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It was twenty minutes after 12 and I was still waiting for the telephone to announce him. My suspense became insupportable. "Is he going to disappoint me, the idiot?" I wondered. Presently the telephone trilled. I seized the receiver "Mr. Gitelson wishes to see Mr. Levinsky," came the familiar pipe of my switchboard girl. "He says he has an appointment " "Let him come in at once," I flashed.
"I know you won't, but I can't. Honest." "But, I tell you, I won't say a word to anybody. Strike me dumb if I do!" "I can't, Mrs. Chaikin," I besought her "Don't bother," her husband put in, good-naturedly. "A woman will be a woman." I went on to describe the "wonders" that the firm of Chaikin & Levinsky would do. Mrs. Chaikin's eyes glittered. I held her spellbound.
"I am David Levinsky, the 'green one' you befriended four and a half years ago. Don't you remember me, Mr. Even? It was in this very place where I had the good fortune to make your acquaintance. I'm the son of the woman who was killed by Gentiles, in Antomir," I added, mournfully "Oh yes, indeed!" he said, with a wistful smile, somewhat abashed.
But the great point is that he has been married only three months, and she has not yet got used to having him live somewhere else. She feels as if somebody had snatched him from her. When a day passes without her seeing him she is uneasy." "Not at all," Mrs. Tevkin demurred. "I am thinking of him just now because because well, because we have all been introduced to Mr. Levinsky except him!"
If you don't you'll have to move. There can't be any other way about it. If you are a real friend of mine, not an enemy, you must behave yourself." She went on: "Why should you vex me? You are a respectable man. You don't want to do what is wrong. You don't want to make me miserable, do you? So be good, Levinsky. I beg of you. I beg of you. Be good. Be good. Be good.
But the smug luster of his face was faded and his kindly black eyes had an unsteady glance in them that belied his vivacity. I could see at once that he felt nothing but hate for me "Hello, Get-Rich-Quick Levinsky!" he greeted me. "Haven't seen you for an age." "How are you, Loeb?" I asked, genially, my heart full of mixed triumph and compassion
When I happened to drop a remark to the effect that Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, was a dead language, Wolpert exclaimed: "Oh no! Not any longer, Mr. Levinsky. It has risen from the dead." The other two chimed in, each in his way, the burden of their argument being that Hebrew was the living tongue of the Zionist colonists in Palestine
"Beautiful singing!" she said, without looking at me After a considerable pause I said, awkwardly, "You know, Mrs. Levinsky, I dreamed of you last night!" "Did you?" "Aren't you interested to know something more about it?" "I dreamed of telling you that you are a good-looking lady," I pursued, with fast-beating heart "What has got into that fellow?" she asked of the kerosene-stove.
Nor think of anything else, either." "You mustn't, you mustn't, you mustn't," she said, with sudden vehemence, though still with a beseeching ring in her voice. "I won't let you. May I not live to see my children again if I will. Do you hear, Levinsky? Do you hear? Do you hear? I want you to understand it. Be a man. Have a heart, Levinsky. You must behave yourself.
"I must tear it out of my heart, even if I have to tear out a piece of my heart along with it. Such is my fate. Good-by, Levinsky. Good luck to you. Be good. Be good. Be good. Remember you have a good head. Waste no time. Study as much as you can. God grant you luck in your business, but try to find time for your books, too. You must become a great man. Do you promise me to read and study a lot?"
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