Page:Yiddish Tales.djvu/305

 FORLORN AND FORSAKEN 301

and Rochel had parted company, and were living in different towns. She could not bear the thought of her young daughter fending for herself among strangers a thought that tortured her all the more as she had a peculiar idea of America. She herself could not account for the terror that would seize her whenever she remem- bered that strange, distant life.

But the worst was nearly over ; the turn for the better came soon. She received word from Yossef that he had found a good position in his new home, and in a few weeks he proved his letter true by sending her money. From America, too, the news that came was more cheer- ful, even joyous. Avrohom had secured steady work with good pay, and before long he wrote for his younger brother to join him in America, and provided him with all the funds he needed for travelling expenses. Rochel had engaged herself to a young man, whose praises she sounded in her letters. Soon after her wedding, she sent money to bring over another brother, and her hus- band added a few lines, in which he spoke of "his great love for his new relations," and how he "looked forward with impatience to having one of them, his dear brother-in-law, come to live with him."

This was good and cheering news, and it all came within a year's time, but the mother's heart grieved over it more than it rejoiced. Her delight at her daughter's marriage with a good man she loved was anything but unmixed. Melancholy thoughts blended with it, whether she would or not. The occasion was one which a mother's fancy had painted in rainbow colors, on the preparations for which it had dwelt with untold 20