The Family Moskat by Isaac Bashevis Singer Page A

tied.
    Despite the fact that she was a pure-minded and chaste woman--
    the decorous daughter of a pious family--Abram recounted to her all his love affairs, transgressions, and carryings on. Dacha would shudder and put on an expression of disgust at his loose talk, -49-drawing her silk
    shawl tighter about her shoulders. Occasionally she would open wide her half-closed mournful black eyes and stare at him.
    "Feb, Abram, you're going too far! I won't listen to any more."
    And when Abram would remain silent she would murmur: "Well, all right, go on and talk. I won't have to share the Gehenna that will be your portion."
    But this day the chairs in the salon were drawn close so that they could all sit and talk together. The servant girl brought in tea, cakes, and preserves. Adele turned the pages of a gold-stamped album. Rosa Frumetl in a languishing voice told Dacha about the brewery that her first husband, Reb David Landau, owned near Brody; of the eighty acres of ground planted with hops that were part of the business; of the peasants and servants they employed, and of the distinguished rabbis who came to visit them. Abram sat on the sofa next to Asa Heshel. He called Hadassah over to join them.
    "Come here, my girl. Don't be bashful. I'm here to protect you."
    Hadassah went over and sat at the end of the sofa. She glanced at Asa Heshel and then lowered her eyes.
    "Maybe you'd like to give this young man some lessons. It'll be a good deed; you'll be earning a portion in paradise."
    Hadassah looked questioningly at Asa Heshel. "I don't know if I know enough," she said shyly.
    "For him it'll be plenty," Abram commented.
    "Maybe my Adele can help," Rosa Frumetl interrupted. While she was talking to Dacha she had had an ear cocked to the conversation of the others.
    "Mamma, you know I'm leaving Warsaw," Adele said hastily.
    "You're not going so soon, my darling. A lot of water will flow under the bridge before."
    "I'll be going sooner than you imagine."
    "Too bad the dear young lady is leaving us," Abram remarked.
    "What's too bad about it? Nobody will miss me."
    "You can never tell. There's such a thing as love at first sight."
    "Abram, you're starting your nonsense again!" Dacha scolded.
    "You seem to forget that you're getting to be an old graybeard.
    You've got marriageable daughters."
    "Ah, my misfortunes! And suppose I am getting old; do you -50-have to
    remind me of it? Besides, who said I meant myself? Maybe I meant this young man."
    "Leave the young man alone."
    Rosa Frumetl turned to Abram. "Maybe you can persuade her.
    Only here a little while and now she wants to go. And if you ask me why--"
    "Probably someone she wants to see."
    "Only the good Lord knows."
    "Don't worry, my dear mother-in-law! If her destined mate is here in Warsaw, then shell not go away. And if she does go away she'll come back," Abram said unctuously, not knowing himself where his tongue was leading him. "They all think I'm a heretic, a runaround, a corkscrew, but destined mates--that's something I believe in. Take me and my Hama. We fit together like a square peg in a round hole. But when the angel in charge of the business of seeing that children are conceived shouted out: 'Daughter of Reb Meshulam, take Abram!' nothing could help me."
    "Abram, shame!" Dacha glared at him and gestured with her hand to indicate that he should hold his tongue in the presence of the girls. Abram struck his forehead with the palm of his hand.
    "Who changed the subject! We were talking about lessons. Take him into your room, Hadassah, and listen to what he knows.
    Young man, I forgot to ask you, where do you live?"
    "Me? In a hotel on the Franciskaner."
    "I know it. The Hotel de Bedbug. How much do you pay?"
    "Fifteen kopeks a night."
    "Listen to me, Dacha. I just got an idea. Maybe we ought to fix him up at Gina's."
    "What are you talking about?"
    "She took a big apartment on the Shviento-Yerska and rents rooms. It'll cost him ten rubles a month, but it'll be a