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THE GOD OF VENGEANCE

Scroll. . . My heart pounded so wildly. . . so wildly. . .


Manke

Wait, Rifkele, I'm coming right out to you. (Jumps down from the chair and runs up the stairs.) I 'm coming out to you. Just a moment and I'm with you. (She leaves. Rifkele disappears from the window.)


Hindel, from the curtain of her compartment she has been listening very intently to the conversation between Manke and Rifkele. She now begins to pace up and down the cellar excitedly, wrapt in thought and muttering to herself very slowly.

With God's help, if I can only get both of them, Rifkele and Manke, this very night. . . I'll take them directly to Shloyme's. . . And I'll say to him, "Here you are. . . Here's your bread and butter. Now rent a place, marry me, and become a respectable man as well as any other." (Stops abruptly. Raises her hands toward the ceiling.) Father in Heaven, you are a Father to all orphans. . . Mother in your grave, pray for me. . . Let my troubles come to an end. Let me at last be settled in my own home! . . . (Pause.) If God is only good to me, I'll have a Holy Parchment written in His honor. . . And every Sabbath I'll give three pounds of candles to the House of Study. (A long pause. She is lost in the contemplation of her future pros-

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