Sabbath," dazedly murmured the Rabbi. "Good Sabbath," added his wife. "Congratulate me!" cried Yankelé when they got outside. "On what?" asked Manasseh. "On being your future son-in-law, of course." "Oh, on _that_? Certainly, I congratulate you most heartily." The two _Schnorrers_ shook hands. "I thought you were asking for compliments on your manoeuvring." "Vy, doesn't it deserve dem?" "No," said Manasseh magisterially. "No?" queried Yankelé, his heart sinking again. "Vy not?" "Why did you kill so many people?" "Somebody must die dat I may live." "You said that before," said Manasseh severely. "A good _Schnorrer_ would not have slaughtered so many for his dinner. It is a waste of good material. And then you told lies!" "How do you know they are not dead?" pleaded Yankelé. The King shook his head reprovingly. "A first-class _Schnorrer_ never lies," he laid it down. "I might have made truth go as far as a lie--if you hadn't come to dinner yourself." "What is that you say? Why, I came to encourage you by showing you how easy your task was." "On de contrary, you made it much harder for me. Dere vas no dinner left." "But against that you must reckon that since the Rabbi had already invited one person, he couldn't be so hard to tackle as I had fancied." "Oh, but you must not judge from yourself," protested Yankelé. "You be not a _Schnorrer_--you be a miracle." "But I should like a miracle for my son-in-law also," grumbled the King. "And if you had to _schnorr_ a son-in-law, you vould get a miracle," said Yankelé soothingly. "As he has to _schnorr_ you, _he_ gets the miracle." "True," observed Manasseh musingly, "and I think you might therefore be very well content without the dowry." "So I might," admitted Yankelé, "only _you_ vould not be content to break your promise. I suppose I shall have some of de dowry on de marriage morning."