2012年3月23日星期五
reduced the amount to two pounds
"I don't know, mother," replied the twinkling-eyed Pole obediently. "Three pounds, perhaps, if you got it cheap."
Samuel and David duly appealed to, reduced the amount to two pounds five and two pounds respectively. Then, having got everybody's attention fixed upon her, she exclaimed:
"Thirty shillings!"
She could not resist nibbling off the five shillings. Everybody drew a long breath.
"Tu! Tu!" they ejaculated in chorus. "What a _Metsiah_!"
"Sam," said Ephraim immediately afterwards, "_You_ turned up the ace."
Milly and Leah went back into the kitchen.
It was rather too quick a relapse into the common things of life and made Malka suspect the admiration was but superficial.
She turned, with a spice of ill-humor, and saw Esther still standing timidly behind her. Her face flushed for she knew the child had overheard her in a lie.
"What art thou waiting about for?" she said roughly in Yiddish. "Na! there's a peppermint."
"I thought you might want me for something else," said Esther, blushing but accepting the peppermint for Ikey. "And I--I--"
"Well, speak up! I won't bite thee." Malka continued to talk in Yiddish though the child answered her in English. "I--I--nothing," said Esther, turning away.
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