"You are mistaken, sir. Come with me to our synagogue this evening, and
you will hear us pray for all Christians, beginning with our Lord the
Pope."

I could not help bursting into a roar of laughter.

"True," I replied, "but the prayer comes from the mouth only, and not
from the heart. If you do not immediately confess that the Jews would not
pray for the Christians if they were the masters, I will fling you out of
the chaise."

Of course I did not carry out this threat, but I completed his confusion
by quoting in Hebrew the passages in the Old Testament, where the Jews
are bidden to do all possible harm to the Gentiles, whom they were to
curse every day.

After this the poor man said no more. When we were going to take our
dinner I asked him to sit beside me, but he said his religion would not
allow him to do so, and that he would only eat eggs, fruit, and some
foiegras sausage he had in his pocket. He only drank water because he was
not sure that the wine was unadulterated.

"You stupid fellow," I exclaimed, "how can you ever be certain of the
purity of wine unless you have made it yourself?"

When we were on our way again he said that if I liked to come and stay
with him, and to content myself with such dishes as God had not
forbidden, he would make me more comfortable than if I went to the inn,
and at a cheaper rate.