472 BLItfKItf
according to their several tastes, and now Malkehle felt a little more courageous, and managed to say :
"N"o, good, kind Chavvehle, we are not hungry. We have come to consult with you on a very important matter I"
And then Breindel tried hard to speak in a soft voice, but it sounded gruff and rasping:
"First of all, Chaweh, we want you to speak to us in Yiddish, not in Polish. We are all Jewish women, thank God, together !"
havvehle, who had nodded her head during the whole of Breindel's speech, made another motion of assent with her silken eyebrows, and replied :
"I will talk Yiddish to you with pleasure, if that is what you prefer."
"The thing is this, Chavvehle," began Shifreh, the wholesale dealer, "it is a shame and a sorrow to tell, but when the thunderbolt has fallen, one must speak. You know Eochel Esther Leoh's. She is engaged, and the wedding was to have been in eight weeks and now she, the good-for-nothing, is with child and he, the son of perdition, says now that if he isn't given more than five hundred rubles, he won't take her "
Chavvehle was deeply troubled by their words. She saw how great was their distress, and found, to her regret, that she had little to say by way of consolation.
"I feel with you," she said, "in your pain. But do not be so dismayed. It is certainly very bad news, but these things will happen, you are not the first "
She wanted to say more, but did not know how to continue.
