Part 3

[_Slowly, sorrowfully._] And now _you_ say "Jew!" "Jew!" as they say it in the streets, among the mob, when I go beyond the Ghetto. It sounds strange from lips that I thought loved me; it sounds strange from the daughter of your father! Such a man he was! When you and I had our first long talks together, and you told me of the noble deeds your father had done in behalf of the Jews, I couldn't help loving you for his sake; and now you call me Jew! I _am_ a Jew. Never forget that I am a Jew. I have married you; and when it is known I shall have no standing among Jews. The orthodox will avoid me as a pariah, and the mob of Jews will howl at me when I go into the street. And I shall still be a Jew--proud of my race, proud of its fortitude, of the great triumph which shall come to us Jews when we have shaken off the material shell which hides our spirits, and makes us no better and no worse than the Christians! No, no! You are angry--you don't care what you say! You are angry--and you sneer at my father. What do you know against my father's honesty?

ROSA.

He is the father of a man who has married me and dares not proclaim me.

RAFAEL.

Dares not! Dares not! Ah, you little know me if you think that! Rosa, Rosa! Look here! My dear little girl, you are all wrong. We have agreed on this point. It was yourself who said that we must not tell of our marriage yet. [_ROSA sinks into a chair._] You said that I must give my time to my music, until I had made a name--until we could go forth on our own footing--not cast out of that door--without a cent between us, to be reviled and hustled by the mob. And I thought of my father--of his old age--of his pain. If he _is_ wrong--if he _is_ what he should not be, he's still my father----

ROSA.

He called me a demon just now! He opened the door and was about to bid me go from here. He said my father came out of hell. He called me a vampire--he called me a snake----

RAFAEL.

Oh--! Oh--! Rosa, poor little Rosa!

ROSA.

[_Weeping._] I only want you to love me. I want to know it--to know that they cannot, shall not take you from me! Tell me so, Rafael; burn it into my heart, Rafael!

RAFAEL.

Yes, it must be burned into your heart, dear. Before to-night it shall be. I love you! I dare anything for the sake of my love for you!

ROSA.

Rafael!

[_Knock at the door. She rushes upstairs._

Rafael! But your father--[_knock_]--you mustn't tell him!

RAFAEL.

Hush! [_Exit ROSA. RAFAEL goes to the window; sees REBECCA._] Rebecca! She knows that the old people will be at the synagogue at this hour. What does she want here? A true daughter of her father, and yet she has many virtues, I suppose! I wish she would take her virtues and go home! I want to get at my music.

_Enter REBECCA._

Oh, some friend of Rosa, I suppose?

REBECCA.

What--don't you know me? I am Rebecca--I used to know you once.

RAFAEL.

Oh, Rebecca--Abram's daughter, of course. Won't you----?

[_Points to a chair._

REBECCA.

Not Abram's daughter, Rafael; Aaron's daughter. My father was here only yesterday.

RAFAEL.

Oh, Aaron's daughter! Oh yes! Aaron was here only yesterday!

REBECCA.

Yes.

RAFAEL.

And now you are here.

REBECCA.

Yes. He came to sell some wool.

RAFAEL.

Some wool? I thought it was a lamb he came to sell. Ah well! [_Motions to chair._] Let us proceed to business.

REBECCA.

But I did not come on business.

RAFAEL.

We are quite alone.

REBECCA.

From what your friends Samson and Daniel have just told me, I should think not.

[_She examines the room._

RAFAEL.

How do you like it?

REBECCA.

[_Laughs._] Father said I ought to come and see Esther.

RAFAEL.

Oh, so your father--a thoughtful man; your father, a man of tact, admirable tact!

REBECCA.

You say such strange things!

[_A pause. She begins to struggle with a ring on her finger._

RAFAEL.

[_Yawning._] Admirable tact!

REBECCA.

This ring--it's so tight--it hurts my finger so! I took it from Isaac's son one time--when we played that our fathers had engaged us to marry. I don't suppose it was quite proper of me, was it, Rafael? It was years ago--but--but--[_pulls_]--it doesn't come easily! [_She stretches out her hand to him._] Don't you want to clear it away, Rafael?

RAFAEL.

[_Goes to the cupboard._] Just a moment.

REBECCA.

[_With her hand still out._] Everybody out, Rafael?

RAFAEL.

[_Bringing a plate._] There's not a Jew in the house.

[_He removes the ring easily, and gives it to her on the plate._

REBECCA.

[_Vexed._] Your servant--that Christian person--I suppose she's listening at that door?

RAFAEL.

[_He sits on the table._] You might go up and see.

REBECCA.

[_After hesitating, she runs up the stairs and opens the door._] Oh! I don't believe there is any one in the house but us! I'm afraid to come down!

RAFAEL.

You needn't be!

REBECCA.

You mustn't come up!

RAFAEL.

They'll be home soon. Let us proceed to business.

REBECCA.

[_Archly coming down one step._] Do you call it business?

RAFAEL.

I can't say I do. I weigh 12 stone, Rebecca, and your father won't give but 8000 guilders. That's--that's 666 guilders a stone; 14 into 666, that's only 45 guilders a pound! And----

REBECCA.

No, it's over 47-1/2 guilders a pound.

RAFAEL.

I am sure you are right--only 47-1/2 guilders a pound he'll give for me. No, I can't say I call that business.

REBECCA.

[_Coming down a step._] You don't seem to have much sentiment about it, Rafael.

RAFAEL.

Ah, if it were only a matter of sentiment! [_She comes down two steps._] But sentiment after business, Rebecca, after business. I am 40 inches round the chest, Rebecca; and if my heart should swell I should be doubtless 45. But at eight thousand guilders, Rebecca, it doesn't swell!

REBECCA.

But I--I don't like to talk this way, Rafael; it doesn't seem to me quite--quite nice.

RAFAEL.

That is your delicacy, Rebecca, your extreme delicacy. But we must not mix delicacy with business, Rebecca. He sticks at eight thousand, and not a thing, I suppose, in the way of dresses, finery, rigging----?

REBECCA.

It's really most unpleasant to have to talk of such things. Of course I shall have a dozen of everything; father has told me so--when I am--when I--I can't say it! I really can't speak of it.

RAFAEL.

That's your shrinking nature, Rebecca, your extreme sensitiveness! H'm! How should a man's heart know which way to beat? On the one side the daughter, with her delicacy, her shrinking nature; on the other side the father, who sticks at eight thousand guilders! No; at eight thousand I will not love you. It would not be dignified at eight thousand!

REBECCA.

[_Coming down the remaining steps._] But you don't suppose that if my father were willing to give, say, ten thousand, he would begin at more than eight thousand; not with _your_ father--now would he, Rafael? But I think that nowadays, when young people are to be--when they intend--they ought to have some sentiment for each other.

RAFAEL.

H'm!

REBECCA.

And, moreover, I think that young men should be more careful as to how they let themselves be talked about--more careful than you are. They call you an infidel, Rafael, and they say disagreeable things about you and this impertinent servant of yours.

RAFAEL.

They do! [_A pause._] Of course, if we were to contemplate matrimony--you and I--such a matter would be very serious.

REBECCA.

It certainly would.

RAFAEL.

And so it's very fortunate, Rebecca, that we have been talking in a kind of irony--you and I--over a matter which was never even remotely possible! Isn't it?

REBECCA.

[_After a pause._] Yes, _very_ fortunate. It would have been most unfortunate for you if you had ever entertained the idea. If your father or mine entertain it, we must speedily end that. Go on with your scullerymaid; it's nothing to me.

RAFAEL.

No, it's nothing to you, Rebecca! You and I don't want to marry, and they are trying to chain us together against our wills! We must fight them, Rebecca! We must put our backs against the wall! Your father will whisper avarice to you. He'll bid you look around. "This is thy neighbour's house," he'll say. "It will all be Rafael's; see--see--treasure, value, gain; see the jewels there, the gold and silver, the rich laces and old articles of art--all his, my girl--and his father will die soon! He'll die of joy if he gets eight thousand guilders with his daughter-in-law. And then it will be all yours--yours and Rafael's; yours to hug and wrap your soul around, my girl; all--all, from the last atom of diamond dust in the cases there, to the rust on the nail in the latch on the door that keeps away the moans of the starving!"

REBECCA.

But do you think----?

RAFAEL.

But you won't be betrayed by an old man's lust for gold. No! You'll say: "Father, I have a heart; I will not give myself to one I do not love, to soothe your itching palm!" You'll look well saying that, Rebecca! You'll stand and face him in the dignity of truth! You'll be defending the next generation against the crawling viper of greed! I'd like to be there! I'd like to see the flash in your eyes; even now you cannot think of it without fire in your look! I see the anger of righteousness; I cannot too deeply express my respect, Rebecca!

REBECCA.

Do you think I don't know what you mean? You think I want to marry you--to get you away from this vile creature--this unthinkable person who----

_Enter ROSA._

RAFAEL.

Will you be so good as to say no more about Rosa! If a man--[_He checks himself._] Let me tell you what she is to me----

ROSA.

Rafael, Rafael!

REBECCA.

Oh! She calls you Rafael! She was listening all the time! What they say is true: you thrust your shameful doings in my face! I shall tell my father--I shall tell everyone; they will stone you from the Ghetto! You tried to make a fool of me; and you--you----

[_She bursts into tears. Exit._

RAFAEL.

And now I'm going to break my poor old father's heart. I am going to tell him that you and I were married by the Civil Authority beyond the Ghetto, that we are one and indivisible. Poor old man! I am not without love for my father, you know. He will think that I am lost for ever; he will turn me away from his door with a curse on his lips; and then, when we are gone, he'll sink down in his chair and weep; a broken life, an old age come to nothing! And he may die at any moment--it may kill him--and he _might_ have died and never have known it.

ROSA.

Rafael, I can't be the cause of his death! Don't tell him, Rafael! I will try to live on--as we are.

RAFAEL.

Live on as we are, with this doubt in your heart? You have said I dared not face poverty for your sake. Such a doubt must be killed at any cost. I won't have it coming back to you to mar your faith in me in after years. No; there's no question of my not telling him; there's only the question of how to tell him.

ROSA.

Rafael, I would rather you wouldn't! I have been selfish; I forgot about your father; I forgot about your music.

RAFAEL.

My father will probably speak first of Rebecca. I shall say: "No, father, I will marry no woman I do not love." Then that will be settled; my father will let the matter drop. Then I shall tell him about you. Either he will be violent or he will ask me a few questions between his teeth, such as: "How much money have you?"

ROSA.

Nothing!

RAFAEL.

Or, "What vocation are you master of?"

ROSA.

The music--if he could only hear----!

RAFAEL.

My father is as deaf to my art as he is blind. "Are you master of an art, when it will not yield you bread?" he will say.

ROSA.

But it will yield you bread, if you will but wait, Rafael!

RAFAEL.

I was very happy when I came through that door. I saw Hanakoff this morning. He is going to play my Fantasia to-night, Rosa, before the aristocracy; he is going to let me lead his orchestra! And in a month he would have played my Symphony!

ROSA.

Would have! Why not, then?

RAFAEL.

Why not? It won't be possible, Rosa.

ROSA.

It must be possible! Why not? Why not?

RAFAEL.

Well, because the Symphony isn't finished, and in the time when I thought to finish it I shall be working with my hands to keep us from starving--if a man can keep from starving by working with his hands!

ROSA.

Rafael, you shall not tell your father! You shall not sacrifice your career to me. I wounded you too deeply. I didn't mean what I said--I didn't realise what I was doing. See, dear, we must wait for the Symphony. You must go on with your work--you must have peace--you must know that I love you--that I cannot doubt you! Don't you feel that the music will succeed?

RAFAEL.

It must succeed! It's beautiful. My God, I know it's beautiful! Because it is you, Rosa, shining through my art, lifting up my spirit till I can't call the work mine. It comes from you and from God!

ROSA.

Then, against my will, will you put me between God and the message he sends to the world through you? No!

RAFAEL.

I must accept the challenge you have made. I am a musician; but I'm a man first!

ROSA.

But--but I---- [_She weeps._

RAFAEL.

Don't--don't! And this is the day I had looked forward to for so many weary months; my music has found a great man who believes in it, and on that day my spirit is sunken within me; I am waiting to give my father a blow that may kill him, and the woman I love so tenderly is sobbing her foolish little heart out on my knee!

ROSA.

[_Springing up._] Not now! I have stopped sobbing--the tears have cleared my eyes--I see better than you! I will not have you magnify the doubt I threw into my angry words. There was no doubt; I spoke falsely. Have I not given you my life? I should not dare to doubt you! There are things that must not, shall not be done. We are going to pass through a fire of hatred, scorn, ridicule. We _must_ have success, we _must_ triumph, and we must protect your father from harm. Go! Tell your father you cannot marry Rebecca; tell him he must not think of that. Lead him home, speak kind words to him, but don't tell him of me. And then go to work on your Symphony. You say I inspired it. You touch my vanity. I want to inspire it to the end! Don't mind me, don't think of me. Work, work, and only let me once in a while come softly, silently, and----

[_She kisses his hand._

RAFAEL.

Rosa! Rosa! How you tempt me! I want to do what is right. I can't tell which it is, but the child of my soul is coming forth into the world, and your kiss is so like a mother's kiss--it seems to bid me be gentle to my child--not to kill it before it is born. Oh, how I love my music--love it because it lets me express my love for you! I say the world shall never forget how I loved you when my music goes down to history! Rosa, Rosa, can you wait--can you trust me?

ROSA.

[_Joyfully._] You are going to grant my prayer--you're going to wait--wait! I'm so glad--I'm so glad!

RAFAEL.

Unless they force me to it, I'll wait. I must go and find my father; it's late already. And then to the Symphony! Ah, you--you are my Symphony--it cannot fail! We must have success--and then let the Ghetto do what it can! I ought to be back in an hour. Will you steal a moment to let me tell you how things stand?

ROSA.

Yes! yes! Good-bye! good-bye! Remember, there is no Rosa--she does not exist!

[_RAFAEL shakes his head laughingly; kisses her. Exit. She stands smiling and happy._

A VOICE WITHOUT.

That was the man; he's going to marry a Christian!

ROSA.

Oh!

ANOTHER VOICE.

He's going to marry the Christian servant in his father's house!

VARIOUS VOICES.

Oh! Shame! shame! [_ROSA runs to the window._] Oh! Oh!

THE SECOND VOICE.

It's a sacrilege! He's an infidel!

THE THIRD VOICE.

He's a dog! [_Mingled cries of "Yes, yes!"_

ROSA.

What will they do? That girl! that girl! she has told them!

THE FIRST VOICE.

Shall he do this in our teeth and not suffer?

VARIOUS VOICES.

No, no!

ROSA.

Ah! they'll stone him! Ah! O God, it might be the last time he ever touched my lips!

A WOMAN'S VOICE.

Stone him! Stone him! He mocks our God!

ROSA.

Ah, Rafael! What shall I do?

VARIOUS VOICES.

He does! He's a dog! He insults us all! Out of the Ghetto with him! Come on!

[_A number of rough men and women charge along the street, and are seen through the window, repeating their cries, which then begin to diminish in the distance._

ROSA.

It has come! He's alone--he'll face them--he will not yield an inch! [_A rising yell of the mob is heard._] Rafael! No, he shall not be alone! No! No!

[_She opens the door. A yell from the mob farther in the distance; she locks the door and runs off past the window. A still more distant yell from the mob dying away._

END OF THE SECOND ACT.

THE THIRD ACT

SCENE: _A street. At the right the entrance to the synagogue, with steps and a portico. At the left the house of AARON, before which are some chairs, in the shade of an awning. Some trees and shrubs give a grateful contrast to the surroundings of SACHEL'S house, seen in ACT I._

_The final chant of a Jewish service is heard within the synagogue. Enter REBECCA, flushed from her interview with RAFAEL, as the chant ends, and among others, AARON comes out of the synagogue._

AARON.

Ah, you've come back! Did you find Esther at home?

REBECCA.

No; you knew she would not be at home!

AARON.

Eh! After you had gone, my dear, there I saw her, going into the synagogue.

_Enter ROSA; she looks about anxiously._

Well, how did you--how did you get on?

REBECCA.

[_Angrily, seeing ROSA._] I----

AARON.

[_Seeing ROSA._] 'Sh! It's all arranged, my girl! You wanted him; now you have him. Are you happy?

REBECCA.

[_Her eyes on ROSA, with growing malevolence._] Yes.

AARON.

Go in. Rafael is coming here, and the Rabbi--a quiet talk. Make yourself look well; the boy's a little high-strung, you know. By-and-by we will go out by the shop door; we will come round this way and join them. We must use tact. Will you come in?

REBECCA.

[_Still facing ROSA._] In a moment. [_Exit AARON._

ROSA.

[_Overcoming a reluctance._] Have you seen Rafael?

REBECCA.

He's not here. [_Malignantly._] He went home again.

ROSA.

Do you speak the truth?

REBECCA.

If I spoke all the truth I know you would not stay to hear it!

ROSA.

All the truth you know would not take long to tell! [_Exit._

REBECCA.

She hates me! She shall hate me more!

[_Exit into the house._

_Enter SACHEL and ESTHER from the synagogue; she looks about._

SACHEL.

You do not see him?

ESTHER.

Not yet.

SACHEL.

He won't come; he suspects that the Rabbi will try to influence him.

_Enter SAMSON and DANIEL._

ESTHER.

He said he would walk home with us. Good afternoon, have you seen Rafael?

DANIEL.

Good afternoon. [_To SAMSON._] _Have_ we seen Rafael!

SAMSON.

Is he looking for us?

SACHEL.

He might be; he does not care what vagabond he goes with.

DANIEL.

It is true! For I hear he is about to turn Christian and marry his father's maid-servant!

SAMSON.

And any one who dislikes it is to be thrown out of the house--even if it be his father! Daniel, shall we stay to meet such a person?

DANIEL.

I scorn the interview! [_Exeunt._

SACHEL.

You are rascals and liars! [_To ESTHER._] They speak the truth! It is Rosa who has turned my son against me!

ESTHER.

Oh, be still! Here comes the Rabbi!

_Enter THE RABBI, with a father, a mother, and their son, who seems subdued, as if after an exhortation by THE RABBI. THE RABBI dismisses them blandly._

THE RABBI.

That boy came as stubborn as a donkey, but a little touch of sympathy, enough concession to soothe his pride, a little tact withal, and he departs as meek as a lamb.

SACHEL.

But Rafael is my son, and you cannot twist him about your finger. He has no heart; he treats me like a dog. They say he is foul of my maid-servant. If it's true----

THE RABBI.

'Sh! 'sh! Scandalous! Are you every gossip's plaything? Come! Violence, violence--we shall do nothing with violence. Rafael is young, short-sighted and stubborn; but he's a good fellow at heart. We must handle him delicately, like a big trout. You leave him to me, and he will stay at home and marry Aaron's daughter, willingly.

[_They sit in front of AARON'S house._

ESTHER.

Now what did I tell you, you silly old man!

THE RABBI.

Silly old man! Not at all. An affectionate father, deeply troubled about his only child--sorely vexed because too many things have gone wrong at once! Would you have him sit still and not open his month? Oh no, Sachel is not the man to let things take care of themselves!

SACHEL.

It is true! What does she know about the feelings of a parent? Ah, I would mould things now, Rabbi, but times have changed. Once, as it is written in the Books of Moses, a son must obey his father, or he would be stoned to the gates of the city! That was right!

THE RABBI.

It was right then; but, as you so very rightly observe, Sachel, times have changed; and when one throws stones now, one must pay for the windows. So, instead of stoning Rafael, we shall marry him to Rebecca; and in time you shall be the grandfather of a boy; a boy, I say! Ha, ha, ha! You don't laugh enough, Sachel!

SACHEL.

I cannot laugh! I tell you there is a serpent in my house. This girl--this Rosa, I could swear that she----

THE RABBI.

Shame! shame! I won't hear about it! It was for you that I was preaching, but you do not listen when you come to synagogue. Of course, you were thinking about Rafael. You leave him to me. He shall marry Rebecca, do you hear? In such matters as this you are a child!

SACHEL.

He shall do my bidding, or he shall go in rags! 'Sh!

[_They all listen. Enter RAFAEL, with his hand bound up carelessly in a handkerchief._

THE RABBI.

Why, it's Rafael! What an unexpected pleasure!

RAFAEL.

It _is_ a long time since I have seen you.

SACHEL.

Daniel and Samson are liars! But if it were true, I would----

THE RABBI.

Tut, tut! What's the matter? Mumbling about business matters on the Sabbath! Well, well, how you've shot up since--since----

RAFAEL.

Since last I came to the synagogue I have had time to grow.

THE RABBI.

I pass that over. I don't look upon you as gone astray. You are seeking for the light, and when you find it, whether you think so now or not, you will find it there! [_Indicating the synagogue._] Just as when you find happiness you will find it here.

RAFAEL.

In the house of Aaron?

THE RABBI.

With your father, and at home, under the roof where your mother lived. Ah! what a fine career is open to you in following out your father's business! It isn't every boy who has such opportunities!

RAFAEL.

Business! You in your synagogue--you ought to be the enemy of business. You ought to preach it to our people without end that their life of morning, noon, and night, and not a breath drawn but for sake of gain, is a sickly mockery of life, and that it is against the law of Moses!

THE RABBI.

Another prophet! Business, gain, contrary to the laws of Moses! Go on, my boy! Let us have the sermon you would preach! Ha, ha! Go on! Now I shall learn something.

RAFAEL.

Have I not read in the Book of Moses how the people divided the soil, and there was no one who had more than another; and there was no grinding of the poor, and there was never any selling of lands: "For mine is the soil, and you are but strangers unto Me!" And among them was not business despised? How did Jacob speak of Issachar?

THE RABBI.