Every one looked at him.

“Hear, my son!” he repeated in comic horror.  Then relapsing into English, he explained.  “I’ve forgotten to give Leah a present from her chosan.”

“A-h-h!” Everybody gave a sigh of deep interest; Leah, whom the exigencies of service had removed from his side to the head of the table, half-rose from her seat in excitement.

Now, whether Samuel Levine had really forgotten, or whether he had chosen the most effective moment will never be known; certain it is that the Semitic instinct for drama was gratified within him as he drew a little folded white paper out of his waistcoat pocket, amid the keen expectation of the company.

“This,” said he, tapping the paper as if he were a conjurer, “was purchased by me yesterday morning for my little girl.  I said to myself, says I, look here, old man, you’ve got to go up to town for a day in honor of Ezekiel Phillips, and your poor girl, who had looked forward to your staying away till Passover, will want some compensation for her disappointment at seeing you earlier.  So I thinks to myself, thinks I, now what is there that Leah would like?  It must be something appropriate, of course, and it mustn’t be of any value, because I can’t afford it.  It’s a ruinous business getting engaged; the worst bit of business I ever did in all my born days.”  Here Sam winked facetiously at the company.  “And I thought and thought of what was the cheapest thing I could get out of it with, and lo and behold I suddenly thought of a ring.”

So saying, Sam, still with the same dramatic air, unwrapped the thick gold ring and held it up so that the huge diamond in it sparkled in the sight of all.  A long “O—­h—­h” went round the company, the majority instantaneously pricing it mentally, and wondering at what reduction Sam had acquired it from a brother commercial.  For that no Jew ever pays full retail price for jewelry is regarded as axiomatic.  Even the engagement ring is not required to be first-hand—­or should it be first-finger?—­so long as it is solid; which perhaps accounts for the superiority of the Jewish marriage-rate.  Leah rose entirely to her feet, the light of the diamond reflected in her eager eyes.  She leant across the table, stretching out a finger to receive her lover’s gift.  Sam put the ring near her finger, then drew it away teasingly.

“Them as asks shan’t have,” he said, in high good humor.  “You’re too greedy.  Look at the number of rings you’ve got already.”  The fun of the situation diffused itself along the table.

“Give it me,” laughed Miriam Hyams, stretching out her finger.  “I’ll say ‘ta’ so nicely.”

“No,” he said, “you’ve been naughty; I’m going to give it to the little girl who has sat quiet all the time.  Miss Hannah Jacobs, rise to receive your prize.”

Hannah, who was sitting two places to the left of him, smiled quietly, but went on carving her fish.  Sam, growing quite boisterous under the appreciation of a visibly amused audience, leaned towards her, captured her right hand, and forcibly adjusted the ring on the second finger, exclaiming in Hebrew, with mock solemnity, “Behold, thou art consecrated unto me by this ring according to the Law of Moses and Israel.”