Page:Zangwill-King of schnorrers.djvu/138

124 124 THE KING OF SCHNORRERS.

ling," said Manasseh sullenly. " You yourself, if you only chose."

" If I only chose?" echoed the President enquiringly.

" If you only chose my daughter. Are you not a bach- elor? I am convinced she could not say nay to anyone present — excepting the Chancellor. Only no one is really willing to save the community from this scandal, and so my daughter must marry as best she can. And yet, it is a handsome creature who would not disgrace even a house in Hackney."

Manasseh spoke so seriously that the President fumed the more. " Let her marry this Pole," he ranted, " and you shall be cut off from us in life and death. Alive, you shall worship without our walls, and dead you shall be buried 1 behind the boards.' "

" For the poor man — excommunication," said Manasseh in ominous soliloquy. " For the rich man — permission to marry the Tedesco of his choice."

"Leave the room, fellow," vociferated the President. "You have heard our ultimatum ! "

But Manasseh did not quail.

"And you shall hear mine," he said, with a quietness that was the more impressive for the President's fury. " Do not forget, Mr. President, that you and I owe allegiance to the same brotherhood. Do not forget that the power which made you can unmake you at the next election ; do not forget that if I have no vote I have vast influence ; that there is not a Yahid whom I do not visit weekly ; that there is not a Schnorrer who would not follow me in my exile. Do not forget that there is another community to turn to — yes! that very Ashkenazic community you contemn — with the Treasurer of which I talked but just now ; a community that waxes daily in wealth and greatness while you sleep in