"Well, well, little one," said the scribe, "so Love's arrow has reached you at last!"
"Heaven preserve me!" cried the girl, "he is not named Love, but Mendel Sucher, and he has never drawn a bow in his life."
Gutel now gave the bookbinder a general idea of the letter she wished written, and inquired the price.
"That will not depend upon the length of the epistle," he replied, "but upon its quality."
Thereupon he read aloud to her his tariff.
| 1st. | A friendly letter | 10 | kreutzers |
| 2d. | A kind and well-intentioned letter | 15 | " |
| 3d. | A tender letter | 20 | " |
| 4th. | A touching letter | 30 | " |
| 5th. | A letter that goes straight to the heart | 1⁄2 florin |
"Very good; a friendly letter will do well enough this time," said the girl, as she deposited her ten kreutzers on the table.
"I will write a kind and well-intentioned letter for you for the same price as a friendly one," said Kalimann, gallantly.
Mendel Sucher received the missive the following day, and as his scholarship was as limited as Gutel's, he forthwith sought out Saul Wahl, a lawyer's clerk at Gyongos, likewise a member of the same erotic profession as the bookbinder of Hort. Wahl read Kalimann's letter to the smil-
