"Was he a wine-dealer?"

"Yes; and how do you know it? Are you of the same town?"

I told her my father's name, and we clasped hands in surprise.--



While the old man was telling his tale, the clouds dispersed. I
looked upwards: the dark sky spread vaultlike above us studded with
stars, some in groups, some far apart. Then I remembered what the
Lord had promised to our father Abraham: "And I shall multiply thy
seed as the stars in heaven." And I thought I saw in the sky naught
but so many groups of Jews: some kept in exile, some confined within
the nebulae of the Milky Way. . . . But even then, it seemed to me,
there was a strong attraction, a deep sympathy between them all, far
apart and scattered though they were. Even so they formed
aggregations of shining stars--far apart, yet near. . . .







VIII

The wind began to grow cold; we pressed close to one another to keep
warm. The old man drew his old coat tightly about him, and