"We will express the mighty holiness of this Day, For it is tremendous and awful! On which Thy kingdom is exalted, And Thy throne established in grace; Whereupon Thou art seated in truth. Verily, it is Thou who art judge and arbitrator, Who knowest all, and art witness, writer, sigillator, recorder and teller; And Thou recallest all forgotten things, And openest the Book of Remembrance, and the book reads itself, And every man's handwriting is there...." These words opened the source of Berel's tears, and he sobbed unaffectedly. Every sentence cut him to the heart, like a sharp knife, and especially the passage: "And Thou recallest all forgotten things, and openest the Book of Remembrance, and the book reads itself, and every man's handwriting is there...." At that very moment the Book of Remembrance was lying open before the Lord of the Universe, with the handwritings of all men. It contains his own as well, the one which he wrote with his own hand that day when he took away the hundred-ruble-note. He pictures how his soul flew up to Heaven while he slept, and entered everything in the eternal book, and now the letters stood before the Throne of Glory, and cried, "Berel is a thief, Berel is a robber!" And he has the impudence to stand and pray before God? He, the offender, the transgressor--and the Shool does not fall upon his head? The congregation concluded U-Nesanneh Toikef, and the cantor began: "And the great trumpet of ram's horn shall be sounded..." and still Berel stood with the Tallis over his head. Suddenly he heard the words: "And the Angels are dismayed, Fear and trembling seize hold of them as they proclaim, As swiftly as birds, and say: This is the Day of Judgment!" The words penetrated into the marrow of Berel's bones, and he shuddered from head to foot. The words, "This is the Day of Judgment," reverberated in his ears like a peal of thunder. He imagined the angels were hastening to him with one speed, with one swoop, to seize and drag him before the Throne of Glory, and the piteous wailing that came from the women's court was for him, for his wretched soul, for his endless misfortune. "No! no! no!" he resolved, "come what may, let him annul the contract, let them point at me with their fingers as at a thief, if they choose, let my Chantzeh-Leah lose her chance! I will take it all in good part, if I may only save my unhappy soul! The minute the Kedushah is over I shall go to Moisheh Chalfon, tell him the whole story, and beg him to forgive me." The cantor came to the end of U-Nesanneh Toikef, the congregation resumed their seats, Berel also returned to his place, and did not go up to Moisheh Chalfon. "Help, what shall I do, what shall I do?" he thought, as he struggled with his conscience. "Chantzeh-Leah will lay me on the fire ... she will cry her life out ... the Mechutton ... the bridegroom...." * * * * *