THE TWO BROTHERS 403
and wrote and wrote, knitted his brows, and dipped the pen, and reflected, and wrote again.
"That's enough !" screamed Yainkele, after a few minutes.
"It's not the half yet," answered Berele, writing on.
"But I ought to have more than half I" said Yainkele, crossly. The longing to write, to pour out his heart on- to the post-card, was overwhelming him.
But Berele did not even hear: he had launched out into such rhetorical Hebrew expressions as "First of all, I let you know that I am alive and well," which he had learnt in "The Perfect Letter- Writer," and his little bits of news remained unwritten. He had yet to abuse Lezer the carrier, to tell how many pages of the Gemoreh he had learnt, to let them know they were to send another parcel, because they had no "Monday" and no "Wednesday," and the "Tuesday" was no better than nothing.
And Berele writes and writes, and Yainkele can no longer contain himself he sees that Berele is taking up more than half the card.
"Enough !" He ran forward with a cry, and seized the penholder.
"Three words more !" begged Berele.
"But remember, not more than three !" and Yainkele's eyes flashed. Berele set to work to write the three words; but that which he wished to express required yet ten to fifteen words, and Berele, excited by the fact of writing, pecked away at the paper, and took up yet another bit of the other half.
