and he thought he would have liked much better to stay away, to dine in
the counting-house, urging a press of business. The first thing he would
hear would be "Azariah." The hated name was never off the boy's lips: he
talked of nothing else but Azariah and Hebrew and Greek and the learned
Jews whom he met at Azariah's house.

Dan sat looking into the dusk asking himself if his bargain were not
that his son should learn the Greek language but not Greek literature,
which is full of heresy, he said to himself; and he returned home
determined to raise the point; but Joseph told him, and he thought
rather abruptly, that it was only through Greek literature that one
could learn Greek in Tiberias--the spoken language was a dialect.

It may have been that Joseph perceived that praise of Azariah caused his
father to writhe a little, and--curious to observe the effect--he spoke
more of Azariah than he would have done otherwise, and laid an accent on
his master's learning, and related incidents in which his master
appeared to great advantage, causing his father much perplexity and pain
of mind, till at last, unable to bear the torture any longer, he
said--the words slipped from him incontinently--you're no better than a
little Azariah! and, unable to contain himself, he rushed from the room,
leaving Joseph and Rachel to discuss his vehemence and discover motives
which he hoped would not include the right one. But afraid that he had
betrayed his jealousy of Azariah he returned, and to mislead his mother
and son he began to speak of the duty of the pupil to the master,
telling Joseph he must submit himself to Azariah in everything: by
representing Azariah as one in full authority he hoped to overcome his
influence and before many months had passed over a different accent was
notable in Joseph's voice when he spoke of Azariah; but he continued
with him for two more years. And it was then that Dan set himself to