“I don’t read it in school hours,” said the little girl deprecatingly.

“But you have no business to read it at all!”

“Why not?” she said doggedly.  “I like it.  It seems just as interesting as the Old Testament, and there are more miracles to the page.’’

“You wicked girl!” said her brother, overwhelmed by her audacity.  “Surely you know that all these miracles were false?”

“Why were they false?” persisted Esther.

“Because miracles left off after the Old Testament!  There are no miracles now-a-days, are there?”

“No,” admitted Esther.

“Well, then,” he said triumphantly, “if miracles had gone overlapping into New Testament times we might just as well expect to have them now.”

“But why shouldn’t we have them now?”

“Esther, I’m surprised at you.  I should like to set Old Four-Eyes on to you.  He’d soon tell you why.  Religion all happened in the past.  God couldn’t be always talking to His creatures.”

“I wish I’d lived in the past, when Religion was happening,” said Esther ruefully.  “But why do Christians all reverence this book?  I’m sure there are many more millions of them than of Jews!”

“Of course there are, Esther.  Good things are scarce.  We are so few because we are God’s chosen people.”

“But why do I feel good when I read what Jesus said?”

“Because you are so bad,” he answered, in a shocked tone.  “Here, give me the book, I’ll burn it.”

“No, no!” said Esther.  “Besides there’s no fire.”

“No, hang it,” he said, rubbing his hands.  “Well, it’ll never do if you have to fall back on this sort of thing.  I’ll tell you what I’ll do.  I’ll send you Our Own.”

“Oh, will you, Benjy?  That is good of you,” she said joyfully, and was kissing him when Solomon and Isaac came romping in and woke up the grandmother.

“How are you, Solomon?” said Benjamin.  “How are you, my little man,” he added, patting Isaac on his curly head.  Solomon was overawed for a moment.  Then he said, “Hullo, Benjy, have you got any spare buttons?”

But Isaac was utterly ignorant who the stranger could be and hung back with his finger in his mouth.

“That’s your brother Benjamin, Ikey,” said Solomon.

“Don’t want no more brovers,” said Ikey.

“Oh, but I was here before you,” said Benjamin laughing.

“Does oor birfday come before mine, then?”

“Yes, if I remember.”

Isaac looked tauntingly at the door.  “See!” he cried to the absent Sarah.  Then turning graciously to Benjamin he said, “I thant kiss oo, but I’ll lat oo teep in my new bed.”

“But you must kiss him,” said Esther, and saw that he did it before she left the room to fetch little Sarah from Mrs. Simons.

When she came back Solomon was letting Benjamin inspect his Plevna peep-show without charge and Moses Ansell was back, too.  His eyes were red with weeping, but that was on account of the Maggid.  His nose was blue with the chill of the cemetery.