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The Scapegoat-Part2_Hall Caine(1853-1931)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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These were credentials enough to the true girl's favour,

and Israel soon learnt that the house of the Rabbi was open to him.



There the lonely man first found himself. The cold eyes of

his little world had seen him as his father's son, but the light



and warmth of the eyes of Ruth saw him as the son of his mother also.

The Rabbi himself was old, very old--ninety years of age--and



length of days had taught him charity. And so it was that when,

in due time, Israel came with many excuses and asked for Ruth in marriage,



the Rabbi gave her to him.

The betrothal followed, but none save the notary and his witnesses



stood beside Israel when he crossed hands over the handkerchief;

and, when the marriage came in its course, few stood beside



the Chief Rabbi. Nevertheless, all the Jews of the quarter and

all the Moors of Tetuan were alive to what was happening,



and on the night of the marriage a great company of both peoples,

though chiefly of the rabble among them, gathered in front of



the Rabbi's house that they might hiss and jeer.

The Chacham heard them from where he sat under the stars in his patio,



and when at last the voice of Rebecca the prophetess came to him above

the tumult, crying, "Woe to her that has married the enemy of her nation,



and woe to him that gave her against the hope of his people!

They shall taste death. He shall see them fall from his side and die,"



then the old man listened and trembled visibly. In confusion and

fierce anger he rose up and stumbled through the crooked passage



to the door, and flinging it wide, he stood in the doorway facing them

that stood without.



"Peace! Peace!" he cried, "and shame! shame! Remember the doom

of him that shall curse the high priest of the Lord."



This he spoke in a voice that shook with wrath. Then suddenly,

his voice failing him, he said in a broken whisper, "My good people,



what is this? Your servant is grown old in your service.

Sixty and odd years he has shared your sorrows and your burdens.



What has he done this day that your women should lift up their voices

against him?"



But, in awe of his white head in the moonlight, the rabble that stood

in the darkness were silent and made no answer. Then he staggered back,



and Israel helped him into his house, and Ruth did what she could

to compose him. But he was woefully shaken, and that night he died.



When the Rabbi's death became known in the morning, the Jews whispered,

"It is the first-fruits!" and the Moors touched their foreheads



and murmured "It is written!"

CHAPTER II



THE BIRTH OF NAOMI

Israel paid no heed to Jew or Moor, but in due time he set about



the building of a house for himself and for Ruth, that they might live

in comfort many years together. In the south-east corner of the Mellah



he placed it, and he built it partly in the Moorish and partly

in the English fashion, with an open court and corridors, marble pillars,



and a marblestaircase, walls of small tiles, and ceilings

of stalactites, but also with windows and with doors. And when his house



was raised he put no haities into it, and spread no mattresses

on the floors, but sent for tables and chairs and couches out of England;



and everything he did in this wise cut him off the more from the people

about him, both Moors and Jews.



And being settled at last, and his own master in his own dwelling,

out of the power of his enemies to push him back into the streets,



suddenly it occurred to him for the first time that whereas

the house he had built was a refuge for himself, it was doomed to be



little better than a prison for his wife. In marrying Ruth he had

enlarged the circle of his intimates by one faithful and loving soul,



but in marrying him she had reduced even her friends to that number.

Her father was dead; if she was the daughter of a Chief Rabbi



she was also the wife of an outcast, the companion of a pariah,

and save for him, she must be for ever alone. Even their bondwomen



still spoke a foreign dialect, and commerce with them was mainly by signs.

Thinking of all this with some remorse, one idea fixed itself



on Israel's mind, one hope on his heart--that Ruth might soon

bear a child. Then would her solitude be broken by the dearest company



that a woman might know on earth. And, if he had wronged her,

his child would make amends.



Israel thought of this again and again. The delicious hope pursued him.

It was his secret, and he never gave it speech. But time passed,



and no child was born. And Ruth herself saw that she was barren,




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