Page:Zangwill-King of schnorrers.djvu/323

309 A ROSE OF THE GHETTO. ^0«J

" I did not," cried Leibel excitedly.

" Then you asked her father ! "

" No ; I have not asked her father yet."

"Then how do you know she will have you? "

"I — I know," stammered Leibel, feeling himself some- how a liar as well as a thief. His brain was in a whirl ; he could not remember how the thing had come about. Certainly he had not proposed ; nor could he say that she had.

" You know she will have you," repeated Sugarman, reflectively. " And does she know ? "

" Yes. In fact," he blurted out, " we arranged it together."

"Ah! You both know. And does her father know ? "

"Not yet."

"Ah! then I must get his consent," said Sugarman decisively.

"I — I thought of speaking to him myself."

"Yourself!" echoed Sugarman, in horror. "Are you unsound in the head ? Why, that would be worse than the mistake you have already made ! "

"What mistake?" asked Leibel, firing up.

"The mistake of asking the maiden herself. When you quarrel with her after your marriage, she will always throw it in your teeth that you wished to marry her. Moreover, if you tell a maiden you love her, her father will think you ought to marry her as she stands. Still, what is done is done." And he sighed regretfully.

"And what more do I want? I love her."

"You piece of clay!" cried Sugarman contemptuously. " Love will not turn machines, much less buy them. You must have a dowry. Her father has a big stocking — he can well afford it."