“In school?” replied the stranger in the same language. 
“You go to school.  What school?”

“The public school, sir.”

“And do they not teach you to kneel when you salute in the public school?”

“No, sir, we never kneel.”

“What then do you learn there?”

“We sing, and read, and write, and march, and sew.”

“Aha!” cried the stranger delighted.  “You learn many things.  And what do you pay for all this?” he said in Russian to the father.

“Nothing.”

“Wonderful!” cried the stranger.  “And who taught her English?”

“No one.  She just learned it from the children.”

“Aha, that is good.”

The father and mother stood struggling with their pride in their little girl.  A sound of shouting and of singing made the stranger turn toward the window.

“What is that?” he cried.

“A wedding,” replied Simon.  “There is a great wedding at Paulina’s.  Every one is there.”

“At Paulina’s?” said the stranger.  “And you, why are you not there?”

“We are no friends of Rosenblatt.”

“Rosenblatt?  And what has he to do with it?”

“Rosenblatt,” said Joseph sullenly, “is master in Paulina’s home.”

“Aha!  He is master, and you are no friends of his,” returned the stranger.  “Tell me why this is so?”

“We are Russian, he is Bukowinian; he hires men to the railroad, we hire ourselves; he has a store, we buy in the Canadian stores, therefore, he hates us.”

The stranger nodded his head, comprehending the situation.

“And so you are not invited to the wedding.”

“No, we are not invited to the wedding,” said Joseph in a tone of regret.

“And they are your friends who are being married?”

“Yes.”

“And there is good eating and drinking?”

“Yes,” cried Joseph eagerly.  “Such a feast!  Such a load of beer!  And such a dance!”

“It is a pity,” said the stranger, “to miss it all.  You fear this Rosenblatt,” he continued, with a hardly perceptible sneer.

“Fear!” cried Simon.  “No!  But one does not enter a shut door.”

“Aha, but think of it,” said the stranger, “the feasting and the dancing, and the beer!  I would go to this wedding feast myself, were I not a stranger.  I would go if I knew the bride.”

“We will take our brother,” cried Joseph eagerly. 
“Our friends will welcome him.”

Simon hesitated.

“I like not Rosenblatt.”

“But Rosenblatt will be too drunk by this time,” suggested the stranger.

“Not he,” replied Simon.  “He never gets drunk where there is a chance to gather a dollar.”

“But the feast is free?”

“Yes, the feast is free, but there is always money going.  There is betting and there is the music for the dancing, which is Rosenblatt’s.  He has hired Arnud and his cymbal and the violins, and the dancers must pay.”