Kemp finally gave vent to his feelings.

"Some men," he said deliberately, as if laying down an axiom, "have no more
conception of the dignity of controlled appetites than savages. Here is
one who could not withstand anything savory to eat, to save his soul;
otherwise he is a strong, sensible man. I can't account for it."

"The force of habit, perhaps," suggested Ruth.

"Probably. Jewish appetite is known to dote on the fat of the land."

That he said this with as little vituperation as if he had remarked on the
weather Ruth knew; and she felt no inclination to resent the remark,
although a vision of her cousin Jennie protesting did present itself. Some
Jewish people with diseased imaginations take every remark on the race as a
personal calumny.

"We always make the reservation that the fat be clean," she laughed.

Kemp flashed around at her.

"Miss Levice," he exclaimed contritely, "I completely forgot--I hope I was
not rude."

"Why, certainly not," she answered half merrily, half earnestly. "Why
should you be?"

"As you say, why should I be? Jewish individuals, of course, have their
faults like the rest of humanity. As a race, most of their characteristics
redound to their honor, in my estimation."