"Don't, don't, Viola!" Ephraim implored.

"And you are fasting!" she said.

"Am I not also fasting for him?" said Ephraim.

With a full bottle in his hand Ephraim once more entered the room. He
placed the wine upon the table, where the glasses from which Ascher had
drunk in the morning were still standing.

"Where is Viola?" asked Ascher, who was again pacing the room with firm
steps.

"She is busy cooking."

"Tell her she shall have a husband, and a dowry that will make half the
girls in Bohemia turn green and yellow with envy."

Then he approached the table, and drank three brimming glasses, one
after the other. "Now then," he said, as with his whole weight he
dropped into the old arm-chair... "Now I'll have a good night's rest.
I need strength and sharp eyes, and they are things which only sleep can
give. Ephraim, my son," he continued after awhile in thick, halting
accents... "tell the watch--Simon is his name, I think--he can give six
knocks instead of three upon the door, in the morning, he won't disturb
me...and to Viola you can say I'll find her a husband, handsomer than
her eyes have ever beheld, and tell her on her wedding-day she shall
wear pearls round her neck like those of a queen--no, no, like those of
Gudule, her mother." A few moments later he was sound asleep.